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Bears by EdieI just had some photo prints made from digital and am so totally frustrated and disgusted!!! It took me hours to shoot these photos and then more time to study them on the computer and pick the best ones for prints. Half the prints turned out all washed out and not right colors. I took them back and they said all they could do was give me a refund. I then went to a different place and had the same photos printed. The second ones are much better but now have gone a bit the other way with the colors not quite as bright as they should be. When you look at the two sets of prints side by side you wouldn’t believe they were the same bears or the exact same shots at all!!! How can they make such a difference in the printing of these photos! Now I think I need to try a third place and see what they will do with them!
This is the second time in the last month or so that I have been having these problems (last time it was opposite - the washed out ones were from the second place, and I got good prints done at the other place. I KNOW it isn’t me as I get such different results when I take the same images to different places for printing. I’ve even had excellent prints done and then when I’ve gone back with the same image on the same card to the same place for more copies it’s come back all washed out. I have been using a digital camera for about 4 years now and I have always gotten photos printed to keep a record of the bears I make and have NEVER had trouble before so I am just so frustrated and can’t figure out what is going on all of a sudden!!!
This photo is how "Yanic should look.
This is the washed out too bright photo - I would have to change the color to +18 and the brightness to +12 on my computer photo program to replicate this.
This is the "better" photo but I would have to change the color to -10 to replicate it! I just don't understand this AT ALL!!! 
With my old 35 mm camera, and negatives, it was always a guessing game to see what you were going to get for prints as they could make so many adjustments to the color, brightness, contrast, etc. but I thought these digital ones were all just done by machine so can't figure out why they don't turn out exaclty the way they look on my monitor at home or the screen on the uploading machine at the photo place???
Anyway, thanks for letting me vent and I’d love to hear how everyone else makes out with their digital photo prints.
P.S. I just love being able to put the photos where I want them instead of all at the beginning - thanks so much Shelli and Sonya for telling me how to do this!!! 
Hi Edie
Are you not able to print them out yourself either on your computer printer or I have a dedicated 4x6 printer which prints out great pictures. It will also print out thumbnail and wallet size photos all by simply putting the camera chip into the dedicated printer
Hugs
Gail
Canna Bear PaintLast time I tried getting my digital photos printed at a photography store, I was very disappointed with the results as well. I had this suggested to me by the manager of the store though have not had a chance to try it yet... see if they will agree to accept a scrap of the bear's fabric to use for color matching when they create your prints. Otherwise they will correct colors, contrast, etc. to their "best guess"... and their best guess will depend on which employee you get on any given day. Hope this helps!
Kelly
I have my contest photos developed at Walgreens each year. And I found out, very much to my surprise!, that they AUTOMATICALLY "intelligently adjust" digital photos. What this means it that I spend forever taking my photos, and choosing my photos, and adjusting the color (if necessary) and brightness (if necessary) and levels (if necessary) in my photos -- so they look "true" -- and cropping, and resizing my photos...
... and then the yutzes at Walgreen's take all that work back down to zero and "intelligently adjust" the photos as their COMPUTER thinks they "should" be.
AARGH!
I only found this out because a particularly helpful counter girl -- who ultimatley received a box of chocolates from me -- told me that this is standard procedure. It's not stated anywhere that they do it; they just DO it.
After my discovery I shared about this here at TT and was surprised to find that a number of other people had the same experience; they didn't know their digital pictures were being "intelligently adjusted" by their developer(s) either... but they were!
So my first suggestion is for you to add notes, or speak to the developer him or her self if it's a one-hour type thing, and let them know NOT to adjust your photos in any way.
The second recommendation I have is that you print out on glossy paper at home and then bring that digital printout in with you when you get your digital prints developed professionally. They then have something to match it to, saving you the frustration and many return trips.
Gail, FYI, for contest submissions they don't allow at-home-type printed digital photos. The process of printing with (most) at-home inkjet type printers is essentially one of "coating" the glossy paper with pigments. These types of photos are easy to scratch and over the years the photo will deteriorate and fade. I don't know much about this but what I just mentioned is what I've read and been told. Professionally developed pictures are just a superior process to at-home printing and produce a superior product.
Printing your digital photos professionally is a chemical process that deposits pigments onto the paper differently and those are the photos that the magazines want for print-ready purposes... and that will stand the test of time in your photo album.
Hope this helps, Edie. I've been there and feel your pain. Totally frustrating!
Back Road BearsI used to work at one of those one hour photo labs. Mind you this was before digital cameras.
Yup, we manually adjusted every photo. Then the processing equipment became high tech and had the ability to automatically "improve" the images. That doesn't mean, as you've learned, that it makes them 'accurate'!
Yes, I think it's a great idea to bring in a piece of fur to match the photo too. And if you've already got the photo edited to where you want it DO, most DEFINITELY tell the photo technician NOT to 'correct' the photos. I'm sure there is a way to shut that function off on those stupid, totally technical, mind-of-its-own machines.
See what happens when PEOPLE are removed from the equation and/or become totally dependent on a computerized machine to do their job for them?
Don't even get me started!!!!
By the way, we don't have much out here in the boonies but we have the most wonderful camera store that does a great job processing my digital images! 
Bears by EdieWell, I am so glad to hear I am not the only having problems like this - misery loves company!
Great idea about the fabric swatch or photo printout from home although I don't think either of these places I've been dealing with would be too willing to accomodate. When I lived in St. Albert I had a local independent guy who was very willing to try harder on my photos and did a great job but now that I am out in the boonies that is impossible to find I think! Also the one place (Walmart) where I tried to get extra copies done after they HAD done a good job on one photo couldn't do it even with the good photo to look at!!!! I think I'll have to ask about them not doing any automatic adjusting on the photos. Isn't it kind of strange though that for almost 4 years my photos have been turning out great and now all of a sudden they arent'!!! Maybe they got a new "smarter" machine that does more adjusting than before or something!
Posts: 8,574oh well....
gollyhugs
dilu
Bears by JodiI pre adjust mine but I did have trouble at first where I go. But they know if they don't look good THEY ARE DOING THEN OVER!!! There is a lady there that does a good job so I always make sure she does them.
I get the best results setting my camera on PC screen. then adjusting on my color if needed , some times it doesn't need any thing and I sharpen focus. Then the pictures look great on line and really good in person for 4x6 size but if you want a 8x10 I go higher on the range.But most of my pictures work good at the PC setting. I have even had my pictures in the magazines with those pictures and they look good.Even though they want them shot higher. SOOOOOOOOOO The camera can be a crazy thing.And it has taken years to get some I really like. I do digital now but I used to have a 35mm monster , but I like my digital the best . I LOVE IT.
Hers is a small sample.Click on Http: below
Jodi,
Do you mind if I ask what camera you use? I know the quality of your photos has a lot to do with your skill as a photographer, but that's some camera! The photos look almost holographic, i.e. three dimensional!
Karen
KJ Lyons Design
Bears by Jodi Bears by EdieWell I think I have just solved my problem! Today I took my photo card into the small town near here and one of the drug stores has a Kodak instant picture machine. I tried 5 of the photos that I wasn't pleased with on that machine and they come out the closest to what they should be - right inbetween the two sets I had gotten before! Only problem is I had to pay 69 cents a photo instead of the 19 cents I am used to paying - but I think this will be the way to do it in the long run. There is also one place that does 1 hour service but when I talked to them about the difference I had gotten in my photo results and showed them the photos they said straight out they couldn't do anywhere near as good a job as I had already gotten - nice of them, as at least it saved me wasting more time and money and being mad at them!!!
Bears by Jodi Glad you found something so fast Edie, I'm gonna deflate your big ol' bubble of happiness. But I just want to point out that I was told that those Kodak instant machines -- or any "instant" machines" that print out digital image files -- are basically just really, really, incredibly nice versions of the at-home printer. I wish I knew all the technical mumbo jumbo to tell you here, but the gist of it is that they do not use the chemical development process in those machines that they use behind the counter, whether you develop one-hour, overnight, or over the course of a week.
In short... the "instant" developers produce an image that will fade over time because the ink is deposited on the paper differently than it is in "true" developing, which you can only do in a darkroom or behind-the-counter (don't know any other way to reference it!) somewhere.
I mention this so that you aren't fooled into thinking your "instant print" photos will last 50 years, because I've been told they will not have the longevity of a "regularly" processed print. And, again, this is not the kind of print that the photo contests want.
I'm not trying to be a killjoy here, and if I'm misrepresenting this someone please feel free to step in and correct me! But this is just what I've heard and have been told about those machines, so I did want to mention it.
Sorry. :(
PS For the record, I use my own at-home printer all the time for my bear photos. I keep a photo album that I take with me to shows. I just do so with the expectation that these photos won't last as long and stay as color-true over time as the kind of photos developed professionally, would. Also, I do take my photos in to be chemically processed each competition season. And I had one editor tell me last year, in response to a private question, that they don't want printer-made photos because they ink scratches off them so easily and they therefore make terrible camera-ready art.
Bears by Jodi Bears by EdieShelli, you know I did kind of wonder about that, in spite of reassurances from the clerk at the store - which is why I only got 5 prints done - but you know I just can't tell the difference on these prints from the ones I had done in the 1 hour place (print quality wise I mean not the color/brightness - lol!). The paper is a bit better quality (heavier) on the instant ones but the surface looks and feels exaclty the same! I know I had a sample photo done on one of these machines for free as a trial years ago when they first got one in a store near me but I can't tell now which one it was as they don't look any different - maybe I'll be able to tell in 10 years - who knows! If I was to send one of these photos to a magazine I really don't know how they would tell what kind of machine it was done on??? It CERTAINLY doesn't look like the printed at home photos in the slightest. Anyway thanks for the info and I'm going to look into this a bit more - and I won't be in a big hurry to do any more on the instant machine!
Thank you Shelli for all the valuable information you have given us. What camera do you use and just what do you take to be professionally developed?
Hugs
Gail
I don't think it's easy to tell the one type of print process from the other on the surface. But if you take a fingernail and very lightly run it across each type of photograph, the "real" photo, developed professionally, won't show any marks... and the at-home or "instant" print type of photograph will show a scratch. It's VERY easy to mar an at-home or "instant" photo.
I feel like I'm really harping on this point and I'm not trying to do that at all! Please excuse me. I'm a bit out of my element, but again, this is just what I was told. I can't remember which contest it was but one of them even specified that they accepted only professionally developed photographs and when I asked why, just out of curiosity (that's me!), I was given this explanation.
Then, at home, I tried it for myself, and in fact found it to be very true that the at-home printed pictures are just super-prone to injury. My suspicion is that they don't hold up to mailing very well. The slightest bend in the envelope probably puts a white line crease in them, and then they make poor candidates for printing in a magazine. That's all.
Gail, I use a Nikon CoolPix 5400. You can take in a CD of your images, or even your Compact Flash Memory Card; there is a machine at Walgreens into which you stick your media storage and then upload your pictures to the developing machine, right in-store.
You can even eMail your photos to certain developers like Walgreens or Best Buy (you need to get the software from Best Buy first.) I think Costco also has an eMail option.
Walgreens also has the Kodak "instant" option, as Edie described. But I go with the one-hour developing when I'm in a hurry or even overnight if I'm not instead, for the reasons I cited above.
I have used the Best Buy processing and loved the quality and colors. They will, I think, mail them to your home, or you can pick them up in store (which is what I did.) Takes longer, though; several days.
Ok I'm a bit late jumping in here...... but first... DAPHNE you have GOT to be KIDDING!!!!!!! I had no idea you worked in a photo lab! ME TOO!!!!! That is why when I went digital I got my own home printer (Epson) I like to be able to have control over the color, density (lightness/darkness) I don't think we'll be getting ANY sleep next weekend... we'll be up talking all night :crackup:
This is what I would suggest if possible for when you need regular photo (chemically developed) prints.... print one copy out on your home printer the way you like it. When you go to the lab, enclose that as a GUIDE PRINT so they know what the photo should look like! Explain to the technician that you need a regularly developed print per contest rules or what have you... but that the color and exposure are critical, so you printed out a sample guide print for them to match (or at least come close to... it can be VERY difficult to match exactly....)
Bearhaven BearsEdie, I've used those do it yourself store printers myself and I thought they did a bang up job. For me if the print is just for myself or my brag book I would continue to use this process, but maybe back up my photo's on a disc for down the road.
When sending in photo's for contests I will use this process as well but also send in a disc with the photo's too, I did this for the article in Teddy Bear and Friends (Oct 2006). It is very easy to transfer your pictures to a disc, I had 2 photos of each bear on the disc. My cleaned up version and the raw picture that way the editors had the choice to clean them up themselves. Like I'm really going to make it to nomination stage, but one can dream.
SHELLI- I questioned the durability of those do it your self photo's myself I'm glad to know I was on the right track, your info has just cemented my gut feeling. I will take my own advice and back every thing up on disc. However I'm sure 10 years down the road I'll look back at the bears I thought worthy of preservation and think to myself what the ding dang was I thinking these guys are so not me, why on earth did I save theses photo's :photo: I do that now when seeing my old bears, uggggg please someone tell me those aren't mine.
I hope I'm under the right assumption that for the contest you can submit your photo's in disc format. I don't want to steer anyone in the wrong direction, I just know they accepted my disc for the article. I think I'm going to go and read my contest rules over to make sure, I have been known to be wrong before
Hugs Deborah
Bears by EdieNot to belabour this or anything but now I really I want to find out! I went to the Kodak web site and here is what they say about their instant picture maker photos from FAQ:
"Are they as good as the prints I get from the photo department?"
Yes! In fact, in some ways they are even better. Kodak has designed the KODAK Picture Kiosk to deliver real KODAK Pictures—the quality you have relied on for many years—right from our self-service kiosks. Your prints will last a lifetime.* With our exclusive KODAK PERFECT TOUCH Technology, your pictures are enhanced for fewer dark shadows, sharper detail, and bold, vivid colors.
Prints made at our self-service kiosks are also waterproof and stain resistant. They are protected with KODAK XTRALIFE™ coating that makes them incredibly durable—they are even wipeable! You cannot get this protection for your prints at most photo counters around the world. You get our best digital processing and incredibly durable prints—all just by touching the screen.
Next I decided to do some of Shelli's "scratch" testing and here is what I found:
1. BOTH the instant print and the regular glossy prints DO leave a very slight mark when I drag a finernail across them - both about the same I would say - not a white mark at all, more of a light indentation on the glossy surface. On regular matt photos I did not get this mark.
2. My home inkjet photos leave a similar mark if they are printed on glossy paper and none if printed on matt paper (but they do both have that "surface" printed look to them and are readily identifiable as NOT professional photo prints.
3. I tracked down the instant Kodak photo from several years ago (identified by the back markings) and it has not faded at all (yet!) but it did leave a slightly more noticeable mark in the scratch test - only very slight mind you and not white or like color has been scratched off.
I have also sent an email off to Kodak and will see what they have to say on the topic as well. And as Deborah says, since mostly these photos are for my own records, likely no one will care in 20 years time if they have faded out ! (Maybe some of the bears will look a little better if they are not so sharp and clear!
Oh, cool... some real research! Please, please, PLEASE post what you find out! As I said, this is not my area of expertise. Like you, I just know what I've been told!
Bears by EdieInteresting, Nancy! I would think though that the quality of the paper used in a one-hour photo place would vary on which place you go, while I gathered that the paper used in the Kodak instant kiosks is specifically for it and likely all the same - although I am just surmising here! The instant ones I got done are definitely a heavier quality paper than the one hour ones - but my one hour ones were from Walmart and Super Store - I think a photo store might have better quality paper - I know the photo store I used to go where I lived before had the best, heaviest quality paper I've ever gotten (and of course the price to match - but you don't mind paying more if you KNOW you are getting better results!) Wish I'd thought to ask Kodak in the email about the quality of paper - perhaps I'll get another chance it they do email me back.
Another question for someone. I have a separate dedicated 4x6" HP printer into which I insert my camera memory card. Are these good enough for competition?
Hugs
Gail
