Checking Your Images

You can have photos produced by a professional or you can do it yourself. Include a greyscale and color bar placed next to your original artwork. The greyscale and color bar show color balance and exposure to the printer. When using transparency film, we recommend the industry standard, Kodak Ektachrome (ASA 50 or 64). To eliminate reflection and glare, evenly place lights at a 45 degree angle from the the artwork. Poor lighting will affect detail in shadow areas.

PLEASE NOTE: Color variations may occur if the light source does not match the film.

The best approach is to set your camera exposure to the correct stop and also bracket in half stops, 2 up and 2 down, making a total of 5 exposures. Check #1. After your film is processed, compare it to the color bar using a 5000K light source with a CRI (Color Rendering Index) of 90% or higher (found at most photo labs where your film was developed). Your image is over-exposed (too light) when the greyscale section of the color bar is missing steps on the light end of the spectrum, and under-exposed (too dark) when missing steps on the dark end. Check #2. Check the colors - blue and green color casts are very common processing mistakes. Check #3. Check the focus - make sure your image is not out of focus and soft, but rather sharp and focused.

Final Check. Exposure, Lighting, Color, and Focus are all O.K.

PLEASE NOTE: This will help you get the best production of your photos, but will not "guarantee" an exact reproduction due to limitations in the printing process as well as neighboring image ink requirements.

Call us toll-free at 1-866-627-0400 or email us to talk to a Customer Care Representative about artwork guidelines.