Portfolio Prints for digital artists

[Wacom Knight]

I did this recently and my prints turned out EXACTLY like what I see on my screen. I did this at Wal-Mart, don't laugh until you see the results. DON"T deal with CMYK, it blows chunks. Nothing really has the reproduction ability of RGB, I do digital oil paintings, millions of colors.
I had an idea, the other day. I went to Walmart with 5 paintings on a CD. Saved in High resolution 300dpi 8x10 (12 setting in Photoshop) Jpeg. Went to one of those "do it yourself " PHOTOPRINTS. I selected 8 x 10 as I had previously resized my images to those specs.
When they printed out, it blew my f**** doors off. The images came out exactly like I see on my screen. I really was incredibly happy about this. I send my samples to book companys, and all other print attempts failed horribly (CMYK dimension). Personaly I have no interest in selling prints (even though there is dead section attempt on my site). It is quite a feeling to have your digital images so easly reproduced and perfect. Next week I am having 11 x 14s done.
Try it, you'll find it addicting! (4x6 are.38 cents, 8x10 are$5 each)

[egerie]

I heard FutureShop (of all places) is also doing a good job in simple RGB files. My buddy got there with a couple dozen Mbs TIFF files and they came out great on photo paper for pretty much the same price (in CDN $).

Thanks for letting us know of another source ! Will try it soon.

[killing.people]

that is interesting. i have been told up and down at school rgb is for digital presentation, while cmyk is for printing.
i should definately try this out though, i dont deny that everyone has the oportunity to be wrong, even the pros.
thanx for sharing the tip!

[sone_one]

rbg works great for "home"-printers (laser, ink,...) but for offset printing they need to be cmyk.

and if you like to print your pictures, save them is tiff not jpg.

[ShawnYe]

I done this type of photoprints before too that I printed at small size( 5R, 40cents each )and kept as references in little photo albums. I just send the rgb files to photo shops where you get your photos developed. I must say the quality that came out is excellent even for jpg files although its recommended to print tiff instead. I usually have alot of problem getting the colours correct for cmyk for prints.

[Wacom Knight]

well from what I found out from another poster, alot of the newer "self serve" machines use (Fuji in this case) RGB lasers (no ink) to react with the chemical photo paper. So your work (jpg) is created as a photograph. Much in the same way film still is devolped I guess.

[Wacom Knight]

What is a Lightjet print?

"A lightjet is not photo quality, it is a true photograph on actual photographic paper"
There are some things that even a 1200 or 1400 dpi inkjet printer cannot do. They can simulate or come close to continuous tone, but there are special wide format printers that achieve continuous tone naturally. The LightJet printer from Cymbolic Sciences is one of several such printers. It exposes photographic paper with laser light. There is no ink, and no printhead going back and forth, hence no banding, no grainy dot pattern.
A Lightjet photograph is an actual photographic print exposed by the Lightjet 430 laser printer. The printer reads the information in a digital file, then uses lasers to expose the image onto Fuji Crystal Archive paper. This paper has been tested to be more archival than other popular color printing methods (lasting over 60 years without noticeable fading in controlled conditions), including Ilfochrome printing. Unlike inkjet prints, which lay ink on paper, Lightjet prints are made on light-sensitive photo paper, which is exposed with red, green and blue lasers.
LightJet printers set the standard for true photographic quality. An internal drum holds photo media stationary while imaging with three lasers, achieving image quality superior to all wide format printers - photographic, inkjet and electrostatic.
LightJet's imaging technology ensures a constant pixel size, shape and intensity over the entire image. Media is held stationary within a precision internal drum, while a spinning mirror directs laser light to expose the photographic material.
Using red, green and blue lasers, the LightJet achieves true continuous-tone. Inkjet and electrostatic printers, which simulate photo quality with half-tone dot patterns, would need to image at 4000 dpi to duplicate the same image crispness, highlights and shadow detail.
The LightJet has a 36-bit color space, capable of producing 68 billion colors, which ensures optimum control over the light source to reproduce color with perfect fidelity. In comparison, other photo printers are limited to 24 bits or 16.7 million colors.