Just got my prints for my final photo workshop project (those who have seen my last two images in critique know of the project) from el-co color so I am going to give them some free advertising...they are incredible! both the prints and the people at the lab. My story begins with me talking to someone at the lab. I shot an image his way and asked what he thought would be the best surface for the print. He responded by saying that the photo would look great on metallic, and that is a great surface for black and white prints. I then asked him how long shipping would take, and he told me all about how they run the images through and to let him know when my due date was and he would make sure to get them out so they would reach me on time. So late wednesday night i uploaded the images and after fooling around with resolution and resizing, just uploaded the photos and decided to let their RIP program upside them more. I hadn't had the best luck with the RIP on the last poster I got from them, but the files were with a 300d at that point and I really didn't know much about image management. So I resized the images to 240ppi, and uploaded them with the file size being about 2/3 of the desired size. I let their RIP program handle the rest of the upsizing. So uploaded them wednesday night, they were sent to shipping thursday, and mailed out that same day. I just got them today, since they are located in NJ it was quick shipping time for standard mail. Two days before my deadline so I don't have to rush to cut them. they followed all my additional instructions on my order, and I could literally not be happier with the prints. they look fantastic and the metallic paper is incredible. the best part was that 2 24"x30" posters plus shipping only came out to be $50. That's basically nothing in the world of prints. So I cut them up to 8x30 panoramas, and they are now being flattened on my roommate's desk! (he's already done with school, don't worry) ah what the hell, here's a photo of them...



So anyone thinking about printing big, check out el-co color, and take a look at their poster special. pretty amazing stuff, and fantastic customer service! even if you aren't going to print big, they offer regular sized prints as well!