unauthorized cropping!

Yesterday after getting some custom enlargements done I began noticing problems and I wonder if others have the same problems with their labs.

 

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First, the color was substantially off. It has a distinct pink cast which looks quite bad on a "white" horse

 

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Second, the cropping was off about 1/2 an inch off of what I had indended which is just enough to cut a foot off when you frame the print. On my instructions for cropping which I made with a cropping tool and showed the person at the lab was from the top to the bottom of the print and from the right of the saddle to where the reigns meet the neck of the horse. Well what got me was there was a lot more room in the enlargement at the top. Even more than in the original 'full frame' print. and there was not as much room at the bottom even after enlarging. The left-right cropping was acceptable. I pulled out the negative and imediately realized that the oringinal 5x5 print was NOT full frame. In fact, it cut off over 1/3" of image from the negative. As we all know 2/3" is quite a bit of negative. It almost looks like the portion of the negative that was used isn't much longer than a 35mm negaive is long.

 

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Have others had this problem? I do my own B/W work but surely I don't have to do my own color to get full frame prints or enlargements with the same color correction as the first print.

 

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Mark

Mark:

 

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I sometimes experience the same problem you do as far as color balance being off in the prints I get back from the lab. In fact, I recently I took some studio type pictures with 120 Fuji NPS of some guinea pigs (for a newsgroup calendar)on tulip and then medium blue background paper with monolights (White Lightening Ultras). I trued up exposure by taking several Polaroid test exposures. I also shot a roll Velvia--adjusting for the different ISO. When I got the proofs backs, the colors and exposures were all over the board on the prints which I assumed was due to the proofs being machine made (the negatives looked perfect). I then got the lab to make enlargements of several of the prints/negatives and provided them with large samples of the background papers--all to no avail. The prints seemed off by about a stop on some of the shots (washed out pictures with no matching of the background). Moreover, some of the enlargements were not even as good as the proofs as far as color fidelity and enlarger exposure. By the way, the Velvia slides were right on money. I had several regular R-type prints made of these slides, and they were fantastic.

 

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These prints were done by the premier lab here in Raleigh and were commercial grade not machine prints. It has been suggested that this was just a bad day at the lab, but it is a problem that crops from time to time. Unfortunately in this case, i was up against a dealine and didn't have time to have the prints redone.

 

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On occasion, I have printed my own color prints, but it has been very time consuming. There are two ways to screw up: messing up the exposure in the enlarger (too long/too short) and getting the color balance off.

Mark,

 

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Any lab worth using will reprint these photos for no charge. If they won't, find someone who will work with you and not force you to pay for unacceptable prints. If you gave the printer clear, concise instructions (and it sounds like you did), there is no reason for you to pay for these prints. The pink cast alone is enough reason to _politely_ demand a reprint. You may want to look for a lab that uses one-shot chemistry, which is expensive but the only way to get truly consistent results. Most labs churn out one print after another through an automated processor which replensihes the chemistry automatically. In theory this should work. In practice it makes it very difficult to achieve consistency. I know this from experience at as a photographer and as a customer printer. The best printers are also good photographers.

Upon returning to my printer I found out that his equipment is set up for 6x7 negatives and that he could not print full frame from a 6x6 negative. He is now recentering some of my prints but I have not recieved them yet.

 

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Mark

If your lab isn't set up for full frame 6x6s, I doubt that it is a

professional lab set up to make "commercial grade" prints.

 

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Dave

One thing to do to make the cropping instructions explicit is to make "tickmarks" on the plastic/mylar sleeve protecting your film, indicating the corners of the frame . That way if you say I want this area of the frame and indicate the crop with a quick line or two, they will have a reference to check where exactly that area is inside your frame in the event that the film moves inside the sleeve.

I order 5X5 nnch proofs from a lab specializing in B&W. I anticipated full from prints from my 6X6cm negatives. What I got was rather cropped. What should I have gotten?

Thanks,

Bob

Cropping instructions should always be given on a marked guide print. If you gave them instructions that they didn't follow, or if they got the color balance off a bit, if they are any good at all, they will offer to redo the job for free. If they can't get it right, mark the experience off as tuition, and try other labs. FWIW, it was my bad experiences with labs (mail order, one hour, and custom)that caused me to build my own color darkroom a few years ago.

Set up for 6x7, so can't print full frame 6x6.... does this make any sense to anyone?

Glen: Agreed. It makes no sense.

The only sure way to avoid dispute is to mark up some visual reference that travels with the order. It can be a tracing , a print or a sketch as long as the crops are indicated precisely. As to colour casts - without a reference it can be subjective but a decent lab will jump to correct faults with colour, focus, etc. If they don't jump you do.