| Q.
|
What do I do to get started? |
| A. |
We ask that everyone start by sending us some test prints. They are provided at no charge. This will help you avoid colorspace
and workflow issues with our system. Once you send test prints, we can set you up with an FTP account and you can begin sending work.
|
| Q.
|
Why should I send test prints first? |
| A. |
Many studios are initially afraid about taking control of their own color. Many find after seeing some prints that they get remarkably good
color right out of the camera. Test prints will also reveal any color space issues you might have.
|
| Q.
|
How much do you charge for shipping? |
| A. |
All shipping is by UPS and is included in our already low pricing. UPS Two day shipping is also free when the client is outside of the UPS
two day ground zone. Overnight shipping is available for an additional fee.
|
| Q.
|
What are your forms of payment/accepted credit cards? |
| A. |
We accept Mastercard and Visa as our only method of payment. Each order is charged to your credit card the day it is completed and shipped.
|
| Q.
|
Are you strictly digital or do you do some film work? |
| A. |
We are 100% digital and do not work from film.
|
| Q.
|
What kind of printers do you use? Why do you have more than one? |
| A. |
Depending on the print sizes requested your order could be printed on one, two or three different pieces of equipment.
All prints 11x14 and smaller are printed on one of our Kodak RP30s. Prints larger than 11x14 will be printed on either a Durst
Theta 50 or Theta 76, depending on the largest print size ordered.
|
| Q.
|
Do you print with Ink Jets? |
| A. |
We use archival, wide-format inkjet printers for our Fine Art print program. Otherwise, every print we produce is on real photographic paper that goes through the RA4 chemical process.
|
| Q.
|
How do I calibrate to your printers? |
| A. |
You don’t calibrate directly to our printers. You calibrate your monitor to a standard and neutral state, and we calibrate our printers to this same standard. We recommend all clients perform hardware monitor calibration.
This is a relatively straightforward and simple procedure. We recommend either Monaco's Optix XR or Gretagmacbeth's eye-one Display.
|
| Q.
|
What is the difference between Thrifty and Deluxe? |
| A. |
Our Thrifty programs works under the idea that one file = one print. You put cropped files into folders based on print sizes. 8x10, 5x7, Wallets, etc. We will make one print from every file in those folders. If
you need more than one of a file, simply put the same image into a folder more than one time. Since the same image may be sent multiple times in several folders, color correction and retouching is not available
from our Thrifty program.
Our Deluxe program is similar to dealing with film. You use Labprints to send a file and fill in what sizes you want from that file. Color correcting and retouching is available from
our Deluxe program.
|
| Q.
|
What are your greeting cards like? |
| A. |
Greeting cards are printed on 4x5, 4x6, 4x7, 4x8, 5x6, 5x7 and 5x8 sized photographic paper. Envelopes are included. We do not create the "slimline"
type cards for you, files must be submitted as complete 4x5, 4x6, 4x8, 5x7 or 5x8 sized images. Note, our normal Greeting Cards are not cardstock
folded in half or inkjet prints. We offer a line of press printed greeting cards as well, including folded cards printed on cardstock.
|
| Q.
|
What are the Pick a Pack Packages? |
| A. |
We have a very extensive Pick A Pack program ideal for Proms, dance schools, pre-schools and sports. Most color labs force you into 10” units for your special events photography.
Not at White House, our Thrifty Pick A Pack system allows you to offer any combination of 8x10, 5x7 or 4x5 prints, including enlargements. You can define up to 10 packages and 8
add-ons. You put your files into folders by packages/add-ons and they are returned to you in exact order by package.
|
| Q.
|
Do you sharpen my files? |
| A. |
No, we do not sharpen any files. You be the judge of when to sharpen files and are welcome to sharpen them yourself at anytime. This gives total control to the photographer to do
what they want with their files.
|
| Q.
|
Are you offering proof books? What do they consist of? |
| A. |
Our proof books are 8.5x11 or 11x14, spiral bound with a cardstock back cover and a clear acetate front cover. 4, 6, 9, 12 or 20 images per page with the filename under each image.
White, gray or black page background. A photographic cover is available, a single image with text underneath and white, gray or black background.
|
| Q.
|
Do you put borders on prints? |
| A. |
No, all of our prints are borderless. If you would like a border, please put the border on yourself, by putting the image on the appropriate size canvas.
|
| Q.
|
Do you receive a CD when color correction and/or retouching is ordered? |
| A. |
All Deluxe orders with color correction or retouching include a CD with the final image at no charge.
|
| Q.
|
What is a corrupt or bad file? |
| A. |
A "bad file" is generally created when your FTP upload gets interrupted in the middle of a file, causing only part of the image to be received. The transfer of the image
does generally not create a "corrupt" file. You get this when you open the image in Photoshop and get ?Invalid JPEG marker? or something similar. Generally opening the
original TIFF or PSD file in Photoshop and resaving the JPEG fixes this problem. This is a common error seen when you save your files to a Zip disk.
|
| Q.
|
Do you require any software to use your lab? |
| A. |
No lab specific software is needed to do work with WHCC. Most of our clients simply use Photoshop for color correction/retouching/cropping and their computer’s operating system to create folders
for print sizes. FTP software is needed to send your files over the Internet. We recommend SmartFTP for Windows and Fetch for Macintosh; although you can use whatever FTP software you want.
We have also partnered with a company called Labprints, and support using their free software to send orders if you want a software solution to order your prints. LabPrints allows you to manage
your photos and order them from our lab quickly and efficiently. 
|
| Q.
|
What is FTP and how does it differ from email? |
| A. |
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and has been around a long time, longer then web browsers. It’s a widely used method of transferring files over the Internet.
It has no limitations on file size like attaching files to email, and most importantly allows us to setup every client with a secure and separate folder on our
servers.
|
| Q.
|
Can I send you zipped files? |
| A. |
No. ZIP is a form of lossless compression commonly used for sending files over the Internet. However, JPEG images are already very compressed and ZIP does
nothing but take time on your end and ours to zip and unzip. Sometimes a zip archive of JPEG files is larger than the combined file sizes of the files enclosed!
|
| Q.
|
How do I crop my files to the exact print size? |
| A. |
We recommend you use the Crop tool in Photoshop. It allows you to simply type in the height, width and resolution you want the final size to be. Exact print size means
you crop to the exact size you are expecting to get back, such as 8 inches by 10 inches at 300 DPI. An example of something not to the exact print size would be 8x12 at
300 when you want an 8x10 print. The system will automatically crop an inch off the top and bottom not yielding the desired results.
|
| Q.
|
Why a level 10 JPEG, don’t you lose quality in the large prints? |
| A. |
JPEG compression is a very efficient, lossy image compression algorithm designed specifically for saving photographic images. It takes advantage of how we see color versus brightness to only save information
needed to reproduce the image for people to view. Image data is lost during compression, but at high levels of quality you will not see a difference between a Level 10 JPEG and a TIFF printed to photographic
paper. JPEG compression is perfect for transient files for sending to the lab for printing, but avoid using the compression as a working file type. Also avoid opening a JPEG, making changes,
and resaving it again as a JPEG repeatedly. If your workflow calls for this to happen, save your files as TIFF or PSD files until they are complete and ready for output, at which time you
should save them as a level 10 JPEG. Any JPEG artifacts you see in your prints come from the JPEG file coming out of your camera, not from saving them as a level 10 for
output purposes.
|
| Q.
|
Why sRGB colorspace? Can I send Adobe RGB files? What about a custom colorspace? |
| A. |
You can send files in any colorspace, however it is very important that you embed the color profile you are using, especially if it isn't sRGB. sRGB is this easiest camera
to print workflow if you are not familar with color management. As long as you embed the color profile in your image, you can send files in any colorspace.
|
| Q.
|
Do you supply any profiles? |
| A. |
Yes. Once you have an account number you can download ICC profiles for all our printers and instructions on how to properly use them.
|
| Q.
|
Is it okay to embed an ICC profile? |
| A. |
Embedding a valid ICC profile in your image is very important. Without embedding the profile, our software has no idea what colorspace your file is in, which will
result in unexpected color in the prints. All files not tagged with an embedded profile are assumed to be in sRGB.
|
| Q.
|
What is the largest size you can print and mount? |
| A. |
We can print 30" wide by whatever length you choose. We commonly make prints to 96" and longer. We do not mount prints larger than a 30x40, only texture up to 24x30 and
luster coat no longer than 60".
|
| Q.
|
For large prints should I really leave the resolution blank? |
| A. |
We suggest the following: If it is a single image, similar to images you would deliver shot on film, then yes, leave the resolution blank. Our equipment will resample the image
for printing. A good analogy to this is a balloon, when you resample the file at your end you are blowing up a balloon, making it larger and harder to deal with as it gets transferred
to us. Leave the balloon flat and let us blow it up. On the other hand, if your image has text, is a multi-image panel print, or you want to sharpen and perform extra work on the image,
please resample the image to the final size to insure sharp text and the best results. The difference is these computer-generated modifications make use of the extra resolution, while
the original single image would not.
|
| Q.
|
Should proofs be on a separate order form? |
| A. |
Yes. We have a special online form just for our proofing product. The special pricing for proofing compared to Thrifty 4x5s or 4x6s is only available when you use our Proofing form.
You cannot combine Proofing and Thrifty orders and proofing orders are subject to our $12 minimum order.
|
| Q.
|
Do I have to crop all of my proofs to 4x5/4x6? |
| A. |
Downsizing your files can be done quickly and efficiently with a Photoshop action, and will save you a lot of time when you transfer your images via FTP.
|
| Q.
|
If I have an odd sized print do I need to put it onto a standard size canvas? |
| A. |
Yes. We have standard sizes setup in our printer, which are limited by the equipment and the available sized paper rolls. We offer many sizes beyond the standard
portrait sizes, so you can find a size very close to what you need. Here’s a hint: anchor the odd size to one corner and set the color of the excess space to
something that contrasts with the image, such as a neon green or red, or even just a shade of gray. Leaving the excess borders black or white can be confusing
on where exactly to trim the print.
|
| Q.
|
What is the best way to create a black and white print? |
| A. |
There are several ways in Photoshop to create black and white. While the different ways can create different levels of contrast, the end
result is still a file without any color information. It is important to make sure even black and whites are setup as RGB files, not grayscale.
On our printers grayscale files look very muddy and dark.
|
| Q.
|
How do I upload my print size folders? |
| A. |
Uploading print size folders is a simple as dragging and dropping in your FTP client software. After your order preparation is complete, you simply sign on with WHCC,
create a folder within your FTP account and drag the print size folders into that folder. Upon completion of file transfer, sign on to our order form page and submit
the quick and easy order form.
|
