costco prints (Page 3): I recently had several photos printed at Costco and I really was impressed by the quality of the prints. However, the paper they use is very thin and the ones I...

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

ygelman wrote:

This is clever, but one purpose for the mat is to keep the glass away from the print when it's framed. What do you do for that?

I recently had several photos printed at Costco and I really was impressed by the quality of the prints. However, the paper they use is very thin and the ones I framed touching the glass without mats had blue blotches on the print when the frames were put together. This did not happen on the prints framed with mats. I have never had this happen when I printed my own photos on Kodak or Canon paper. Costco uses Fuji paper. Any suggestions on how to avoid this problem?

ejw 46 Loc: Tempe, AZ

This is why you soft proof if possible. Many Costco profiles are available on line.

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

foathog wrote:

I don't know about anyone else, but when I take a shot I frame it the way I want it....the way I would want to see it on the wall. I don't WANT to crop it. Now I have to accomodate the photo lab???

You're not accommodating the photo lab; you are living with the limitations of your equipment. In an ideal photographic world my photos would automatically change to 11x14 compatibility -- but that's not going to happen. It didn't happen in the old days when I enlarged my 35mm negative to 11x14; I would either have to make the photo smaller than 11x14, leaving a border around the photo, or crop the photo.

The problem doesn't lie with Costco or any other photo lab; it lies with the size limitations of our equipment.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

srfmhg wrote:

I recently had several photos printed at Costco and I really was impressed by the quality of the prints. However, the paper they use is very thin and the ones I framed touching the glass without mats had blue blotches on the print when the frames were put together. This did not happen on the prints framed with mats. I have never had this happen when I printed my own photos on Kodak or Canon paper. Costco uses Fuji paper. Any suggestions on how to avoid this problem?

You should always use dry mounting.

Moose Loc: North Carolina

Thanks Goofy for the info.

GoofyNewfie wrote:

I don't have PSE 14 but in CC you go to the Layer tab/layer style/ drop shadow.
Then I can play with how it looks using sliders and direction controls.

Again, as noted earlier by ygelman, if you are framing, don't let the print touch the glass.
The print will stick to it... quickly... if you have any sort of humidity.
(I regret selling my matte cutter sometimes, and now what my darkroom back too)

Photocraig

Linda From Maine wrote:

Look up "aspect ratio"

3:2 camera has multiples of 4x6, 8x12, 16x24 etc

4:3 camera makes 6x8, 12x16, 24x32

For a print of 5x7, 8x10, 11x14, you have two choices: crop something out, or print with a white border (which will not be evenly distributed around the edges).

Nice reply, Linda, especially on aspect ratio day. Your comment on a native aspect ratio full frame print points to the framer's ability to expose or crop the image as they please.
C

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

abc1234 wrote:

You should always use dry mounting.

Thanks for the info.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

srfmhg wrote:

Thanks for the info.

You are welcome. I have prints 70 years old that are still perfectly flat. One trouble with popping prints into those mass-produced frames is that they are not flat. Another issue is that they are centered while a professionally mounted print is offset slightly to the top. There is a recipe for doing that.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

Linda From Maine wrote:

Best way is to make the crop before submitting. However, the crop tool is on the site, too, so you can choose which part/s you want cut off rather than let Costco's computer do it.

Note that if your camera is 3:2 aspect ratio, to print everything you see in the jpg will require an 8x12 print.

What Linda said. Costco will only print to standard sizes. For a couple of 12x16 prints, I sent in a 12x18 with 2 inches of white and then trimmed it later.

topcat Loc: Alameda, CA

Costco and any printing company allow you to crop your image to the size that you want. They also let you make corrections in the photo.