El-Co Color Labs Forum

Poster Prints Mounted by Elco

James_F — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:54:29 GMT

In another thread about mounting options, I cited my less than satisfactory experiences with the 3M/Scotch "cold" pressure mounting process even after following the directions to the letter. I note that Elco offers mounting options. A couple of related questions:

1. Do you do the mounting also or just sell the materials?

2. If Elco does the mounting, what does that do to the cost of shipping for poster size prints? The possibility of damage during shipping scares me.

3. What, if any, customer feedback have you had about whether your mounting system will hold up in summertime sea-side (humidity) conditions? As I mentioned in the other thread, I don't run my AC in my house if I can avoid it due to the exorbitant cost of electricity.

3. Do you see any issue with my cutting your mounted posters if, for example, I ordered 40x30 posters which contain multiple pictures (merged photoshop layers at 254 DPI) (notwithstanding my making a cutting mistake)?

Printing newbie - Resizing help

pojomojo1 — Thur, 20 Aug 2009 04:57:03 GMT

I'm a total printing newbie. Not only do I know nothing about printing, I don't know much about images in general either. Therefore I think I need a little hand-holding for my first poster order (many more to come).

I recently purchased rights from my photographer to some pictures of my twin boys and I would like to get them printed and mounted on foam core.

I do have Photoshop 6.0 though I don't really know how to use it.

Now the photographer has given me JPG files. All files have the following dimensions: 3168 X 4752 (some images have 4752 x 3168; depending on the image orientation; not sure if that makes a difference).

Now I understand from your FAQs and older threads on this forum that I have to crop the image before sending to you depending on what poster size I want.

Question 1: I don't feel very comfortable with cropping as I'm afraid I will crop the wrong part out and it may not look good. The photographer has told me that these images are "post-processed" and "perfect as-is" and that no "modifications" or "color corrections" be made on them. They should be printed as-is. So what if I do this instead of cropping: I load up the image in PS 6.0; go to Image Menu --> Image Size. In the resulting dialog box if I type in 30 X 40 under width and height respectively (with Constrain Proportions checked (assuming I want a 30 x 48; if I want a 24x30 I would type in 24 x 30 here). And that's it. Hit ok and Photshop resizes the image without me having to crop it. Will this do fine? You think the results will be okay?

Question 2: I have read other threads in this forum where you have recommended physically cropping the image using the crop tool in PS for best results. How exactly do I use the crop tool? Your FAQ says:

"Using the crop tool in Photoshop, set your proportions to the size you are ordering, but leave the resolution field BLANK, not zero, but empty."

Where exactly do I set my proportions in the crop tool? I played around with it. When I select the crop tool and use it on my image, I can draw a rectangle on my image and then cut (crop) the image around the rectangle. Where do I set "proportions" and where is the resolution field that I need to leave "BLANK". I do not see the resolution field when using the crop tool. Again, I'm using PS 6.0. How do I crop so that the resulting image is exactly 24x30 or 30x40 or whatever poster size I'm trying to print.

Sorry for the long post; appreciate any help that I can get.

confirmation of file setup

aismert — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:06:52 GMT

Hi,

I have three 30x30 images I'd like printed. I made the canvas size 30x40 on all with white backgrounds. All images are 254 dpi or lower - the lowest 144.

One image is black and white but I converted it to RGB.
Does this all sound good?

I look forward to uploading and printing at El-Co.

thanks!

Question on poster printing

exzile — Thur, 02 Jul 2009 05:31:28 GMT

Just kind of wanted to verify the process a little.

I'm looking into turning some artwork created through photoshop into some large sized prints. Looks like you go to 30x60, which would work pretty well for what I need done.

The pics are to be caricatures of 80s rock stars for an event this summer where they are to be put on boards with the faces cut out for pictures.

How would this process work out? Just send you the file(s) in RGB format at 254dpi at a normal size, and the you re-size to fit as needed onto the 30x60 poster?

And for the cost, will it be $30.00 cost per poster, including re-sizing?

I'm just curious how the process works. Thank you

72.5 MB

sweater2009 — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:35:58 GMT

I did a little retouched to the file which I'm going to order from 8x12 to 16x20,but after the retouch the file went up from 6.2MB to 72.5MB.If I'm going to order these sizes do you think I will have a problem when it comes to uploading and the out come of the picture.The reason why the file went up that way ,because I saved it as a TIFF.I also tried the JPEG format which gave me a 875 KB.Which one do you think should I use to order those sizes .Thank you very much.

20x30 print

sweater2009 — Thur, 28 May 2009 21:21:17 GMT

I'm planning to get a 14 prints of 20x30 on a single file,would the file be affected as we print more copies?And the file was taken inside the house with only one light,what is the best paper should I use.

Custom Cutting on Poster Special

lsurulzes — Sun, 03 May 2009 20:58:02 GMT

Hi,

I was thinking about ordering a few posters from the poster special and was wondering if y'all do custom cutting on those? I am more than willing to pay the price to cut, as long as it is reasonable. Please let me know. Thanks.

Andrew Maness

Need help, I'd like to print a panoramic photo...

adriankeith — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:05:51 GMT

I'm not sure if this is possible, but I would like to print a panoramic photo I took recently. I don't know a whole lot so I was hoping to get my questions answered here. I used PTgui to stitch together 12 photos I took and I had to crop it from there because of the black borders created by PTgui. The full resolution is now 5905x1336. Would it be possible to print this? Sorry for all the noobie questions I've never printed any of my photos as I normally just like to use them as backgrounds or just get normal 4x6 prints so I don't have to deal with editing in photoshop or anything like that.

I know my way around photoshop so if some editing is required I can do that. Thanks so much in advance for all your help.

I'm usually on MSN so if you want to contact me that way you should be able to by clicking on the MSN butterfly logo under my name. Thanks

Pixel Question

kathyje — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:36:16 GMT

Hello everyone....

I have a simple question. I want to purchase a couple of pics from istockphoto for my computer lab at work and upload here for printing. My goal is to frame them in 18 x 24 or 24 X 48 frames. My question is.....what size picture(pixels) do i need to purchase from istockphoto?

1698 x 1131
2716 x 1810
4368 x 2912

thanks so much for your help,
kathy

How to specify multiple prints/photos in ROES?

bigfan1 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:30:52 GMT

Hi, first time using ROES.

What I'd like to do is print two (total) 20x30 poster specials, each image being different. How do I do it in ROES?

I can load my first image onto the preview canvas, no problem. Do I leave quantity at 1, meaning one of this particular image? Or is quantity supposed to be total number of prints for the entire order? Or total number of prints per image?

How do I then start setting up a second image/print within the same order once I'm done with the first image?

No matter if I set the quantity to 1 or 2, the review order button stays greyed out. Thus I can't seem to get further in the order submission process. Baffled. Any assistance would be immensely welcome. Thanks!!

Giclee - Canvas Print - Very positive experience

joelalpert — Thur, 26 Feb 2009 04:35:48 GMT

I have had wonderful experience with El-Co Color Labs in producing a canvas print (Giclee) from a film negative. El-Co scanned it in and produced a marvelous product for me. I consulted with Devin Reuther numerous times by email dealing with technical questions, which he answered most accurately and pleasantly. There was a question about the color balance so I sent him a print that I asked him to match. Ultimately the product I received has much better clarity and depth than the print I had sent. The color negative was medium format (620) 2.25 inch by 2.25 inch. The final print was 38 inches by 38 inches, with absolutely no pixelization. I can only highly recommend this photo lab.

Elco Print Issues with HDR Images?

James_F — Thur, 05 Feb 2009 15:49:10 GMT

In preparation for an upcoming trip to Yosemite where I hope to capture some large poster-size images that I will have Elco print, I have been testing some different photography techniques. One of which is to bracket raw exposures and then combine the images using Merge to HDR in Photoshop. Does this process ultimately create any printing problems for you or image quality issues for me when the final image is made into a JPG file before transmitting it to you online for printing?

Problems

scottspix — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:58:26 GMT

I tried sending an email but haven't gotten a response, so I'll post it here.

I've used your lab several times for posters and have been very happy with it. However, I am having a problem with 20x30 prints, after several months they seem to start getting wavy, wrinkled, bubbled... I initially thought that my house has maybe gotten too humid. But this weekend I visited my mother-in-law who I had given a print to for Christmas and I saw hers is in just as horrible shape. I was embarrassed that I had given her this gift and it now looks so ugly. Her house is climate controlled and would not be too humid. Both are framed in a cheap Wal-Mart frame.

Any chance I could get these replaced, or at least one for my mother in-law?? Any idea why this happened? How can I prevent it from happening in the future?? I would like to continue using Elco Labs but not if my prints are going to be no good after six months.

upsizing question...

1233Gem — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:27:09 GMT

Hi,
I am looking to order a few 30x60 prints. Before I order them, I would like to make sure I am clear on a few things. In your FAQ's, it says not to upsize yourself and let the RIP do the work. Now, does that mean I should have my picture in the same aspect ratio of 30x60 (1:2) and let RIP do the actual upsizing? Or should I have the photo I upload be the exact dimension of a 30x60? Thanks for the help.

Movie poster print? (27X41)

dilweegie — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:10:33 GMT

I created a movie poster for a movie I made and wanted to know how to size it for printing. I notice you don't have a 27X41 selection, so what's my best option if I want to have you print it?