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Rangefinder
Magazine Lab Profile: Full Color, Inc. by Lou Jacobs Jr. For a full range of digital and film services, Full Color lab in Dallas, TX, is a fine source. The family-owned business was started in 1978 in a converted grocery store. In 1987 the lab moved to the 13,000-square-foot building it now occupies on the edge of the city.
“ We’ve always been a lab for portrait and wedding photographers,” says Amanda Fuller, marketing director, adding, “and we began offering digital services back in 1995, with retouching and specialty graphics.” Full
Color has consistently expanded its range of digital services that attracts
many professionals, such as: “ We are a medium-sized processing lab,” Amanda states, “operating with about 40 employees. We support both film and digital photographers and encourage those shooting digital to use our online ordering systems.
“ We will be replacing our Full Color FTP system beginning in June with eProofs, and later in the summer NetPrints will be introduced. eProofs will allow customers to order digital proof pages, bordered proofs and other options. NetPrints will offer a complete line of print, artwork, finishing and mounting services. Cropping and a variety of other features will also be available. We continue to offer a full line of services including printing and finishing, plus volume printing for school, dance and sports events for all photographers.” Full Color uses Kodak RP30s and Durst Lambda printers. This versatile lab produces prints from wallets up to 30x40s on Kodak Professional paper. Though some clients prefer to do their own retouching and artwork, digital retouching (such as “head swaps”), background changes and basic retouching are in the Full Color repertoire or services.
This Dallas lab is a member of the Association of Professional Color Imagers (APCI), and Full Color’s president, Paul Fuller, served on APCI’s board as president in 2000. Fuller says, “Professional photography is experiencing the most complex and exciting changes since converting from black and white to color film two generations ago. Yet we always bear in mind that the technologies we now use are only tools for creating satisfied customers. “ The tools are the means, not the end. The consumers have the advantage of many choices when it comes to where and how they purchase equipment, materials and services. The community of professional suppliers earns consumer trust by consistently delivering those necessities our customers will find creatively supportive.”
While Full Color has embraced digital technologies, they continue to tender a range of services for photographers who shoot film. Most traditional services are still available, such as processing and proofing, plus a wide range of reordering assistance. Kodak ProShots offers a solution for film shooters who want to take advantage of digital technologies. Film is processed and scanned, and high-resolution files are kept on file at the lab for print reorders. Low-resolution images are then uploaded to the Internet for photographers to use ProShots software to create presentations for clients, as well as to crop and enhance images and reorder prints. “
Full Color is about service,” Amanda concludes. “While production
processes improve in the lab, customer needs drive our business.”
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