Any photographers/artists here?

[Nygeel]

Yup Mpix = Millers, I think if you get a Millers pro account then you also then are "tax exempt" as a business and can set up different billing options.  For some reason I was never really a fan of the way their B&W prints came back, they seemed to have a bit of a blueish "cool tone" cast to them.  But they are pretty good with their customer service, a studio a ran used them and they were pretty quick with turn around times on remakes. But I know some other studios had color problems, but I  honestly think that was more of the studio's issues and they never color calibrated ANYTHING.  So how could they expect quality color if in studio they couldn't get colors to at least come close to matching.. sorry about the rant 

If you tell them you prefer that their black and whites are coming out too cool or not contrasty enough they will correct that and not charge you, just call 'em up, send the print back with a form after calling customer service, they'll send you a new one with your corrections.

[insideontheoutside]

When you're just starting out, personally I would do a sole proprietor but do a dba (doing business as) for a company name from the start. Then, once you start showing a profit and not a loss with your business, form an LLC but elect S-Corp status. You have to elect that shortly after filing or else the window closes on that. Get a good accountant to confirm this, but you'll save yourself a ton of tax liability once you start turning a profit with this method of incorporation. If you just form a regular LLC the taxation is very similar to sole proprietor - in other words, you take a huge hit on taxes.

I'll also echo what someone else said in that when you're in an artistic field you're usually given a lot of "leeway", so to speak, from others. That includes names, the way you dress, etc.

[Penny Gurl]

If you tell them you prefer that their black and whites are coming out too cool or not contrasty enough they will correct that and not charge you, just call 'em up, send the print back with a form after calling customer service, they'll send you a new one with your corrections.

I think the main issue that our B&Ws would come back like that is that Millers had a blanket profile that they used for all 13 of the Studios, however since no two studio profiles.. let alone monitor profiles can be an exact match they would sometimes get some funk in the color.  The company I worked for had arranged to NOT have Millers do a check on all of the print colors to save costs... but i have delt with there CSRs there and they are always willing to correct any issues that may come up.  I used to use them more my prints but I switched to ACI, I just liked the ordering software better, billing and in general  the prints seem a bit more snappy with contrast.  It seems that each lab prints slightly different but it just depends on what flavor you like.  Just like icecream, try a few till you find your favorite!

[Nygeel]

I think the main issue that our B&Ws would come back like that is that Millers had a blanket profile that they used for all 13 of the Studios, however since no two studio profiles.. let alone monitor profiles can be an exact match they would sometimes get some funk in the color.  The company I worked for had arranged to NOT have Millers do a check on all of the print colors to save costs... but i have delt with there CSRs there and they are always willing to correct any issues that may come up.  I used to use them more my prints but I switched to ACI, I just liked the ordering software better, billing and in general  the prints seem a bit more snappy with contrast.  It seems that each lab prints slightly different but it just depends on what flavor you like.  Just like icecream, try a few till you find your favorite!

Yea, I could see how that would be a problem (multiple shops with different results). We were just a small place where the same person did the editing for all of the prints, and there were two photographers so the variance wasn't really there. Plus they only used a few different lighting set ups.

[Penny Gurl]

Oh yeah, it makes such a huge difference, especially if you're pushing high volume.  The color temp of the strobes will even shift slightly from morning to night, not always a huge deal but there were times around the holidays that you could almost watch the color shift. Oh the thought of it still makes me cringe. The volume, not the color.  Whew, thankfully that's all done with and back to freelancing and a few clients at a time.

[Nygeel]

Oh yeah, it makes such a huge difference, especially if you're pushing high volume.  The color temp of the strobes will even shift slightly from morning to night, not always a huge deal but there were times around the holidays that you could almost watch the color shift. Oh the thought of it still makes me cringe. The volume, not the color.  Whew, thankfully that's all done with and back to freelancing and a few clients at a time.

They shift even if there's no other available light? Holidays were horrible for us. For some reason they (the owners) decided to do flat white background, except in every single shot it came up blue. I completely flippin' hated that (along with dust spots on the sensor which for some reason would never go away).

[Penny Gurl]

Well to sum it up as a flash tube warms up AND also as it ages the color will shift over time. Normally not a huge amount but if you're doing VOLUME then you can notice it.  I have had clients come back with prints from different sessions on different days and had a color shift from morning to night.  Profoto and Paul C. Bluff make strobes that are supposed to be a constant kelvin output. Now most studios would not see much of a shift, however a few that I ran that had serious session load would. Now I'm talking 30 sessions a camera room x3 camera rooms at peak times.  With that much use they WILL shift.  Unless you're in a commercial studio where color HAS to be dead on every time you really won't have to shell out the grand or so for the constant color lights  Shoot a color checker or a grey card and you're ready to rock.

[Nygeel]

Well to sum it up as a flash tube warms up AND also as it ages the color will shift over time. Normally not a huge amount but if you're doing VOLUME then you can notice it.  I have had clients come back with prints from different sessions on different days and had a color shift from morning to night.  Profoto and Paul C. Bluff make strobes that are supposed to be a constant kelvin output. Now most studios would not see much of a shift, however a few that I ran that had serious session load would. Now I'm talking 30 sessions a camera room x3 camera rooms at peak times.  With that much use they WILL shift.  Unless you're in a commercial studio where color HAS to be dead on every time you really won't have to shell out the grand or so for the constant color lights  Shoot a color checker or a grey card and you're ready to rock.

Will you see a difference if you use a gray card before every shoot to calibrate?

[Penny Gurl]

If you're photographing a gray card before every session then no, you will not notice a difference.  Where you will notice a change is if you shoot one in the morning, run a bunch of sessions and get your lights hot and by the afternoon or evening if you haven't re shot a card then you will probably see a shift.  But if you're calibrating for every session then it's a non issue.

[jasper3]

I'm a pretty good sketch artist

[N.Chaos]

Unless you've got to sign legal documents with them, you should be fine. I've been published several times and only the one where I'm getting royalties know that my writing name and legal name don't match up.