It isn’t often that I write here to gripe about specific products or services, but an issue hit me recently that really touched upon one of my pet peeves (as well as profound appreciations) with photographic printing services. As any photographer will know, there are dozens upon dozens of companies out there now that will do photographic printing of your images. It is a highly competitive market. I would say that print quality amongst the top printing services is quite good – differences are trivial in many cases. For me, of the other key separators is in packaging.
Print Packaging
Anyone who does their own printing and sells those prints knows that packaging can be a big deal. Rolled or flat? Glassine envelopes or wax paper? How is the print held securely during transport, and how easy is it for a client to unwrap it? All of the same aspects apply also to printing services that ship to you, and in turn, you may ship out to your client. Some companies are good at shipping some products, and others they suck at.
I stopped ordering big prints all together from a company I buy canvas from because they would ship their prints flat, protected in plastic bags, but taped like they were wrapping a mummy to a piece of cardboard. The prints arrived safe enough, but getting them out was another matter. Just getting the print out of the protective bag was a nerve-wrecking event for fear of damaging the print itself. Their canvas however, always packaged nicely, easy to unwrap, re-wrap. I provided them feedback many times over the years about their tape-happy habits, without a single response or changing action. The best practice is to use a masking type tape that is easily removable, and the really good companies actually fold over an end to grab. My action changed, I no longer order big prints from them.
So, in a recent order, I went to one of my standby labs of BayPhoto for a 30×45 sized print. Bay has always been pretty good with me, pretty quick turnaround, and smaller prints always arrived in satisfactory packaging, good matching to my proofing. They can be a little tape happy, using shipping tape instead of masking, but generally ok to remove with caution. They have a pretty good reputation with other photographers I know. I hadn’t used them much for larger prints. Big prints need to be rolled in most cases, and there is a real art in rolling big prints.
Print damage from rolled print from BayPhoto
The rolled print I received from Bay was inside a standard cardboard shipping tube. It wasn’t what I was used to, but offers good protection from shipping damage. The big disappointments came after opening the tube. The print was rolled inside the tube with no additional protection with foam wrap stuffed in each end. The foam wrap was stuffed in a way that it bent the edges and a corner of the print pretty good. Then to make matters worse, the tonality of the print was completely wrong. A warm toned b&w print was made completely neutral, if not towards the cool side.
A Second Try
While I was annoyed, I realize sometimes problems happen, and how the company reacts to them is the true test. I contacted Bay with photos of the situation, and I got a short reply saying my order would be submitted for reprinting, not any acknowledgement or apology for the packaging concerns.
Since I was up against a timing deadline for this order, I set a backup plan in motion as well. I ordered the same print from another go-to lab, MyPhotoPipe. I have plenty of experience with them, even with large prints. The calibration on my computer though sometimes takes some additional adjustment to their print process. On the packaging side – I have never had an issue. They know how to send big prints.
The MyPhotoPipe order actually arrived before my BayPhoto reprint. Unfortunately, Bay did nothing to correct their shipping issue, and again, the print arrived damaged inside the tube from the shippers squishing foam in each end. The tonal issue was fixed though.
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- Rolled print damaged end from BayPhoto
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- Opposite end damage
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- Foam stuffing causing damage to prints
In significant contrast, the MyPhotoPipe order arrived as I had expected. A well protected print, rolled and protected by bubble wrap and wax paper inside a long box that didn’t require inside-winding of the print (another potential damage concern!) to get it out of a tube.
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- Another layer of protection in wax paper from MyPhotoPipe
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- MyPhotoPipe print protection in bubble wrap
The purpose of this post is draw attention to a part of the process that perhaps some labs don’t consider as key factors when doing business with photographers. As I mentioned above, Bay is a pretty good lab, recommended by many, and one I would use on other projects. However, in the case of big prints, this is a big fail for me, and I will go elsewhere. Places like MyPhotoPipe, and also West Coast Imaging, who I have used in the past, really set the standards for good packaging practices. When print quality essentially becomes equal, labs need to differentiate themselves in other ways.
I like Bay Photo in many ways. I have ordered hundreds, probably thousands of prints from them over a number of years. All of my prints from them have come packaged quite well, though not as archivally with archival tape, etc, as labs like West Coast Imaging, Aspen Creek Photo and others. What I have had issues with from time to time with Bay Photo is having black and white prints come out bluish. They are very “cool” compared to silver prints, but definitely also cool and often even bluish compared to other lightjet or inkjet prints. Even one set of prints from Bay next to another, the one order of prints are blue and the others are grayscale. Generally, I will continue to do business with Bay Photo because they are a good lab, but they are not without some flaws as you mention.
So you have had the same problems with B&W… Must be something in their setup.
Smaller size prints I normally don’t have too much of a problem, but with bigger rolled prints, they are a disappointment when it comes to care and packaging.
Everyone says chromogenic lightjet printers are hard to dial in for BW, though WCI and Outdoor Photo never had too much trouble with it. Bay Photo people keep telling me they balance the printers multiple times daily. I suggested several other ways to double cross check because they are going to need to come to terms with the reality that relying on their balancing and electronics is not getting the grayscale correct all the time. If you have any ideas, please let them know, or relay them to me so I can help them fix the problem.
You’re right, 90% of what I have made are 8×10, 8×12, 11×14 and 12×18. With the larger prints, Bay Photo has been shipping even the 24x30s flat, which you don’t like as much, but seems to work ok for me. I’ve only ordered 32X40s twice, but the orders were for quite of few of them at once. They seemed to take extra care with the rolling and packaging in those cases and I had no trouble unpacking them.
I have had very good success with White House Custom Color, and use them as my go-to for lab prints. They tend to be tape-happy (and may even be the company you referenced!) but there is never a concern about quality or damage.
Paul – I know how much you love your golden ink!
I did request a refund and they are responding to it.
Printers at home being a frustration? Nah! 🙂 I’ve ordered some smaller prints from Bay Photo, nothing big; however, I would think that they would at least make a special effort to get it right the second time around, but at least they got the color right. Time for a refund, I think. Two damaged prints because of stuffing foam wrap on the ends. Bad shipping practices.
I’ve not dealt with large prints so have no experience with this issue. I would be upset and go somewhere else. In the past I printed my own large prints but no longer have a printer.
Many printers people have in their homes end up being sources of frustration – so I don’t blame you.
Mark, a good post about a very valid and important point in the print ordering process. When we had a stick and brick house I did a fair amount of on-line large print ordering for our own use and also experienced some of the shipping issues you documented. It certainly upset me when a print, that was otherwise good, was damaged by a lack of attention to detail during their final interaction with the print. I can imagine how I’d have felt if the print was for a customer — you probably handled it more professionally then I would have. With so many choices these days it’s hard to know where the best place is for the product you want.
Perhaps their’s a need for a site where photographers could share their experiences and where print processors could be rated and ranked by product type by photographers…or perhaps there is such a place and I just don’t know of it. 🙂
Ah the hassles you leave behind! Stick and brick – I like that.
Indeed Brooks – many only consider protection from shipping damage, and not the whole experience of receiving and opening.