Metal Prints

I use to work for a photo company

Bayphoto lab is where you can get many sizes even custom sizes

And social print studio is mainly for things smaller than 16x20

>>3056455
I've been getting my prints done at bayphoto for years now. I've done prints as large as 30x45 and they've all looked great.

The only issues I've ever had was one time the hanger fell off the back of the print, causing the print to fall and ding the corner. I called up bayphoto and without even asking, they sent me a brand new one for free, with free shipping. I've even had FedEx bend the corners of a few prints, and it's the same deal, bayphoto sent me new prints, I even got to keep the damaged ones (that are now hanging on my walls)

I'd definitely recommend using them if you're wanting some prints.

>>3056840
Sorry about that brotha. We had many issues that were causing the hangers to fall off

Examples: our high gloss came with a weird spray that blocked our adhesive to properly cure from mount to print

Experimenting with different tapes to see which was best

We hired noobs like clock work and they couldn't press the mounts for jack shit.

Now that I'm gone I hope those guys still know what they are doing

P.S FedEx always always messes up our deliveries we rarely ever if ever sent a print with messed up bent corners

>>3056840

Whoa, really?

Mine came with a slightly dinged corner, I didn't think to bother since I live outside the states.

Oh well, I will know for next time.

>>3056859
Can you tell us about the characteristics of metal prints, with an eye towards processing a digital shot (or film scan?) for good results. In particular, is it as simple as processing for the web & exporting as a 1:1 16-bit TIFF w/ colour space information, which the printing apparatus translates to a similar curve (when the picture is well lit, anyway) as one'd see on a posh computer screen?

File: FB_IMG_1492184345748-1.jpg (2MB, 1440x2160px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 1440x2160px

>>3056859
Yeah, not complaining at all. The customer service always made up for it. Really helpful people, and they're americans, not indian, so it was refreshing to get someone like that. I still buy tons of metal prints through bayphoto.

>>3056860
Yeah, if shipping messes it up or there's a flaw, just call them, they're very responsive.

>>3056866
Yes pretty much, the way I've seen it the bigger the information the closer it looks from your screen translating to the metal print. I've actually messed up for awhile only sending small files with little information and my digital photos always came out like crap.

I hope this answers your question

>>3056875
Not him, but I've always just sent jpegs to bayphoto. Does that really matter or do they prefer tiffs for their printing processes?

Nowadays these things are more similar yet I'd still rather use TIFF/CMYK because of lossless (saved image is same as original) compression and output control.

You can more or less always tell that a certain image was saved as a JPEG because in areas with strong contrast you can see the JPEG compression artefacts. The stronger the compression the more JPEG noise or artefacts. If you'd use maximum JPEG quality these would be minimized but still not none. So some image is still distorted due to JPEG compression.


In otherwords send them the tiff files because it's the best to color correct without any loss information that JPEGs may end up having an issue with

>>3056889
Wel, I always choose the option for no color correction, so the image is printed as is (I assume) but yeah, I'm aware of the difference between jpeg and tiff, just wasn't sure if there was a huge difference in terms of bayphoto's side of things. I'll make sure to send tiffs from now on though

I used to work at WHCC and they do metal prints. Fairly high quality but good god metal prints are so tacky. Honestly consider if thats how you want your work to be displayed before spending money on one.

If you do a lot of work on metal and plan on selling it then it will likely cheapen the value of your work in a lot of people's eyes, just a forewarning.

>>3056902
I disagree. I get the metal prints that just look like glossy paper. The ones that actually have the metal look are stupid though. The people really like the metal prints for the most part, especially because in the long run it saves them money not having to go out and buy a several hundred dollar frame.

How do you prefer your prints? Paper?

>>3056455
Bayphoto is my go to for metal but I haven't tried anything else yet.

They can make just about any size you want though which is amazing.

>>3056971

I see where you are coming from, and I agree that metal can be used in certain situations but I just see the market as very limited to cheap commercial spaces.

I do prefer prints because it showcases the work on a much more neutral stage and not the flashiness of metal and gloss. To each their own though, just my two cents.

>>3057024
Yeah, I get what you're saying. Usually when I do shows, I'll bring most almost all of my prints in different sizes on metal, up to 30x45 just so people can get an idea of size. Then I'll bring some paper prints too so they can see that medium as well. I make most of my money doing custom sizes, so if someone likes the metal and wants something ready to hang, they can choose that. But if they want a paper print (which I price lower than metal) they can go get it framed. Usually when I'm selling, the big thing people like is that the metal "looks modern" but I also try to angle it as they can be hung on the wall without a frame, and a custom frame would probably cost more than the print does, so it seems economically viable to get that vs a paper print. I bring my portfolio with me to the shows so they can pick out whatever they want and I can price it and sell it right at the show, guarnteeing them that they'll receive the print shipped to their door in about a week.


Just curious though. What way do you sell your prints? I'm definitely open to other methods of printing

I did a book with bayphoto and found their website interface and instructions confused and contradictory; worked things out with a manager, but went to magnachrome for all metal prints since; have sold many esp panos