Royce Howland Print Studio

When the print matters

Retouching

At Royce Howland Print Studio, we are experts are creating exceptional expressive prints based on in-depth knowledge of the printing workflow and media. Before we begin printing, the starting point is our clients’ digital files.

The creativity that goes into your digital files is yours and yours alone. If you’re confident that your digital work is exactly the way you want it, that’s perfect. We’ll review files with you and ensure that your intended creative vision is going to be rendered well into print form. This may involve some simple retouching or standard edits that we’ll suggest to optimize the files for printing on specific papers.

If needed, we can also do in-depth retouching work to develop the digital files more extensively, according to your creative goals. Using Capture One, Photoshop and other specialized software tools as necessary, we can take a file from a camera’s or scanner’s raw capture into a fully finished, ready-to-print master digital file.

File Formats

The RHPS digital workflow can support most file formats. Common formats include JPEG, 8-bit or 16-bit TIFF and Adobe PSD / PSB. If you have other file types, feel free to ask about them but chances are good they can be accepted as well.

All retouched files are yours to keep, and you should archive them for future printing or other needs. We can deliver the retouched print masters back to you in a format of your choice, via our cloud file transfer service.

Pricing

There are three levels of retouching, each with its own pricing.

  • No cost for simple retouching. This is what would be done for any file going to print, and may include quick global adjustments to contrast and sharpening, and resizing to the final print size.
  • $25 flat fee for standard retouching. This is for common work that is beyond preparing a print-ready file to actually go to print, but still limited to edits that typically don’t need any detailed client creative sign-off. Examples may include cropping the file to fit the desired print size, removing sensor dust spots, basic colour cast corrections, adjusting off-level horizons, optimizing super-saturated colours to print most effectively, etc. There is a time limit for the total work done, usually about 20 minutes.
  • $100 / hr for in-depth retouching. This is for editing work that is beyond the basics. It can include anything and everything, and is determined on a case-by-case basis. All work of this nature is based on agreed client creative goals, an approved cost estimate, and sign-off of the final results.