Preparing files for commercial printing

Commercial Prints from Digital Files

This tutorial explains a way to prepare digital files for upload to a commercial printer. Although it is created with a particular lab in mind, the process would be the same for any on-line lab.

Using Paper Profile

When working with many labs, sRGB colour profile will give you an adequate result. If you  want more control of your print quality, use the profile for the paper that the lab will use. These profiles are usually downloadable from the lab’s web site and all you need to do is to find the profile and download it. Then double-click the file to install it. The profile will then appear with your other paper profiles when you use the “convert to profile” option in PhotoShop.

For DS Colour Labs, the paper profiles are at this link. 

This short tutorial explains how to prepare files for upload to DSCL to obtain commercial colour prints. You can watch the video in High Definition by clicking the HD button and don’t forget to click the screen icon at bottom right of the video frame, next to the HD button, to show the video in full screen mode.