Good/Bad online print suppliers ?

[NPUK]

Hi.... I'm planning to print some of my images to put on the wall at home and up until now have usually just nipped into Boots to do it myself using one of their clever little machines at the back of the shop and the prints seem pretty good, but I'm now considering ordering prints online (probably about 10 or 20 prints at 7" x 5"). Has anyone got any recommendations of a preferred online print supplier or perhaps more importantly, has anyone used a print supplier that they weren't happy with ?


Thanks

 

[droj]

For prints like that they all tend to use similar machines, so output tends to be fairly uniform. You've just got to dive in - a greater variation might result from your skill or otherwise in preparing images for print ... so I'd do a proof run first before having 20 done. See many threads on here about matching screen and print.

 

[NPUK]

For prints like that they all tend to use similar machines, so output tends to be fairly uniform. You've just got to dive in - a greater variation might result from your skill or otherwise in preparing images for print ... so I'd do a proof run first before having 20 done. See many threads on here about matching screen and print.

Thanks for the reply droj..... I have calibrated my screen (albeit by eye), and I export to sRGB which I believed was all I really needed to do for printing small sized prints using something like the machines in Boots. Is there more to it than that, involving colour profiles etc. ?

 

[droj]

I have calibrated my screen (albeit by eye), and I export to sRGB which I believed was all I really needed to do for printing small sized prints using something like the machines in Boots. Is there more to it than that, involving colour profiles etc. ?

I think you're on the right path, but the main problem people seem to find with printing is maybe that prints come back too dark, a result of the user's displays being too bright, often the case with ex-factory settings. But you might have sorted that already. I wouldn't necessarily bother with printer colour profiles at this stage, but they can be helpful for 'soft proofing' as a guide to what adjustments the images need before sending to print. Srgb should be good! And there's little wrong with a 'seat of the pants' approach, if it works.

 

[NPUK]

OK... Thanks for the input droj