- Our quality commitment
To provide you with a high-quality printing experience, at ''My Album'' we guarantee:
- Use of the highest quality Fujifilm brand paper and chemicals.
- Processing with control strips, ensuring proper chemical and laser processing.
- Calibration daily and every time a new roll of paper is placed, even if it is the same emulsion
- Color balance between different printing equipment: Minilab's and Prolab's
- Standardization of print output to JPEG format in sRGB 1966.2.1 color profile.
- The importance of monitor calibration
A critical aspect for optimal printing is the calibration of your monitor. If your monitor is not calibrated to our production, we cannot guarantee that the colors you see on your screen will be the colors you will get on the printout.
To facilitate this process, ''My Album'' provides a printed target that you can request for free at the ''My Album'' counter or with your home delivery orders. You can also request it as a single product with home delivery, at cost, at the following link: Calibration kit with shipping.
- Adjusting your visual expectations
If your monitor is not yet calibrated to our output, you can give us specific instructions about your visual expectations for the image:
- Density: light or dark
- Colors: Warm or cold
Remember, it is technically impossible for us to know how you see the colors on your monitor. For optimal results, it is essential to calibrate your monitor to our lab's printed output process.
- Recommendations for your monitor
We recommend a professional matte monitor of 5500 Kelvin's to properly simulate what you will receive as printed output. A high brightness monitor that is not calibrated to our output may develop false expectations due to its ability to display a wider color gamut than paper.
- If you value the visual quality of the printed output
We recommend:
- Read this article ''VERY IMPORTANT'' related to colorimetry, which could be the most important thing you will read for your profession as an imaging professional: The Importance of Colorimetry.
- To request the printed target and calibrate your monitor to our production, follow this link Calibrate your Monitor
- If you have not yet calibrated your monitor, provide us with specific instructions of your expectations regarding the printed result at a tonal level with clear instructions through the process on our portal:
- Density: light or dark
- Colors: Warm or cold
By following these recommendations, you will always enjoy an optimal printed result, tailored to your needs.
- Understanding the limitations of different media
- It is important to remember that each medium (such as paper or your monitor) has its own limitations in terms of color reproduction. Your monitor, for example, functions as a light box and may be able to reproduce a wider range of colors than paper. This can lead to unrealistic expectations if this fundamental difference is not understood.
- To get the best possible match between what you see on your monitor and what you get on your prints, we recommend that you follow all the steps described above, including calibrating your monitor and reviewing your images to conform to the limitations of the paper.
- Our goal at ''My Album'' is to help you achieve printed results that meet your expectations and accurately reflect your creative vision. We are available to answer any questions or concerns you may have about this process.
- For more information and details, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are committed to quality and your satisfaction
- Specific ''My Album'' tips if your monitor is not calibrated
If your monitor is not calibrated to our output and you do not know how to provide specific instructions, ''My Album'' suggests the following settings based on the type of picture:
- School and social photography: Light density with warm colors (Brown/Yellow/Red). This type of photography generally captures happy and festive moments, so warm colors and light density can help convey this feeling.
- Exhibitions and decoration with natural light: Light density with cool colors (Blue/Cyan). For these situations, where natural light plays an important role, a light density can help maintain detail, while cool colors can help convey the freshness and tranquility of a natural environment.
- Exhibitions with dedicated light: Dark density with warm colors. In these situations, where lighting is controlled and often dramatic, a dark density can help capture depth and contrast, while warm colors can provide a feeling of warmth and comfort.
These suggestions are intended to act as starting points and may not be suitable for all images or all situations. We recommend that you experiment and adjust these settings according to what you see on your monitor and what you want to achieve in your print.
Again, the best way to ensure that you get a print that meets your expectations is to calibrate your monitor to our output and provide clear, specific instructions for each image you send us to print.
We hope you find these suggestions useful and look forward to working with you to achieve high quality prints that reflect your creative vision.
- Specific suggestions for optimal results in school packages
School packages often contain multiple visual elements, all of which are important and must work together to produce a cohesive and pleasing result. Here we provide you with a series of specific recommendations to get the best possible result in your school packages:
- Balance between group and individual photo: It is essential to maintain a visual balance between the group photo and the individual photos. This means that all individual photos should be taken under the same lighting conditions and have the same color balance.
- Consider all visual elements: In a school template, there are several visual components to consider:
- Student's skin tone
- Shade of the group photo
- Background color of the shot
- Color of school uniform
- Text color
- Color of the school logo or crest
- Template color
- Color consistency: Since all school packets in a group use the same template, any color correction we make to one image could affect the appearance of the other elements. If parents have the opportunity to compare the printed packets with each other, it is crucial that all packets are consistent. Therefore, we recommend that you balance the group photo and the individual ones well so that all the packets can be printed in ''straight output''..
- Suitable monitor: To ensure that you see the correct colors and density on your monitor, we recommend using a professional 5500 Kelvins matte monitor.
- Focus on the main subjectIf we must give our opinion as printers, we suggest always focusing on the main subject of the image and improving only that part. In the case of a school package, the main subject is the student. However, by making corrections dedicated to each student, all other elements could be affected. Therefore, please keep this in mind when selecting and balancing your images before assembling your school template and requesting printing.
We hope you find these recommendations useful and we look forward to working with you to produce high quality school packages that meet your needs and those of your customers.
- Practical suggestions for selecting and designing ''Photobook's'' digital albums.
Designing a photo book can be an exciting but challenging task. The key to a successful outcome lies in the selection of images and how they are organized. Here are some practical tips to help you create an optimal photobook:
- Selection of images of the same light condition for the same page: This practice will allow you to request a density balance and apply the same correction to all photos on a page. The goal is to maintain consistency in color reproduction and density between images.
- Focus on the most important theme of each page: If your Photobook contains images with different subjects on the same page, we may have different criteria as to which is more important. For example, if a page contains a dog and a human, for us, the human's skin tone might be the most important. However, for you, the dog's theme might be the most relevant. We cannot guess your intentions, so we recommend that you give us clear instructions.
- Develop your photos in Lightroom for good color balance and density: If you do not have your monitor calibrated to our output, it is especially important that you use professional image editing tools, such as Lightroom, to adjust the color balance and density of your photos before adding them to your Photobook. This will allow you to have more control over the final appearance of your printed images.
- Avoid false expectations based on personal desires: By following a professional method and taking into account these suggestions, you can obtain an optimal printed result and avoid false expectations. Remember that we are not able to guess your personal wishes or expectations, so it is essential that you provide us with as much information as possible about your needs and expectations.
We hope you find these suggestions useful when designing your next photobook. We are here to help you achieve a printed result that reflects your vision and goals in a professional and high quality manner.
