Full Colour Service means we take responsibility for colour correction and print quality from your files.

Click here for our “Help With Printing” resource pages.

Click here for our File Specifications.

You can be back taking pictures and selling them while your competitors are still sweating over their computers

One school of thought says that the pro lab’s role today is very limited. Sure, in the past your lab corrected and balanced the colour and density of your images, but when you went digital that became your responsibility. In other words the lab's job now is simply to “faithfully reproduce” the images that you shot and edited in Photoshop. If doing that work appeals to you, and you have the expertise, that’s great - click here for more about Print-Ready Service.

But there is another way. Full Colour Service means we take responsibility for colour correction and print quality, just like the old days. Scroll down for more about why we recommend Full Colour Service.

Colour correcting album page layouts requires layered Photoshop (PSD) files so that we can correct individual images. Otherwise we prefer flattened, sized JPGs.

Click here for our definition of "colour correction" .

Normal (standard) colour correction entails adjusting RGB colour values, density and contrast across the ENTIRE IMAGE. This is what you can expect when you order Full Colour Service prints or album layouts from us. Standard colour-correcting charges are INCLUDED in our Full Colour Service prices.

CUSTOM colour correction allows us to spend extended time in Photoshop colour-correcting specific areas of the image for the best possible result. This is closely related to other forms of image editing (enhancement, cropping, resizing etc) and like them is charged on a time basis.

Saving your “corrected” files

Once your images have been satisfactorily corrected, they are saved with the changes. You can request a CD or DVD burn of your images so that we can return the corrected layout files to you. We retain images on our servers for three months after your order is completed.

If your order requires critical colour matching

As with optical, where an exact match is required there’s no substitute for sending a sample or print. You may also need to order custom colour correction.

We can send you “soft proofs” so you can preview on screen the image as it will appear after printing (click here). In certain circumstances we may require you to confirm that you are happy to proceed with printing on the basis of these soft proofs.

Actual, suitably scaled paper proofs from our own printer are also available at normal prices.

See First Time Printing for further information.

Less work, less hassle, more time, top quality

Here's why we recommend our Full Colour service. 

Less work, because we do it for you

Just shoot the pictures, sell them and send them to us for printing. In fact we can do practically everything for you, not just colour correction: retouching, print finishing, binding and album assembly. All you have to do is deliver the finished product to your client.

An extra pair of eyes

We have a great opportunity to review your files in the process of colour-correcting them. It's like having an extra pair of eyes working for you, and it's amazing what we notice. Here's a partial list of what the problems we check for and can resolve before we do your printing:

• Are the images ICC-profiled? Are there any obvious colour management problems?
• Are the images correctly exposed? White balance OK etc?
• Are the images soft or pixelated?
• Are scans or image files big enough/good enough to print?
• Are there opacity issues (we recommend no less than 60%)?
• Are there alignment problems in the page layouts?
• Are image borders too close to the page edge in the layouts?
• Are there rotational problems or scaling problems in the layouts?
• Are all the images present in the layouts?
• Are the panorama pages split in appropriate positions?
• Are there problems that require artwork?

We can refer the job back for you to resolve, or fix many of these issues for you, as you wish (check your price list for details of our charges).

We do not guarantee that we will discover any or all problems that you or your client might notice. In the end, this is your responsibility and a matter of judgment. Always check your files carefully before sending them to us and complete any remedial artwork YOU feel is necessary, or arrange for us to do it for you.  

Less to go wrong with colour management

Colour management is a minefield. One false step and – well, you don’t get the results you expect! Full Colour Service clears a path through most of the problems because they become our responsibility.

Provided there’s nothing wrong with the shot itself, we can produce a quality print. Just make sure your image files are tagged with the correct ICC profile when you send them to us.

More time to shoot pictures

You can be back taking pictures and selling them while your competitors are still sweating over their computers.

Higher quality

Colour management is just the means to an end, making beautiful prints. That’s been our business since 1974. We’re very good at it, and we aim to be the best professional service available. The actual printing is the same price as our print-ready service. You only pay more for the work you’re no longer doing in studio.

A “need to know” basis

If you choose Full Colour Service your life really does get simpler. All you really need to know is how to:

• Get the best from your digital camera.

• Convert your camera files to our File Specifications and embed ICC profiles.

• Review and organise your images and display them so you can sell. (The old ways are likely to be irrelevant or expensive: we recommend Photojunction.)

Ideally you should also understand the basics of colour management, so that you can:

• Calibrate your monitor.
  
• Set up Photoshop’s colour settings.
  
• Soft proof (preview on screen how the final prints will look).

All the topics listed above are covered in detail on this website.

Beyond that, however, we do believe it makes good business sense for many professional photographers to concentrate on shooting and selling. Certainly if you'd rather spend more time behind the camera than in front of the computer.

What does that mean in practice? That, unless you choose to, you don’t need...

• To colour your correct images yourself.
• To design and/or assemble albums.
• To apply fancy adjustments and special effects in Photoshop.
• To be able to print your images as well as we do.
• To know anything but the basics of colour management.

We’re not suggesting that these things don't matter, or that ignorance of them is a virtue – just that, from a business perspective, you have a choice what to do yourself and what to pass on to us.