My photography workflow continues to snake along: getting the photos...scanning the slides...sorting them out...processing the images...
Now what about printing?
One of my favorite things about photoshop is my ability to arbitrarily crop images. But now I've got a bunch of irregular sized pictures that I'd like to print. I don't know how!
More accurately, there are several vectors I'm unsure about...
Printing irregular images
If I give a cd full of arbitrarily-dimensioned .jpegs to the print shop, how do they handle them? I surely don't want them cropping them to a standard aspect ratio. Maybe they ream me a bit by upsizing until a standard ratio could enclose the entire print? Or do some shops enable arbitrary prints like this?
Should I be making layout sheets of numerous irregular photos to fit in one large format (like an 8x11) jpg which I then cut up myself? *yuk-- sounds tedious*
Choosing the printer
I have no interest in buying a printer. The inks don't last, the supplies are expensive, and the quality isn't that good. So I have to send out the prints.
What quality operation should I be looking for? I don't need 400 year archival fine art prints. But I don't want 40 month prints, either. I'd like something vaguely comparable to a decent print you'd get from a reputable photoshop. What is that?
Futhermore, I live in Singapore. That limits my choices... Who to use in Singapore? Or should I be mailing these things abroad to an online service or something?
Color management
This seems to get hairy fast. Am I correct to believe that once I find a lab to use, that if I just define the Color Management System I am using, the lab will be able to print out the shots appropriately? Or do I have to do something else, like identifying the printer they are using, and then find calibration settings that will correctly attenuate my image such that it prints out as I envision it to?
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I posted the same question on photo.net