Printing photos — inkjet, laser printer, or photo lab?

[pulykamell]

@Rhythmdvl

We got the 1280 several years ago to print design proofs and whatnot, but I don’t believe it ever came to that. We do graphic design and editorial work here, and got it right around the time PDFs and other output files were sufficient to send to printers. We use it a handful of times a year, mostly when a bid requires hard-copy samples.

Since Mrs. Devil does the design side of things, whatever format heads to the printer (here or there) will be cleaned and set as needed – any advantage in doing color separations or whatnot for a lab printer?

I couldn’t tell, every high-end lab I deal with insists on RGB files, not CMYK separations. I haven’t worked with CMYK since the early 2000s. You would have to ask the lab itself. When I dealt with CMYK and newsprint, yes, there were definitely advantages to doing the separation yourself, especially when it came to the black plate and giving yourself more control staying within your ink limits. I don’t know of anyone who does individual color separations themselves for photo printing, though. There are posters here much more knowledgeable about this end of things. I’m thinking cmyk may be one of them.