What is Color Correction?
Don’t worry… It doesn’t require wearing rose-colored glasses, but the process of uplifting your images is indeed a pretty specialized skill. Our full Color Correction service is done by professionally trained technicians, who pay careful attention to your images in order to optimize their results in print. We use a color wheel to make global adjustments to your images, balancing levels of color (RGB), density (or brightness), contrast and saturation. In more unique cases of images with extreme contrast or density, we can make minor adjustments to the gamma levels, which allow us to open up shadows, bring down highlights, or change the midtones without significantly altering the rest of the file. Color Correction is available as an option for all of our product catalogs and ordering solutions.
Our professionals have an expansive archive of reference photos that act as helpful guides, based on the imagery in your order. Color Correctors are well versed in the many styles of photography (wedding, portrait, nature, wildlife, fashion, still life, architectural, abstract, etc.) and strive to stay true to your vision while enhancing your images for the best possible prints.
Why Most Photographers Choose Color Correction
Ordering with Color Correction takes the worry and wonder out of the picture, ensuring that your image file will translate beautifully in print. For the majority of photographers and artists who do not use an external calibration device, it’s the missing link, necessary in bridging the disconnect between your monitor and our calibrated printer output.
Volume, wedding and portrait photographers trust our Color Correction service because it provides consistent color across an entire order. This is especially handy when the session presents a variety of lighting situations, and potential white balance shifts across the same subjects. Landscape, travel and fine art photographers often choose Color Correction on a test print order before submitting the final order for a larger print display. Work Prints and Test Strips are low cost prints available in Bay ROES specifically for this purpose.
At Bay Photo, we take our state-of-the-art equipment seriously, and one major counterpart to our expert Color Correction is regularly calibrating our machines, so that they stay true to color, and to our ICC Profile. This means that if you order a test print on Photographic Paper and your final display is a MetalPrint, the results will still be consistent!
Possibly the biggest benefit to ordering with Color Correction is that you’re getting a guaranteed service. If you’re not happy with the results, we want to hear from you so we can make it right.
“I have the absolute privilege of working with such a talented team of color evaluators. Our small group has well over a hundred years of collective experience in this unique field, and it really shows! Our team's one and only goal is to ensure that our customer's vision for their image is realized in the final print. And if our customer isn't happy, then we aren't happy.”
- Ryan E., Color Correction and Digital Art Dept Supervisor
When We Recommend Going Beyond Color Correction
Sometimes, an image needs a little extra attention in isolated areas, like dodging and burning, or cloning out an object in the background. In cases like these, we recommend opting for our retouching service, listed in the product options when ordering through Bay ROES.
Another example of when a no-color-correction workflow would be best, is if you are looking to keep full control of the color management on your end. For this advanced workflow, we recommend an external calibration device, and then ordering our Evaluation Prints (non-corrected Photographic Prints, free of charge), to compare with your monitor display.
Ordering Tips to Ensure We Share a Common Vision
If you plan on ordering a test to review the color results, it’s best to refer to that original order number when placing the final print order, to make sure the same color edits are applied. The easiest way to ensure the same results is to request a reorder from the test order, by filling out our online form (click here for instructions).
Sometimes when we see abstract and artistic imagery come through the processing servers, and there is no clear exposure or white balance error to fix, our technicians will default to no corrections being made. That said, if you know you’d like your image to look a certain way, it’s best to order through Bay ROES, adding a descriptive note in the special instructions.
When ordering Online, you'll see the Color Correction option listed as a checkbox when viewing your cart.
Have you experienced your images with Color Correction?
Tell us in the comments!
Images By:
Jessica Boland, Marissa Boucher, Annie K. Rowland, Hanson Fong, Alexis Cuarezma, Jennie Crate, Amy Dawnelle, Kamia McWilliams, Ernesto Batista
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