Image Digital Photo Studio Penang

[Heike Fallago]

I decided to find out who really was creating the best high-quality photo prints for your average consumer printing needs. With a quick survey of my social media followers I asked who they use for printing (including online photo printing and high street printers) I then sent the following 6 photographs to the most mentioned printing companies, all of whom have rave reviews by their users, but were they actually quality photo prints? Hopefully answering one of my most often asked questions "Where to print photos?" "Best place to print digital photos?"

Every print looks more orange and contrasty and darker than it should have. We can see in the histograms below that the colours do not line up at all. We should expect a change in the histogram but not in the way that is shown. The lack of height on the Snapfish graph also shows us that it is not even in its colours. We can also see that on the Snapfish print there are some spots on her dress of pure white, also known as blown out highlights. This is a photography no no and in general, well, you can see. It's not a nice look.

The prints from Photobox added contrast where there wasn't any and while creating the contrast somehow the images came back rather dull and lifeless. As we can see from the histogram, the original image is full of subtle colours and tones with great detail, especially on the wedding dress. However, all of that is totally lost in the Photobox print. Interestingly these prints felt thinner than the rest, although they're supposed to be on the same paper. I could actually see my hand through the paper while I was holding them...

Possibly one of the biggest shockers was Boots. All of the black and white prints came out with a blue cast and very contrasty! As we can see in the histogram, it has added colours where they're weren't any. On its own away from a reference black and white, you could be fooled into the print being correct but as soon as you show the original next to it you see its miles out.

Now, DSCL is a big company not many will have heard of but I bet a lot of photographers have. In general, the prints are OK... They also do canvasses and serve both the public and trade accounts. All of the prints I ordered came back to me with more contrast and a little darker than they should. This doesn't mean that they are crazy bad... but it was a noticeable difference.

Gulp. Right here we go... For me, this was the biggest shocker of the whole experiment. I expected them to be the same as boots in all honesty. However, they were not. I will firstly say that all of the other prints were 12"x8" prints, which is near enough A4, however at timpsons, I couldn't print this size, so instead, I opted for a smaller size to be printed right away. The service was great and I can't fault the staff.

The prints on the other hand? Well, they're dull, almost see through in some parts and just look at what they did to a beautiful French couple who got married in Eskdale?! Again we can tell from the histogram that the highlights just were not replicated at all making the couple look rather unwell...

It was incredible to see how my professional photo lab prints compared not only to my screen but to the other companies. Now, I would like to point out that I have not added the histograms to these as there's hardly any difference at all and so it would be rather pointless. However, I can tell you that the lab prints are slightly more contrasty by nature as is any print but you can't tell this by eye. They also are full of detail, even down to the small camera grain, or the hair running across Kathryn's face in the waterfall photograph. None of the other companies picked that up but this one did. They feel true to life and full of vibrant colour.

But why is this? Well, not only are they dedicated photographer printers who do this day in day out, they are checked over in person before they are posted out. The extra care and attention is seriously noticeable. The other reason is a little geeky, but if you remember from above that every screen is different? Well, This printing company let me know how the calibrate my screen for their printers in order to make sure that they will look the same when printed. None of the others would let me. Instead, they just let their own computers take hold of the images and do what the computer thinks is right.

Photos are supposed to be printed and displayed for your enjoyment. So enjoy them. Eventually, every hard drive or USB stick will fail and as technology moves on, your framed prints will still be there smiling down on you, knowing that they are safe and on display for all to see.

So what I would say is simple. Think about print sizes and how the photos are going to be displayed. A simple scrapbook or homemade photo book doesn't need the cost or technology that would be used on your wall art displays on canvas or beautiful prints gorgeously framed.

Get the show-stopper photos you adore printed through your photographer for the walls and the smaller ones. If you can also print through your photographer, as they will be set up for that, then perfect! After all, you want your favourite moments to be displayed in all their glory!

If you're a photographer and you're looking for a comprehensive understanding of how client galleries can enhance your photography experience and offer seamless high-end lab print ordering, check out my detailed guide on Understanding Your Client Gallery. This is the experience that each one of my clients gets to have In the knowledge they're in safe hands and that the prints or albums are perfect.

The Hostos Shutterbug Program started in 2018 and has grown rapidly. There is a fully functional darkroom and we are currently finishing a photo studio where students will scan, edit, and print out their images. The highlight of the program last year was having the students work with staff from Caslon Publishing to produce the cover photo for their bilingual curriculum guide which is published nationally. This incredible experience taught the students how to work with a client through the concept and production stages and to deliver a quality final product to the client.

MunKeat has been nominated as Malaysia Top 10 Wedding Photographer in Malaysia specializing in wedding day, pre-wedding, engagement and fine art portrait. He shoots with both film and digital camera. .He travels extensively world wide for assignments.

Calling all film photographers and enthusiasts out there ! This is where I would like to share my journey in perfecting the art of film photography and keeping this art alive. More reviews, tips and imagery up soon !

36.Exposures is a film photography community in Malaysia where we share our passion for this dying art. Founded by MunKeat in 2012, he inspire to set up a film photography community in Malaysia where we share tips on shooting, buying as well as using old film cameras and dark room equipments, film scanning, workflow, film developing method, dark room processes, art work critics and so on.

MunKeat is a person who appreciate things from the past. With the advancement of digital era, it's sad to see cameras being replaced as frequent as mobile phones where each manufacturer trying to out do each other by coming out with more megapixels and lightning fast auto-focus system. The camera is getting more and more complex each day boasting loads of features which we do not really need.

The great thing about film cameras (especially the older ones) is the simplicity of using it. His all time favorite Leica M3, a 55yrs old camera is still working flawlessly like it was only a few years old ! All it has is just a shutter speed dial and an aperture ring. At that level of simplicity, it forces one to learn, where basic and fundamentals are crucial.

There are a lot of great tools available for editing, and my favorite techniques tend to have large impacts for little effort. Lightroom's masking tool does this better than anything else I've ever used. This guide will teach you everything you could possibly want to know about Lightroom masking regardless of your skill level.

January had been a difficult month for me. I was shooting a lot less, and as a result, I had a ton of time to think about my career and my direction. I ended up in a fairly bad place with my mental health. Like almost every other artist, I ended up hating much of what I do. Here's why it sucks being a photographer, and what you can do about it.

Why are photographers obsessed with shallow depth of field? And why I think it can ruin your photography as it almost did with mine. Read on about how it started to affect my photography and what I did about it.

Does the thought of photographing people for the first time frighten you? It did for me a few years ago. As an introverted photographer who also suffers from depression and anxiety, I was petrified to make the step into portrait photography, but I was able to push through it and now I love it!

I do my very best to help out photographers who are starting out. There are some negative tendencies in just about any photographer's career; I had them myself. The only difference between me and you is that you will now find out what's wrong, while I had to figure it out by trial and error.

Buying equipment is as exciting as ever, if you ask me. While my tastes are probably slightly different than yours, in the sense that I buy '90s flash gear and DSLRs, I have been doing this for around five years and have come up with a few tips on how to save money when buying gear.

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