Working in this photo industry for so long has its perks, let me tell you… We have had the privilege of working with some of the best and most amazing photographers in the business for years. They trust us with both professional and personal photo projects and have been soooo loyal to us. In working with these photographers for so long, a few of us here behind the counter have developed close relationships with them. So close, in fact that a few clients trust us with house sitting duties when they go out of town! One client went so far as to give a particular customer service rep their own house key! It’s funny because one photographer even trusts us to babysit their puppy when they’re away! That was nothing compared to when Steve house sat for a client while at the same time watched his four dogs! Our clients stick with us, have even followed us around to our several Los Angeles locations. Heck, we were around before marriages and babies started coming along! How’s that for a loyal client and some great customer service reps? And actually now that I think about it.. at that point we’re not just customer service, but rather confidantes.  It’s more like your favorite bartender or hairdresser, you know, the one that knows all your secrets!

This just goes to show how we feel about building a relationship with our photographers, which is why going to workshops and meeting with just a few photographers at a time is so important to us. It’s also why we go to WPPI each year, to meet some cool people and have dinner with a few photographers and friends. We ended up having to get a booth space just so we had something to do between meals and had somewhere to hang during the day!

We know that every new client could potentially be with us for a long time and we want to get to know them! We know that their business is important and this isn’t like dropping your film off at the convenience store down the road. We run a much more advanced operation here and part of that operation includes getting to know your style and preferences. We’re here to get to know YOU and the way you like your jobs done. And who knows.. maybe we’ll be close enough one day to become your “confidante.”

Maybe this is a new concept for some of our readers.. or maybe it’s old news! Either way I think we should talk about it for a minute.. Think about some of the best photographers in the business. Do you ever wonder how their mind works? If so you’re definitely not alone. Many of our wedding and event photographers attend workshops every year hosted by Jonathan Canlas, Jose Villa, Tanja Lippert and Bryan Johnson (to name just a few). These workshops are so cool, and a great learning experience for photographers looking to fine tune their craft or learn the art altogether. We highly recommend that if you have the means, find a workshop that suites you and GO! You’ll learn amazing techniques and “inside” information from some of the best and experienced photographers in the business. You’ll see first hand how they operate behind the camera and hear some awesome business advice.

Sometimes we are lucky enough to go to these workshops (4 this year!) and share some of our insights too! We recently took the train down to San Diego for Film Is Not Dead hosted by Jonathan Canlas and met some of the coolest photographers! We got to introduce ourselves and talk a little bit about what we do here at Richard Photo Lab. We answered any and all kinds of questions regarding what happens AFTER you send your rolls in to a photo lab. A workshop environment allows for us to let you in on our side of the business. We’ll give you a better understanding of the machines we use, our production workflow and all the other technical stuff. But besides all that, we just want to have a good time and meet some cool people. We give out some of our sample prints, border samples and sometimes we throw in a coupon here and there

So if you haven’t already, check out some workshops and learn new tricks of the trade. Maybe we will see you there!

Film Is Not Dead workshop with Jonathan Canlas

Hey check out our latest shipment! Last year we bought a dozen steel bottles for the crew to help eliminate plastic water bottles in the lab. When we moved to the new location and added more team members, we wanted to make sure everyone was on board on being green! We bought some more for those who didn’t already have one, and made them pledge to ditch the plastic. Now we can safely say all employees at Richard Photo Lab are doing their part to help the environment in this small way!

For more information on the Klean Kanteens we supplied for everyone, visit their website here: www.kleankanteen.com. They are awesome!!

Don’t miss the interview on Inside Analog Photo featuring our very own Brian Greenberg! Brian updates host Scott Sheppard on all the new things going on here at the lab! They talk about all kinds of important issues for photo labs and photographers (don’t worry, the  geek level is kept to a minimum!) Learn about all the services we offer here at Richard Photo Lab and our opinion on some of the trends going on in the world of photography, such as the growing importance of offering prints to clients. Check out the interview here in iTunes. If you don’t use iTunes, view the RSS feed here

Enjoy!

We know what you’re thinking— and no, we haven’t gone all corporate on everyone. BUT we do like saving you guys money… and we’ve been asked before if there’s anyway we can lower our shipping costs. We’ve been listening! So beginning today we are introducing flat rate shipping at Richard Photo Lab! Now you’ll pay only $8.99 for Fed Ex ground and only $16.99 for Fed Ex 2 day on all process and/or scan prints 11×14 or smaller (sorry guys, this doesn’t include mounted prints or headshots). Whether we’re sending 10 lbs of prints up to Northern California or 50 lbs of prints back to a client in New York, the rate is still $8.99.  And don’t worry: we still offer overnight for all those rushed jobs! (fees for overnight will vary) So finish shooting and send over those jobs, our shipping department is ready!

Photo Inset Courtesy of Jose Villa

We  wanted to tell you about another really cool project we’ve been working on! Beginning Saturday June 19th, the Annenberg Beach House Gallery will display the latest work by photographer Gil Garcetti. We were asked to do all the prints for this show that will run until mid July. For about 4 years, Garcetti photographed Parisian women riding their bicycles around the city of Paris. Cool, right? These women used bicycles as their primary mode of transportation, running errands, shopping, meeting friends and going to work. They ride their bicycles all times of the day and in any and all kinds of weather. Garcetti teamed with the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition to help bring awareness to the people of Southern California about the environmental benefits of ditching their cars and riding a bike instead! This can help in reducing traffic, smog and the growing health concern associated with obesity.

This topic hits especially close to home here at Richard Photo Lab. Not only do we have three employees that ride their bike to work every day, we also have a few avid bike riders who love to ride in their free time. We appreciate the fact that organizations such as the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition are educating others about the benefits of bike riding. Because LA is so congested with traffic, more people riding bikes would benefit the city in so many ways! We hope this exhibit will start a trend of bringing awareness to LA about all the great things bike riding has to offer.

The Annenberg Beach House is located off PCH in Santa Monica, CA. The Beach House hosts events and cultural programs all summer long along with classes, tours and concerts. Even better, “Paris: Women and Bicycles” is free and open to the public! The show begins Saturday, June 19th and will run until July 18th. The gallery is open seven days a week from 10am to 4pm. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, this exhibit is definitely worth checking out.

Photo Credit Gil Garcetti

About 10 years ago a little shop in LA was the first on the block with a brand new toy.  None of the big boys in town were interested.  Until later when they came over to see what this little custom shop was getting done on this new thing called the Frontier, made by Fuji.

It was a huge step forward in lab technology.  More consistent, less waste, more custom functions – it was so cool.  We were in love with all the tricks we could pull off with a Frontier. Until the new Noritsu came out and it was even more amazing! (that’s a post for another day) Basically, they are both great in their own way.  In fact, we keep both because they each have a little different look and we are super picky about everything!  And even though there is always a lot of talk about the Frontier, the Noritsu really carries the lion’s share of work, doing about 85% of the work here in the lab.  And remember, that’s after a few hundred side by side tests…..  But anyway, today is Frontier Super Geek Tech Day so let’s focus on that….

So we started out back in the day with a few Fuji Frontier 1500′s, swapped for some 2000′s, then bought a couple of 2500′s.  In fact, we have changed hundreds of things along the way from software and hardware updates to glass and bulb replacements and so on.  Most of the time they were things the customer would never see.  Today’s change is big. Big enough for those that prefer the Frontier to notice. The truth is though, the Frontier is really only now catching up to the Noritsu, but I am not picking sides. I am just sayin..…

We’ve waited for the longest time, but we’re finally happy to introduce to you the Frontier 3000 with Digital Ice now here at RPL. The funny thing is we even waited longer to launch it since we needed to do so much testing on it…  Digital Ice, or as I like to call it “wonderful magical scan cleaning” is so cool!  This film cleaning software gives you a perfectly clean scan and now is working great on our latest scanner, the Frontier 3000.

First question is of course: does it “look” the same?  Great question.  Short answer is yes.  Long answer:  We have done side by side testing and found that images are a dead on match.  When claiming a match you have to take into account a few things, such as the age of the light source, light tunnel, mood of operator, daily calibrations, and other maintenance. These all play a vital role and are happening all the time. We have to take it all into account everyday to make everything look right.  These all lead to slight variances in a blind style scan test.

How we do a  test:  After the operator scans the same image on each machine, we compare the actual scan and the print to check for differences. There will be a slight difference for all the reasons listed above.  But what happens next is super important..  The second step is to send the same operator back with the same film to have him try and match the scans to each other without machine modification.  Because while the variance is expected, the ability to immediately match is a critical part of the test.  You can’t compare it any other way.  You can’t look at a different image, from a different day, or different film.  It has to be the same frame. Anything else will lead you to the wrong answer.  In fact the biggest difference in the way we do things here at RPL is always the people.  And that’s another reminder that it’s just as much about our group in production than it is the machines. They work together to get what we want.

One more additional step is review in Photoshop to look how the color all comes together.  As an example, we can’t adjust the color of a Frontier scan to look like a Noritsu scan or vice / versa.  We can easily spot the difference between our Frontier and our Noritsu.  The difference is the magenta.  Basically the magenta works differently on each machine under certain lighting conditions.  Each have a great look, they’re just a little different.  I would go so far as to claim that you would see more difference in a lab to lab comparison then you would in a Frontier to Noritsu comparison.  If anybody wants to do a print super battle showdown then I will bet you a doughnut that I win….  And I am on a bit of a winning streak.  I think I have won the last 50 or so challenges, that’s 50 in a row my film loving friends!!!  Bring it on!

But seriously, I can’t stress enough the value of the real comparison.  It has to be print to print, not your screen, not our screen, not a shot from last year or even last week.  You have got to go to a print from scans intended on being compared.  This is the best equalizer.  It’s what scans are really intended for since no monitor out there is really the same.  Paper, like film, has a much more critical tolerance and control then all of the other things involved.  Even though you may not print that much, testing should always include it.  If you were testing in a restaurant you would taste everything, not just look at it on a plate, right?

Just to finish up all the Frontier fun, while all the stuff above may inspire you to try the Frontier, there are a few things you should take into account.  First is the scan quality and structure is very different compared to the Noritsu.  For example the scan size you order is about the max size print you can get.  Most people are not used to a restriction like this, especially those that use the Noritsu or are recently switching to film from digital.  Many people enjoy the flexibility of the Noritsu scan and will not rescan to make a album.  The pattern on the Frontier scan is very distracting when the scan is upsized (see photo example).  Second, and I hope you are sitting down, the turnaround time is double for the Frontier, and at peak season its sometimes longer.  Third, the “large” scan option, although not the most popular, is not offered on the Frontier at all.

Here is some more little known info for you..  Giant labs that still scan film do not allow for client to client color profiles and eliminate most of the operators influence by running all images scanned or submitted for color correction through a special software.  This software does not necessarily make the lab good, or bad for that matter, it makes them consistent.  In most cases, consistent as a bag of McDonalds’ fries, same at every store, any time of day.  They are not interested in what you are looking for, they are going for what they consider the “average” to be.  And don’t forget that if you are reading this, you are not in the photo masses. You would be the exception (hey you’ve read through this novel, right?) You are the client that a giant lab does not want to deal with because you care about every image, not just the average of most images.

Like a fine restaurant, it’s not about the pots and pans or even the organic tomatoes.. It’s about the chef, thats who really makes the food an amazing experience.

Close up of scan structure - Test A

Close up of scan structure - Test B

Old Frontier vs. New Frontier Photo Credit Jose Villa

Hey everyone! So we recently got this email from Chris Waters of Jac Shoot Photography and we just HAD to share it with you. This is proof right here that providing proof prints to your clients is such an awesome idea. One of Chris’ clients sent him this message shortly after they received their prints, beautifully delivered  in an authentic cigar box:

“Hi Jamie and Chris,

We got them!! We got home late today, but were so excited to see them. They are AMAZING….and the box is ridiculously cute, and so appropo. They look soooo much better than the film proofs we saw online, is that normal? And I love the border on the pictures, just love love love.

We definitely want film for the wedding. Will these pictures be included in the proof book, and also, will we be able to get the proof prints too?

Not sure if you can tell, but I’m SUPER EXCITED! =) Thanks for cheering up my day. “

This is why we’ve been raving about proof prints! The joy that comes from holding the prints in your hand is such an unparalleled feeling! Sure, making the photos available via the web is quick and convenient. But do you want your clients and their family gathering around a computer monitor to view the wedding you put so much effort into shooting? Nothing compares to the way a client reacts when they actually hold the print in their hand. The colors, the feeling of having a tangible piece of your work, a memory in the palm of their hand! It’s like an instant present. Plus, when it’s delivered in a nifty proof box? Your clients are sure to be impressed.

Photos by Jac Shoot Photography

Made exclusively for Richard Photo Lab by Cypress Albums, this has the quality you expect from Cypress books, but with a special lower price only available from us! Great for an engagement, family portrait or a maternity/newborn session. One photographer even came in today looking to  make one as her professional portfolio, which we thought was a cool idea.  Prices start at just $190.00 for an 8×8, 20 sided album. They come in four colors: camel, black, Stonehenge gray and green mist. Cover images are available, various window sizes and blind embossing as well. Sizes are 8×8, 8×10, 10×10 and 12×12. Check out the price list here. Email info@richardphotolab.com for more information or call us to set up your RPL book today!

Wedding Images by Jose Villa and A Bryan Photo

It’s come to our attention that many of our clients are still using the customer order form that has our old address on it (Melrose Ave). Maybe they saved the form to their desktop and forgot about the update! When this old form is used the post office has to forward it to our new location on La Brea Ave and jobs get delayed in getting to us. In an effort to get your jobs faster, please download the new customer order form here and save it to your desktop! You can also find it on our website www.richardphotolab.com under the downloads section of the services tab. Thanks again!