BetterPhoto Q&A
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Developing pictures

Jamie

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January 25, 2001

I suggest you find the professional photo labs near you. Use the Yellow Pages to find them. If you have any professional friends, especially a wedding/portrait photographer, ask them what lab they use. Professional photographers do network with each other in spite of the fact they are essentially competitors.

Have them develop and print a trial roll of film to proofs. Do _not_ do this with anything critical for a customer. It's very likely you will find more than one pro lab. Do this with each one. Evaluate what you get back. When you find a good lab, you will know it when you see the proofs.

First and foremost is a lab that will not botch the film processing, damage negatives, or lose film! Prints can always be replaced, if you have the negatives to do it with.

Following a close second is high quality prints, as you mentioned, on professional paper, either Kodak or Fuji. Fuji's Crystal Archive Professional is also very good paper and will withstand hanging on a wall for many years with little fading or color shifting. You want to keep rework to an absolute minimum. They should do an excellent job with just "machine prints" of the entire film frame and only charge for custom prints if you have cropping, or dodging and burning done. The cost should not be much higher for processing and printing to 4x6 proofs than a high end consumer lab.

A couple of other suggestions if you have not already done so:

(1) Set up an archival filing system so you can properly archive negatives. A professional will keep indexed archives for reprints at a later date.

(2) Use professional portrait films for your portraiture. Consumer films are not really made for portraiture. A good portrait film has very wide latitude, exceptional skin tones, neutral mid-tones, very accurate color response and is not overly saturated. You might try Kodak's Portra 160 NC, or Fuji's NPS 160. There is also Portra 400 NC, 160 VC and 400 VC. The VC is a little more vivid and saturated, and slightly grainier than the same speed NC. Most wedding photographers prefer the NC over the VC. Fuji also has 400 NPH. Use the ISO 160 unless you absolutely must have the higher speed. This will minimize grain in large prints.

Pro films should be stored refrigerated to remain at their peak of color rendition. I keep a waterproof container of pro film in the back of the veggie bin. Pull the film out no less than 45 minutes before you intend to use it, but do not open the container until it is up to room temperature to keep mositure from condensing on the cold film. You can leave it in a camera or at room temperature for a week or so without any problems. I mail order the pro films in bulk, usually several pro-packs of 5 rolls each. This spreads one shipping cost over a large quantity of film.

Switching to professional portrait films for work similar to what you are doing (though I don't do it that often) and having the processing done by an excellent pro lab has made a huge difference in the prints I get and has been well worth the modest additional cost.

-- John

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January 26, 2001

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March 08, 2001