Help with printing procedure

[arhuranna]

I have been asked to take my sons rec. B-ball team photos. I have 300D with kit lens. I will be sending the images to a photo lab for processing. I have ordered Photoshop Essentials 3.0 but has not arrived yet. So far all I have shot has been JPEG. Should I stay with JPEG or shoot in the RAW format? Do I need other software to work in the RAW format? As you can tell I am a newbee so take it easy on me. Thanks for the help!

Mitch

[robertwgross]

First of all, you might want to think about getting the team shot.

I assume that this will be indoors, perhaps at a basketball gym. What kind of external flash unit will you be using?

---Bob Gross---

[arhuranna]

I have the 550 Ex on a flash bracket. Have been taking the team photos in the past and using Pictureit 7.0 to do minor adjustments, save to a cd and print at photolab. would like to learn a better procedure.

Mitch

[robertwgross]

If you have the Canon utilities (software that came with the camera), then it can convert RAW to TIF. You do all of your editing or exposure change or sharpening, and then (as the last step) you can convert to JPEG. Then get some company to print the JPEG files for you. Meanwhile, save all of the RAW files and all of the TIF files, at least until you are 100% happy with the finished printed result.

---Bob Gross---

[Hellashot]

You do all of your editing or exposure change or sharpening, and then (as the last step) you can convert to JPEG. Then get some company to print the JPEG files for you.
---Bob Gross---

I disagree with the suggestion to saving to JPG at the end. Once you save a file to JPG and print from that JPG you've put a chink in the finished product that you cannot get back. Shoot RAW, convert to TIF and stay with TIF.

[robertwgross]

I disagree with the suggestion to saving to JPG at the end. Once you save a file to JPG and print from that JPG you've put a chink in the finished product that you cannot get back. Shoot RAW, convert to TIF and stay with TIF.

Actually, that is fine. I stay with TIF myself. However, many people seem compelled to transfer their files to some commercial printer, and those are generally JPEG only.

I only convert to JPEG for a few reasons.
1. Making a small image to send through email.
2. Making a fine image "loose" enough that I can post it on my web site, and anybody who copies it will be copying junk.
3. Making a backup disk of many images.

---Bob Gross---

[arhuranna]

So what steps do you go through when preparing a image to print? I will be printing around 50 5x7 and 50 4x6 photos so I dont want to use my home printer, HP photosmart 7960.

[jfrancho]

So what steps do you go through when preparing a image to print? I will be printing around 50 5x7 and 50 4x6 photos so I dont want to use my home printer, HP photosmart 7960.

Aside from the mechanics of getting the shot, I'd say shoot RAW. Not for the overall image quality that RAW offers, but for the versatily in being able to make adjustments to WB, exposure, etc. I don't think saving as jpeg (necessary for many labs) at the highest quality setting will have any negative impact on a 5*7 print. However, if you are getting 50 copies, I highly recommend getting a half dozen copies of the same image as a test print before ordering them all. That way if the lab sends you a bunch of dark photos or worse, inconsistant quality, you can go elswhere, compensate, or buy a new monitor (Ha Ha, just kidding). BTW make sure you leave some room in the composition to allow for the inevitable cropping that results when printing to 5*7.

Hope that helps,
~JF

[RickHulshof]

Quick note - the photolabs I use in my area will take (and one prefers it) tiff format - call the lab to ask them about this

[chris.bailey]

If you have a hundred shots to print I would stick to jpg, its going to take a lot of time to process that many RAW's for very little gain especially as this is fairly new to you.

If it were me I would shoot in jpg, crop to 5x7 in Photoshop, tweak any levels that may be way off and save to a new location. Save the pics in that new folder to a cd and get them printed.