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Posts Tagged ‘Lab’

Keep it simple – our design Service

October 28th, 2009 in Products & Services by Nigel Hicks


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A while ago I suggested “keeping it simple” was a great goal … but not simple to achieve in a complicated job like photography.

But I did suggest you could do it with Queensberry.

Take our Design Service.

There are benefits to doing your own album design, so what I’m about to say isn’t going to work for everyone. But if you’re snowed under or uncomfortable with album design it’s worth serious thought.

Say on average you spend 3-4 hours on each album design … and many people do spend a lot more.

Send them to Queensberry and you’ve just freed up at least a day.

You can bet that at this time of year, with our pre-Christmas deadline upon us, we’re doing a lot more design orders than normal!

But at any time of year what could you do with the time you’ve saved? Well, you could be shooting pictures and selling them, which is where the gold is … or just doing something you enjoy!

And sending us a design order is such a simple process. Here’s the video explaining how to do it . It’s 8 minutes long, and it probably takes longer to explain than to do.

Cheers, Nigel

PS Our team design albums all day every day, so they’re good. They get to know your style, your likes and dislikes, but their main watchword, like mine, is simplicity … which really means classic, timeless. They also know Photojunction and our albums better than anyone else and will deliver your design in a timely fashion. (Usually 2-3 days after receiving your order (however they’ll take a little longer during the busy season).)

 

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    • FTP: surprisingly simple

    July 11th, 2009 in News by Nigel Hicks


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    You know something’s been done right when its simplicity takes you by surprise … either that or something’s wrong!

    If I told you something that previously needed its own piece of software can now be done with the click of a button, would you believe me?

    It’s true.

    Over the past couple of months the guys at Photojunction have been developing a feature especially for Queensberry clients. They’ve integrated the FTP process into Photojunction and released it in the latest release of Photojunction, beta 1.26b. Ordering and sending your album is now one smooth, easy process. You won’t need LabFTP any longer to upload your orders, and it’s all pretty much automated.

    Click here to watch a short movie Danny, Ian and I recorded to tell you all about it.

    Enjoy!

    Cheers, Nigel

    Download Photojunction 1.26b beta free here.

     

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    • The Queensberry Rules

    June 15th, 2009 in Marketing by Ian Baugh


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    Boxers

    Forget about boxing, here are the Queensberry Rules for photographers!

    1. Outstanding presentation adds enormous value to your photography.

    2. Using the same albums as everyone else reduces the value of your photography.

      Ask anyone in the street how much a stack of prints is worth, or a disc of images, or a slideshow. Everyone’s been to the mini lab, or burnt a disk, so the answer is, “Not much”.

      What you’re paying for when you hire a professional, of course, is their time, skill and artistry. Focusing on the presentation takes nothing away from that. It simply places the photography in a new context where it can be better valued and respected.

      Cheers, Ian

       

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      4. Extra eyes and ‘the fear’

      April 17th, 2009 in Photography & Design by Johannes van Kan


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      I remember ordering my first album. I also remember the fear that maybe I had made a mistake somewhere.

      I remember ordering my second. I remember that the fear didn’t change.

      A couple of times over the years I’ve made significant spelling errors. That didn’t help with ‘the fear’! The albums had to be repaired or replaced … and I ended up with a wonderful studio sample. Not the end of the world.

      The truth is that there are quite a few checkpoints in the making of an album using PJ Remix, as well as during production, so the chances of making mistakes are significantly reduced from what they used to be. I appreciate the extra eyes at Queensberry looking at what we do.

      Last week we had an album in production. In one image there was a problem with banding that we hadn’t noticed. The lab, however, did notice and contacted us about correcting it.

      The album arrived today. It was fantastic.

      In the end it is all about ‘trust’.

      Cheers, Johannes

       

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      7. We see things differently

      March 18th, 2009 in Photography & Design by Johannes van Kan


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      We see things differently, Jo (my lovely wife and the mother of our child) and I.

      She likes punchy images, and I like seeing detail and tone.

      You can’t have both – it’s a trade-off.

      In spite of our differences we both want the best.

      I sympathise with the lab, trying to keep people like us happy.

      Its going to be interesting seeing who gets to dress our child (in June).

      Cheers, Johannes

       

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      10. Printing and assembling Duos

      February 10th, 2009 in Products & Services by Nigel Hicks


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      dsc_0007

      Photography by Michael + Anna Costa

      Although we’d love all our clients to print with us, and most now do, we can’t expect that everyone will. It’s a huge ask to send your images to the other side of the world for printing. 

      But sometimes, for reasons that have little to do with the printing itself, we need really tight control to deliver you a good result. Duos are a prime example. The design and craft processes that allow us to integrate digital and matted pages, create split mats etc are intensive and very demanding.

      In particular the variability in output from third party labs is a serious challenge. Variation in print size is one regular problem and complicates trimming prints and aligning images in apertures, split mats etc. The result? Mistakes… having to adjust page layouts and re-cut mats to work around problems… having to replace prints… and the associated costs.

      That’s why we need to print Duos at Queensberry. Our lab equipment and systems are set up specifically to suit Photojunction and our album processes. And if we do make a mistake we can re-print a colour-matched image no problem.

      All up there are the three Duo “musts”…

      1. The album must be printed at Queensberry.
      2. The album must be assembled at Queensberry (we trim the finished page block before we bind it).
      3. The album must be designed in PJ Remix (Remix knows all about those “design and craft processes” so we get exactly what we need to make the book).

      We know “musts” can be frustrating.  It’s all about offering you a hassle-free experience, fast service and the best possible product.

      Cheers, Nigel

      PS See the Costa’s entire album here.

       

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      13. QBY and Super-Lab merge

      December 22nd, 2008 in News by Ian Baugh


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      We’re proud to announce that New Zealand’s two specialist Pro Labs are to merge.

      Bob and Lena Tulloch have decided it’s time to exit the lab business after twenty-seven years so they can focus on their studio and gallery in Mt Maunganui. They are delighted that the Super-Lab operation will become part of Queensberry’s lab services.

      Bob says, “After so many years of personal involvement in the printing business this will inevitably be a wrench, but we are personally committed to making the transition a success for Super-Lab clients. Queensberry has the same commitment as Super-Lab to quality, customer care and the unique needs of professional photographers, and of course they’ll be handling our own lab requirements in future.”

      Stephen Baugh says Queensberry has always admired the Super-Lab operation. “These are exciting times for us. The Super-Lab deal is the first step in a new drive to support the growth of professional photography.

      “In January we’ll be releasing LabFTP 3.0, a state of the art on-line print ordering system.

      “Plus we’ll shortly be announcing a series of New Zealand seminars in which Bob and our own team will focus on key issues in the current economic climate – business survival, marketing and productivity as well as the practicalities of shooting high-quality images and uploading orders with LabFTP 3.0.”

      The Queensberry/Super-Lab merger will take effect from the start of business after the Christmas closedown.

       

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      16. QBY’s hassle-free printing workflow #3

      October 15th, 2008 in Products & Services by Ian Baugh


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      What if you want us to print your cover image, but nothing else?

      1. When you fire up the Remix Order Wizard, choose either the “Assemble From Prints Supplied” or Don’t Assemble” option.

      2. On the same screen the Wizard will offer a place to include “support files” for your album supplier. Open your folder of High-Res Export files and drag in a copy of the cover image (don’t double up by sending it to your lab to print as well).

      3. Remix may ask you if you want us to print the cover image (generally it’ll be obvious what you want, in which case Remix won’t ask). Be sure to say Yes.
      4. When the export is finished you’ll have two “bundles”, one for your lab and one for Queensberry. If you’ve followed Step 2 the cover image file will be in the Queensberry one.

      5. Upload the bundle to us using LabFTP.

      You could just email the file to us, but we prefer if you don’t. Getting everything in the one bundle is much more efficient. It will save us both hassles and you’ll get your album faster.

      HTH, Ian

       

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      October 6th, 2008 in Products & Services by Ian Baugh


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      We’re describing the perfect way to send us your print-and-bind order…

      After exporting your files you definitely shouldn’t jump straight to LabFTP and send us the files – we wouldn’t know what to do with them!

      Instead, always use the Remix Order Wizard. (You’ll find it under the Album menu). Remix will validate your order and create an order “bundle” that contains everything we’ll need to process your order – provided you follow these instructions:

      order-wizard-1

      1. Run your order through the Send Order Wizard. You’ll find a tutorial here. The Wizard will ask what service you want (eg Print & Assemble) and also pose a few questions we need answers to, such as whether you want copy albums.

      bundle

      2. You can specify where to save the bundle, which is labeled with a unique ID. The graphic above shows what it looks like (on Mac). This particular bundle is for an order where we’re doing the printing (note the Print Files sub-folder).

      3. You’ve probably already done this, but you still have the opportunity to edit your print files. Just remember this: Photojunction has made COPIES of the print files created earlier by the High-Res Export Wizard. If you choose to edit them now, before sending them to your vendor, please note that you’re correcting a COPY. The original export will remain unchanged.

      4. When it’s finished, the Order Wizard will automatically NOTIFY us of your order but NOT send us any files. If you want us to print for you, (even just the cover motif) we need the bundle, which you need to upload to us with LabFTP.

      5. Last step, open LabFTP and upload the files. Instructions for LabFTP are here if you need them. Please make sure you have the latest version (v3 and later automatically check for updates).

      Next in this series: What if you just want us to print your cover photo?

      HTH, Ian

      PS We’ll be posting a movie to explain the Remix Export and Order Wizards shortly.

       

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      September 25th, 2008 in Products & Services by Ian Baugh


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      cover
      Cover layout design in PJ Remix

      Here are the first steps in preparing a perfect, hassle-free print-and-bind order, really fast.

      1. First, upgrade to PJ Remix. If you have already, thank you.

      2. Use Remix to design your cover as well as your page layouts. You’ll get to frame and crop the cover image yourself, see exactly what it looks like and be sure that it looks good. For example, here you can see how much of the image in the photo front cover layout above has been cropped away. No problem in this case, but many images won’t be suitable:

      cover-crop

      3. Export your cover AND page layouts using Remix’s Export Wizard (Album menu > Export > High-Res Export).

      export-wizard

      Make sure you:

      • Choose “QBY Full Colour Service” or “QBY Print-Ready Service” as your Lab Settings (depending on which service you require).
      • Check the box to include your cover layouts.
      • Export PSDs (except in the unlikely event that you don’t intend to edit them in Photoshop afterwards).

      Photojunction will prompt you where to save the output files.

      4. Now you can edit your files to your hearts content. Well, not quite. Remember NOT to change image sizes, cropping, file names or specifications. If you do, Photojunction may not be able to locate your files, or they may no longer match the mats you’ve designed, or they may not be formatted correctly for your lab or album supplier. What you CAN do is add text, colour correct, do artwork etc.

      BTW you’ll find that the special effects you did in Remix (B&W, Sepia, borders etc) are all editable.

      Click here for PJ’s help page.

      Next step, the Order Wizard and LabFTP.

      HTH, Ian

       

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