4hr turnaround on 16x20 print???

[m_p7]

My brother is getting married in Atlanta in February. The bride's mother

wants a large print (16x20 or so) made of a shot from the wedding at 1PM to

show at the reception at 5PM that evening. Their photographer says the best

she could do was an 8x10 in that time frame. Apparently, the bride's mother

was at a wedding where this was done. I told my brother I'd check into it for

him.

 

So, anybody know of a decent place in Atlanta that can make a 16x20 print

(from digital) in 4 hours on a Saturday afternoon? I don't care if it is RA-4

or inkjet, just something decent (would rather not go to Kinko's).

 

Thanks

Mike

[annealmasy]

I don't remember if they're open on Saturdays, but you could check into Color Genesis. They

used to offer pretty fast turn-around, although you'd have to pay additional for it.

 

I just have to ask: are you from Atlanta? Traffic here can be a nightmare, so getting from the

ceremony, to the lab, then back to the reception COULD take a couple of hours (depending

on the location), not to mention the time to actually get the image off the camera, get it

print-ready, have it printed at the lab, have it mounted, then get it ready to show.

 

Sounds like an accident waiting to happen to me!

[m_p7]

I'm not from Atlanta - my brother lives there. I would probably just shoot a bunch of jpgs, pick the best, and print it as is. No time for RAW and photoshop. Ideally, I would just give the info to the photographer and have them worry about it, since I would rather not have the hassle during my brother's wedding. I'm just trying to do some legwork for my brother (which, frankly, their photographer should be doing).

[john_h.1]

It may be difficult, depending on the decor of the venue and so forth, but you could consider using a computer and renting/borrowing a projector. Many other images could be shown too. Assuming they are digital images.

 

The photog at my sister's wedding spent a lot of time at the reception showing people images on his notebook. Was that because I was "Uncle Bob" or was I having to be because the photogragher was showing images instead of taking them? I had the impression the time was being spent on organizing the images there and then rather than later. His images, even unedited, drew praise. But I digress.

 

If the photographer seems resistant, perhaps they might consider the advantage of showing images to all those potential customers. A extra $$$ bonus could help.

 

Something to consider at least.

[jeffrey_blake_adams]

Where will the event be, there are labs all over, a few open sat, Showcase on Cheshire Bridge might be able to do it, if e-sixlab is open sat, they may be able to do it, there are several labs on 14th st, which do large format, Meteor, Color Reflections and Imagers are nearby as well.

Jeffrey

[al_kaplan1]

A lot of sign shops are set up to print very large digital images on vinyl film which can be mounted on just about anything.

[annealmasy]

<i><b>M P , nov 28, 2006; 07:48 p.m.</b><br>

I'm not from Atlanta - my brother lives there. I would probably just shoot a bunch of jpgs,

pick the best, and print it as is. No time for RAW and photoshop. Ideally, I would just give

the info to the photographer and have them worry about it, since I would rather not have

the hassle during my brother's wedding. I'm just trying to do some legwork for my brother

(which, frankly, their photographer should be doing).</i>

<p>

I'm confused: are YOU going to be taking photographs as well? And it's one of YOUR

images that you want blown up?

<p>

I'm just trying to understand who's doing what.

<p>

From your initial post it sounds like the photographer already gave you an answer: she can

provide an 8x10. Just because something CAN be done doesn't mean the photographer

has to do it. There are many, many factors involved in a scenario like this that may make

the photographer hesitant to pursue it.

<p>

Just make sure your brother and his bride-to-be are communicating all of these plans with

their photographer. Unless everyone is on the same page, this could become really

frustrating to you and everyone else involved.

[nagya]

My only concern would be, why would you want your photographer to leave to get something printed. My only hope is he/she has an assistant to run the errand because you are taking to big of a risk otherwise. I would never leave a wedding to do a print. EVER. Maybe they could do a formal shot before and have it printed and take it with them. Couples do this a lot or even the engagement shot. How long is it going to take someone to choose this photo? Are you willing to give up that kinda of photo time? I honestly think it sounds like a big deal now but on the wedding day no one will care.

We need to have priorities about what's important....

[luminous world]

To Amanda's point, does the bride's mother know how many people were involved in making this happen and what the cost of the wedding shoot was? Good chance there was a very good, knowledgeable assistant involved to process the image and get it to and from a lab or they might have printed it themselves if they had a high end inkjet. Regardless, good bet the overall price the photog charged was top shelf.

[charity borg]

I don't know about the feasibility of this either. I know when I worked as a lab technician that a request of something that size would have to wait with the other 50 one-hour photo orders that were "damn important" to be done within a short time frame. Make prior arrangements with the lab you're taking this image to so you don't get told that it can not be done within an hour. Saturday is also a very busy day at a photo lab because that's the time a lot of people do their weekend projects like printing, etc.

 

I second the idea of a photographer never leaving a wedding to print something at a lab on a wedding day. I consider that an irresponsible thing to do as a photographer because I am being paid a lot of their hard-earned money to document their wedding day. Unless the photographer has that as part of their contract as something they do...

[picny]

I have recently been asked to do some 8x10's in hour turnaround.

I called the lab ahead of time to confirm pricing and them being able to take my order on Saturday. All seemed fine... until I got the lab, ready with the card. I was told they are busy with a job and I would have to come back in an hour or two. Luckily, I knew of a lab nearby, so in the end it worked out, I was only about 20 minutes late and I had to risk getting a parking ticket in front of the backup lab.

 

What I suggest, if the photographer is willing to risk it. Visit the lab in mind, get the specific pricing for rush service; Make sure you know who will be in the lab at that time and able to accommodate in timely manner.

 

I would also ask if they have an email where you could email the image if the lab is over 20 minutes away from the reception location. This could save time, photographer emailing the file while assistant driving to lab to pick it up. Having the image in mind with file name really saves up on time at the lab, them scrolling through all images can take forever, 8Mpx JPG's on UltraIII Sandisk was very slow in Noritsu Machine.

[starkitty]

I hardly take time to eat during a wedding shoot, let alone run around town to get a print made. If the bride's mother wants something to display at the reception, perhaps she should consider an engagement and/or bridal portrait session scheduled about a month before the wedding day. She'll have the finished print in plenty of time, and the photographer won't be forced to miss any once in a lifetime moments.

[ned1]

I'm sure the photographer at the other wedding lugged his own injet around. If you REALLY want this to happen spend a grand on your own wide format printer and print it yourself. Just make sure you go through several dry runs first

 

All in all it sounds like a bad idea

[cjogo]

Costco -- we have done 11X14's in 4 hours --just up~load or deliver to the counter. Corporate though.... Of course, not requested very often -- since we charge a huge rush charge! 8x10 = $55 each - ( net 1.49 ) But > if someone paid us $300 for rush 16X20 -- sure would find a way to order a $9.95 print from Costco,, :-)

[kelly_flanigan1]

A 4 hours turnaround is easy. If the print is to be mounted or laminated there must be enough time to allow proper drying, this varies with the shops inksets and papers. Atlanta is a big place, you want to find a close local shop, and get to know the folks, and give them an easy input to print. ALL shops get requests for rush jobs, many folks want to wait for printing too. A HUGE part of the cost of dealing with the general public is the jackassery of experts retarded inputs, images in doc file, wordperfect, files upsized to the moon, files that are mulitpage and have to be split apart to print page 1117 out of page 1223 to a 36x48" image. A printer has other jobs to juggle, equipment with calibration and paper to respool. Do a dry run with the shop. You might find they dont have the latest RAW converter for the latest camera off the boat from China, or they only use one type of paper.

[m_p7]

Let me clarify.

 

I am NOT the photographer. I'll probably snap some of my own, but as a guest, not an official photographer. I live in Utah, not Atlanta. The wedding is at the LDS (Mormon) temple in Atlanta. My brother asked me about having a large print made in that timeframe because I am a photographer. He thought I might be able to take a photo and have a large print made. I told him it was unlikely, but that I would check into it. I also told him the best thing to do was ask how the other photographer got it done - he may very well have had his own wide-format printer.

 

Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions - it was helpful, just like I knew it would be. I will talk to my brother about the situation, and I agree that the photographer shouldn't leave the wedding. I think the idea was to do this at the end. But even then, I think this request is above and beyond, and is a bad idea. I certainly don't want to have to deal with it. I want to relax, not drive all over town. And I would also charge a premium for this.

 

Thanks again, and I'll let everyone know what happens.

 

Mike

[Jerry_]

Most one-hour labs (i.e., Wal-mart) can get a 8x12 print out in less than 1 hour, but you'd need a copyright release for a image other than your own.

 

 

 

Have you considered checking the phone book for labs in the Atlanta area? There should be more than a few for the size of the greater Atlanta area.