Warming photos for printing

[Baldy]

At smugmug we use a pro lab by the name of EZ Prints to make prints, as does Nikon.net, Webshots, PrintRoom, etc.

Their strategy is to hit the colors accurately in the shots you submit.

Consumer labs like Ofoto, however, put your shots through a warming process to help fair-skinned caucasions look like Indiana Jones.

Both strategies will get you some enraged customers and some returns — us from some fair-skinned consumers who want to look less pink, and Ofoto from more serious amateurs and pros who say they didn't hit the color, or from asians who don't like to look yellow.

We are considering adding a feature at checkout with a show-me interface called something like "the tanning salon" that consumers could choose if they wished. For pros who are selling pics, that option would not appear as they would be allergic to it.

What's your reaction? Good idea or bad? Your answer may depend on what's meant by warming, but lets just assume it's like Ofoto's secret sauce that makes you look less pink and more tanned (making grass muddy in the process, and red sweaters look blah).

[wxwax]

My thoughts?

:lol3

Sounds like a nice option, but I'd show them a side by side comparison so they had no doubt about what they were ordering.

[Dach]

Maybe I'm alone in this, but it seems that if I wanted to look a different shade than the original picture showed, I'd touch it up in Photoshop, then send it to the photolab to print exactly what I sent them. I think the idea of altering the picture in post-processing hearkens back to the olden days of film and chemicals and that great C41 smell. But, this is the 21st Century, and, just like if I took a flyer into Kinko's, I'd expect a photolab to print exactly what I sent them. If it comes out bad, it's my fault. Even my mom, who has minimal computer skills but a good eye for composition, knows how to use whatever software came with her camera to make the colors balance out right. So, I vote against the tanning booth :)

[ahcrouch]

The promise of un-"enhanced" colors was one of the main reasons I chose smugmug. Even though I'm no pro, I have a reasonably well-calibrated color process, and I want prints to come out as I've prepared them to come out. I've been pretty happy so far, though sometimes EZPrint's prints seem a bit strong on the reds compared to what I see on my screen.

That said, if the "tanning" option adds no extra steps in the ordering process--i.e., I can ignore it completely and not have to uncheck any boxes--I can imagine that some users would appreciate it.

Andy

[DoctorIt]

Hit the colors! If people want to look tanned, go outside! I'm not a pro by any means, but when I do prints down at my local Ritz, I make them reprint it if the colors are off even a bit.

[fish]

Hit the colors! If people want to look tanned, go outside! I'm not a pro by any means, but when I do prints down at my local Ritz, I make them reprint it if the colors are off even a bit.

Agreed with the doc.