Walgreens question...

[KandJinIN]

So my wife just printed off 160 some photos at walgreens, and this was the first time we had tried them. They came back almost like someone had just gone haywire with either the saturation or the contrast. What can be done? Can we go into Walgreens and tell them.. hey my baby isn't orange, or anything like that?

Here is one of the pictures we got printed, can someone with a calibrated monitor tell me if her skin looks neon orange and if the background is black or real close too it. Its not here, but I want to make sure that for some strange reason its coming up fine here but in reality its all out of whack.

[ryant35]

Yeah she's pretty orange. If it didn't look like that on your monitor after you took it I'd go back. If she did look that orange, adjust your WB or shoot in RAW

[PhotosGuy]

Years ago, I tried 5 Walgreens with a test print in my area & the color balance & contrast was different at each one. Even the same one with the same test print made an hour later.
Personally, I'd use one of these if you can: Costco & Sam's Club Digital Prints (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=123887) Post #10 & #18.

008 Digital Photo Printing Product Comparisons (http://digital-photo-printing-review.toptenreviews.com/)

[SuzyView]

There is no shame in returning pictures if they are processed incorrectly. The best thing is to turn off all the computer saturation of any store that prints from your card or files. See if they will reprint with your settings. It's what they need is your feedback. They don't want to have a bad reputation, so you can just get your money back or ask for better prints.

[PhotosGuy]

See if they will reprint with your settings. Yes, BTDT, as I said above. Each time they couldn't reprint while I was there because of other work in the queue, so you waste more time.

[SYS]

My wife's been a pharmacist at Walgreens for 15 years, and I've yet to visit Walgreens for printing my photos... ;)

[ciannacone]

WB looks pretty spot on... seems to be a sat and contrast issue, some of these places post process... yuck

[bric-a-brac]

Years ago, I tried 5 Walgreens with a test print in my area & the color balance & contrast was different at each one. Even the same one with the same test print made an hour later.
Personally, I'd use one of these if you can: Costco & Sam's Club Digital Prints (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=123887) Post #10 & #18.

008 Digital Photo Printing Product Comparisons (http://digital-photo-printing-review.toptenreviews.com/)

the old RA-4 machines had a digital preview screen and a lab lackie (who generally didn't know anything about subtractive color) shot through a roll of negatives in about 5 minutes of time, eyeballing/best-guessing density and CMY adjustments for each frame. As you can imagine, consistency is hardly a reasonable expectation. That's my experience from before the Ritz that I worked at got a Fujifrontier- I was horrified by the whole thing when I was "trained".

incidentally, the OP's picture looks like it was printed on a frontier to me. the computers in them had a tendency to up the contrast and saturation, kind of like most point and shoot cameras.

[jra]

Is the photo you posted from the file you had printed or a scan of the actual print? If that's the file and it looks ok on your monitor, I would say that you are in desperate need of calibration. The skin definately has an orange tone (especially the face) and the saturation is pushed too high.

[KandJinIN]

I appreciate the input.

This was taken on a 4 or 5 year old fuji P&S and I have not touched it in terms of processing it. This is the actual file, imagine this that the print came out so much worse. The saturation on the print is blown way out of proportion, and I can't help but think they did some play with contrast levels too.

I was very disappointed. I think we will take them back in and atleast try to get them reprinted, if not get our money back as well.

[egordon99]

I know Costco has an "Auto-correct" option, which I always make sure is NOT checked. So WalGreens might be "AutoCorrecting" that shot, but like the others said, the baby's head is really orange to begin with.

If they don't believe the baby really isn't orange, bring the baby in along with the print :)

But seriously, good luck and hope you get it sorted out!

[number six]

This was taken on a 4 or 5 year old fuji P&S and I have not touched it in terms of processing it. This is the actual file, imagine this that the print came out so much worse. The saturation on the print is blown way out of proportion, and I can't help but think they did some play with contrast levels too.

So the print is even more saturated than the image you posted? Hmmmm.

I did a bit of adjustment on your picture, increasing the brightness and reducing the saturation. The result was a good-looking pic of a healthy-looking baby. White balance was good to start with.

If you want a good print of these shots you probably will have to correct the brightness and saturation yourself before you give them to the printer.

You don't have "image editing OK" checked in your profile. If you like I can post my edit here to give you an idea of what looks good on a calibrated monitor.

-js

[ericjamesphotography]

I'm not even gonna look at the prints but I would tend to bet any print you'll receive at Walgreens and most other big stores will turn out over saturated and miscolored. I myself work for a small business who does printing, mobilephotoservice.com. Never hesistate to return faulty products and try locally owned stores or businesses. They usually know how to properly color correct and print a photo.

[number six]

I've had very good prints from Costco. Haven't had them do little ones, but I expect they'd be fine too.

-js

[woodsters]

I haven't used Walgreens in a while and it wasn't because of quality but because of their stupidness. They would print some photos off my card that I took, because they said they were professional photos. I told them thanks but that they weren't. They were done with a Kodak Z740 (5MP) camera and some shop lights. Anyway, they pissed me off and never went back. When I did used them before hand for candid snapshots, the quality was fine. No problems like mentioned above.

[HappySnapper90]

Avoid drug stores and discount stores if you want decent photos. Most apply a set of standard adjustments regardless of how the good or bad photo looks, i.e. brightness +5, contrast +10, sharpness +10.

Also if you are trying a new print service, send just 5 photos or so in case there are problems. Sending a whopping 160 prints and there's problems it a situation that could have easily been minimized.

And yes the baby's skin is red and the face is orange. Classic under exposed flash shot form a P&S camera.