Basics Of A Professional Photo Lab

Posted by Georgy | 11/16/2012

By Madeline Finch


A professional photo lab is a room where pictures are converted from their raw form into their desired final form. The raw form may be in soft copy in a memory card or just in a compact disc. The pictures can also be in the traditional film. The lab is used to facilitate the end of these photographs into reality. Many a times it may be called a darkroom.

A darkroom brings many things into mind. Obviously the room tops the thoughts, since we are speaking of a dark room. Conventional photo-processing units include the details of film and paper as it was in the earlier decades. As expected, the room is completely void of light. The dynamics of the process are also simple, a developer to translate the film image and a stop bath to stop it. Lastly, fixer will preserve the final photographs from becoming dim.

The tools of trade are also simple to compile. For a lab printing 35 mm and 120 mm film, it will need reels to be used along with the developing tank. Bigger sheet films can easily be done in trays as long as it remains dark. Making prints in most labs will need enlargers and thus the trays will need to be wider than the largest print the enlarger will make.

For the water cleaning of the films, one would definitely require a sink in the room. Staff require extra care when handling colored photography. A variation in temperature, pinpoint timing and light inlets will destroy the final work. Photography is a delicate venture that needs precision.

With the digital age, there are easier ways of doing photo-processing. Minilab sets are shortcuts to all the above, as one will only need an enlarger to scan the films to images, or just digital pictures. With this and a printer, a lab is sufficiently able to do all that is needed by the customer. Wet-film process is a common hybrid technique that utilizes a computer to replace the use of an enlarger. Picture densities and transparency is adjusted using programs before sending the photos to the printer.

With a digital camera, the process of photo production is even less involving. The taken photographs will be printed as fast through a computer like a normal office document, only this time using a more precise printer. Thus soft copy images are made live images in a fraction of the time.

Many factors will come in when starting a lab. The capital, equipment and location of the lab are key. This will form the basis of the business size. For example, a photo business can start with only a camera, a computer and a printer. To kick off operations, one will need to get a license and possibly create a website that will draw customers in their hundreds.

Equally important to the knowledge and equipment, is skilled staff. Mainly technicians must be computer literate and also know how to handle people. They should be able to do the same thing repetitively with precision without boredom. They must be organized to keep the work going and the work place safe.

A professional photo lab is an enjoyable venture, irrespective of the entrepreneurs' intention. With the above data, one will set sail in the interesting line of photography. As long as all tools of the job are in place, technicians are energetic and enthusiasm is a motto, the venture will take off.




About the Author:



0 comments

Web site development, PHP programming's Fan Box