I have some metal prints I had done by another vendor but after watching your video sent 6 images out to Costco and they arrived today. The colors and detail are spot on. Thanks for the info and all the great videos you put out. I've watched them all and appreciate your detailed and mathematical approach and insight into problems. Cheers
Nice work. I also do terrestrial photography and sell at art shows. My go to is bayphoto for metal prints. The quality and service are outstanding, but you need to watch for sales to make it cost effective (they do 15% off a few times a year, and rare occasions will do 30% off). Have your order ready and wait for the sale. from a few of your points/observations: - Printed pictures always feel darker compared to what you see on screen - push the image just a little higher than you like on screen. - Printing and color matching are hard (really hard). if you start doing more printing, you need to calibrate your monitor with tools like spider color or x-rite (hardware required). it is amazing how far out of spec monitors can be, and this is one of many reasons it is hard to get prints that look like what you see on screen. - Metal prints will reflect more light from the highlights so they feel like they glow - push vibrant colors in the highlights to make the metal glow. - to make that more drastic, make sure you illuminate the metal prints (I recommend daylight color, but any illumination will make them feel back illuminated) - The glossier the finish the deeper the blacks will be - and the more contrast you will get. glossy will have glare, but will give you very deep blacks and more apparent contrast. There are some satin/semi-gloss finishes that try to balance glare and deep blacks but it is always a compromise. Image formats: for printing, jpg is fine, just set the quality to 98%. you will not see any artifacts. and the file sizes will be much more reasonable. and the 8 bit color is fine. The output gamut for printing won't really take advantage of 12-16 bit color. The higher bit depth is really important for post-processing, but once you get to final product for printing 8 bit gets it done. Image resolution: - Art prints are meant to be viewed from a distance. as long as you are providing ~200 dpi in the final product you are well above what you will ever visually see. if you are close enough for your nose to touch the print - yes you may see some artifacts, but you shouldn't be viewing at that distance. - To that end, image interpolation is fine to do and you won't really see artifacts in printed products, unless you are doing major resolution changes. And products like Topaz and some of the newer photoshop tools do a really good job at interpolation. Once you hit final image resolution - don't forget to do one more round of sharpening - it makes a huge difference in final print quality if you did any resizing.
Hey Brent. Yep, RUclips has some weirdness in posting and notifying for comments. Thanks for fighting through the comment submission process. You have provided excellent comments and suggestions. I'll check into Bayphoto. Thanks for watching!
@@Aero19612 One other thing I learned in my landscape photography - the process of printing and learning the details of how to make good prints pushed my skills in image acquisition, framing, and processing in ways I would never have done without printing. The printing process makes you think about final image products (even in digital formats viewed on screens) in a different way. it was printing that helped me understand Ansel Adam's Zone System.
Hi James. What a cool idea. In a year or two (when I get to the point where my pictures look good on something larger than my phone), I will have to do this. Thanks.
Absolutely, Bob. I only started doing this at the beginning of the Lockdown. My two nieces weren't going to school, so I sent them each a metal print and a 2-page "discussion" of what the pictures are and what their crazy uncle does for "fun".
Very nice James ! I have to admit I knew nothing about Metal Prints before watching your Video . Interesting . I currently save all my "acceptable" Images to the Windows Wallpaper Viewer and let it cycle through everything every few minutes . I also just print off 5 x 7 (Costco) Prints and place them in a portable Album with the Capture Details . This I can easily take with me to whichever event might have someone interested in Astrophotography . LOL . Cheers/SRK
Haha. Thanks Abdullah! Let’s put it this way: they’re good enough to make me want to try again, but not bad enough to make me want to quit. Thanks for watching!
Excellent video and helpful information. I've already printed 9 of my images (8x10s) for a 3x3 grid on my office wall (if I ever get back there). I think I may have to try something larger and metal for the home.
I always have issues with the dynamic range in my prints. I tend to loose detail in my dark areas and even loose stars sometimes. I always print with Costco but ive never tried metal. How do you process the color and brightness of your image to get a good print?
Yep. That's tricky. My first print looked fine on the screen, but the metal print came out very dim. Since then, I get the image the way I want it as displayed on the screen, then make a "special" version for printing that is brightened. I show that process in the video. It's no guarantee, but generally works better than not increasing the brightness. Just don't go crazy with the adjustment. Thanks for watching!
Hi James Many thanks for this great vid.I have been following you for a while now we have similar gear and I have been taking heaps of data but haven't printed out much at all. This is a good idea I have chosen a wall and I will start on adding some in.Thanks for including how to crop down the images to the correct size
Haha. I just "celebrated" a birthday and my sister sent me "Hubble's Universe" containing many Hubble photographs. With that book, it's easy stay humble if not outright discouraged. Thanks for watching!
Those turned out nice! I was originally just doing matte photo prints and keeping them in a binder for show and tell purposes and they turned out fine. I wanted something I could hang on a wall or display on a stand on a table though. I have also tried metal prints before with less than stellar results. Instead, I now print to canvas. The images occasionally come out dimmer than intended as they do with metal prints, but what I like about canvas is the texture. It can hide some of those imperfections and imaging artifacts. It also gives the image a bit more prominence as it stands off the wall about an inch and a half. Clear skies!
Hey, Brandon. Canvas is an interesting option. Gives the high-tech photo a classical look-like a painting. The thing I learned (the hard way) is to test out a new supplier/product with one image and see if you need to compensate with increased/decreased saturation and brightness.
Thanks for posting this James. I've used the same vendor from Amazon.. and Ive also used Amazons own print service which does the shiny metal. I need to give costco a try. I've also done paper prints.. with those it seems the printers have trouble with the dynamic range and color.
Wow, I didn't even know Amazon had their own print service (I should have guessed). I'll look into it. I basically live on Amazon. Thanks for the feedback!
@@Aero19612 Good information be shared all around :) With Amazons paper prints.. I'll usually order a bunch of different variations in the 4x6 format as a test to see how the colors and dynamic range look. At .15 a pop... the risk is low.
Haha. You might find getting a good nebula picture is much easier than getting a galaxy picture. Or, if you're already shooting these targets in RGB with a OSC camera, try out a multiband narrowband filter and see what you come up with. Thanks for watching!
@@Aero19612 Solid points! I've been using the same canon T5i for the last few years and considering my skies, I'm definitely moving toward mono once I finish automating my system! I wonder how a greyscale H-alpha only print would come out like. That's probably where I'll have to start!
Comments check - I have experience in printing a lot on metals. I wrote out some feedback but it disappears after I submit the comment. see if this works
apparently if you include anything that looks like a URL the comment gets deleted. once I removed the end of the bayphoto URL, the comment actually showed up.
I have some metal prints I had done by another vendor but after watching your video sent 6 images out to Costco and they arrived today. The colors and detail are spot on.
Thanks for the info and all the great videos you put out. I've watched them all and appreciate your detailed and mathematical approach and insight into problems. Cheers
Excellent, Joe! I'm glad you're pleased with the product you got back. Thanks for watching!
Nice work.
I also do terrestrial photography and sell at art shows. My go to is bayphoto for metal prints. The quality and service are outstanding, but you need to watch for sales to make it cost effective (they do 15% off a few times a year, and rare occasions will do 30% off). Have your order ready and wait for the sale.
from a few of your points/observations:
- Printed pictures always feel darker compared to what you see on screen - push the image just a little higher than you like on screen.
- Printing and color matching are hard (really hard). if you start doing more printing, you need to calibrate your monitor with tools like spider color or x-rite (hardware required). it is amazing how far out of spec monitors can be, and this is one of many reasons it is hard to get prints that look like what you see on screen.
- Metal prints will reflect more light from the highlights so they feel like they glow - push vibrant colors in the highlights to make the metal glow.
- to make that more drastic, make sure you illuminate the metal prints (I recommend daylight color, but any illumination will make them feel back illuminated)
- The glossier the finish the deeper the blacks will be - and the more contrast you will get.
glossy will have glare, but will give you very deep blacks and more apparent contrast. There are some satin/semi-gloss finishes that try to balance glare and deep blacks but it is always a compromise.
Image formats:
for printing, jpg is fine, just set the quality to 98%. you will not see any artifacts. and the file sizes will be much more reasonable.
and the 8 bit color is fine. The output gamut for printing won't really take advantage of 12-16 bit color. The higher bit depth is really important for post-processing, but once you get to final product for printing 8 bit gets it done.
Image resolution:
- Art prints are meant to be viewed from a distance. as long as you are providing ~200 dpi in the final product you are well above what you will ever visually see. if you are close enough for your nose to touch the print - yes you may see some artifacts, but you shouldn't be viewing at that distance.
- To that end, image interpolation is fine to do and you won't really see artifacts in printed products, unless you are doing major resolution changes. And products like Topaz and some of the newer photoshop tools do a really good job at interpolation.
Once you hit final image resolution - don't forget to do one more round of sharpening - it makes a huge difference in final print quality if you did any resizing.
Hey Brent. Yep, RUclips has some weirdness in posting and notifying for comments. Thanks for fighting through the comment submission process. You have provided excellent comments and suggestions. I'll check into Bayphoto. Thanks for watching!
@@Aero19612 One other thing I learned in my landscape photography - the process of printing and learning the details of how to make good prints pushed my skills in image acquisition, framing, and processing in ways I would never have done without printing. The printing process makes you think about final image products (even in digital formats viewed on screens) in a different way. it was printing that helped me understand Ansel Adam's Zone System.
Hi James. What a cool idea. In a year or two (when I get to the point where my pictures look good on something larger than my phone), I will have to do this. Thanks.
Absolutely, Bob. I only started doing this at the beginning of the Lockdown. My two nieces weren't going to school, so I sent them each a metal print and a 2-page "discussion" of what the pictures are and what their crazy uncle does for "fun".
Outstanding video. Mr. Lamb, you are an inspiration for the astronomy community.
Thanks for watching!
Very nice James ! I have to admit I knew nothing about Metal Prints before watching your Video . Interesting . I currently save all my "acceptable" Images to the Windows Wallpaper Viewer and let it cycle through everything every few minutes . I also just print off 5 x 7 (Costco) Prints and place them in a portable Album with the Capture Details . This I can easily take with me to whichever event might have someone interested in Astrophotography . LOL . Cheers/SRK
The photo album with imaging details is a great idea, Scott. Thanks for watching!
Dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These are awesome pictures, what are you talking about, man?
Haha. Thanks Abdullah! Let’s put it this way: they’re good enough to make me want to try again, but not bad enough to make me want to quit. Thanks for watching!
Excellent video and helpful information. I've already printed 9 of my images (8x10s) for a 3x3 grid on my office wall (if I ever get back there). I think I may have to try something larger and metal for the home.
Absolutely! Claim a wall and decorate the heck out of it. Clear skies!
I always have issues with the dynamic range in my prints. I tend to loose detail in my dark areas and even loose stars sometimes. I always print with Costco but ive never tried metal. How do you process the color and brightness of your image to get a good print?
Yep. That's tricky. My first print looked fine on the screen, but the metal print came out very dim. Since then, I get the image the way I want it as displayed on the screen, then make a "special" version for printing that is brightened. I show that process in the video. It's no guarantee, but generally works better than not increasing the brightness. Just don't go crazy with the adjustment. Thanks for watching!
@@Aero19612 not sure how I missed that the first time. Thank you for the response!
Hi James Many thanks for this great vid.I have been following you for a while now we have similar gear and I have been taking heaps of data but haven't printed out much at all. This is a good idea I have chosen a wall and I will start on adding some in.Thanks for including how to crop down the images to the correct size
Hey Stu! Absolutely. What are wall for anyway? I mean, other than holding the roof up.
This is such a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
Haha. Gotta have some physical evidence of all of our time spent. Thanks for watching!
I used the same amazon vendor and liked what I got back for the Horsehead/flame. Thanks for sharing this.
Agree. They turned out nice and a very good option if you want to save some money or don't care for the glossy finish. Thanks for watching, Andy!
Thanks for sharing this James! I've been looking for places to get prints done
Hey, Joe. There's a ton of places out there. Try a few out before you submit a bunch of images. I'm pretty pleased with Costco. Thanks for watching!
When i grow up, i want to have EAA snapshots that look that good, and also stay as humble as you are. : )
Haha. I just "celebrated" a birthday and my sister sent me "Hubble's Universe" containing many Hubble photographs. With that book, it's easy stay humble if not outright discouraged. Thanks for watching!
Those turned out nice! I was originally just doing matte photo prints and keeping them in a binder for show and tell purposes and they turned out fine. I wanted something I could hang on a wall or display on a stand on a table though. I have also tried metal prints before with less than stellar results. Instead, I now print to canvas. The images occasionally come out dimmer than intended as they do with metal prints, but what I like about canvas is the texture. It can hide some of those imperfections and imaging artifacts. It also gives the image a bit more prominence as it stands off the wall about an inch and a half. Clear skies!
Hey, Brandon. Canvas is an interesting option. Gives the high-tech photo a classical look-like a painting. The thing I learned (the hard way) is to test out a new supplier/product with one image and see if you need to compensate with increased/decreased saturation and brightness.
Thanks for posting this James. I've used the same vendor from Amazon.. and Ive also used Amazons own print service which does the shiny metal. I need to give costco a try. I've also done paper prints.. with those it seems the printers have trouble with the dynamic range and color.
Wow, I didn't even know Amazon had their own print service (I should have guessed). I'll look into it. I basically live on Amazon. Thanks for the feedback!
@@Aero19612 Good information be shared all around :)
With Amazons paper prints.. I'll usually order a bunch of different variations in the 4x6 format as a test to see how the colors and dynamic range look. At .15 a pop... the risk is low.
If anything is going to get me into shooting narrowband, it's seeing those prints!
Haha. You might find getting a good nebula picture is much easier than getting a galaxy picture. Or, if you're already shooting these targets in RGB with a OSC camera, try out a multiband narrowband filter and see what you come up with. Thanks for watching!
@@Aero19612 Solid points! I've been using the same canon T5i for the last few years and considering my skies, I'm definitely moving toward mono once I finish automating my system! I wonder how a greyscale H-alpha only print would come out like. That's probably where I'll have to start!
Comments check - I have experience in printing a lot on metals. I wrote out some feedback but it disappears after I submit the comment. see if this works
apparently if you include anything that looks like a URL the comment gets deleted. once I removed the end of the bayphoto URL, the comment actually showed up.
If you are in Australia: DO NOT USE OFFICEWORKS FOR METAL PRINTING. Prints came back grainy, pixellated and embarrassingly sub-par
Thanks for the comment. There are many sources for these print options. Some good, some not.