Note: Files can be uploaded in the background, while you continue to work, using FTP upload capabilities.

File Types Arrow Camera Can Accept

We accepts multiple file formats.

Range of Print Sizes

Customers can order photo prints from Arrow Camera as large as 50 x 120 inches and as small as one inch square, nominally, and can specific any size in between with an accuracy of one-tenth of an inch.

Preparing a File for Arrow Camera

Your image needs to be in RGB mode. (CMYK mode may be supported in the future, but currently we only print files saved in RGB mode.) The screen shot shows the path to convert your image, if necessary, to RGB Mode; this is selected under the Image Menu. (Please Note: These instructions are the same for Windows and Macintosh users).

After you insure that the file you’re about to send us is set in RGB mode, you need to make sure the image is at the size you wish to print.

Once the file is set at the desired size and resolution for your print order, save the file in either TIFF, or JPEG formats.

Saving a Photoshop Image in TIFF

To save an image as a TIFF, follow the same path as shown below, but set your Save As options like this:

Once you select the TIFF Format, and click on the Save button, the following screen will appear:

You may select either IBM PC or Macintosh Byte Order; Arrow Camera accepts both. If you choose to select LZW Compression, your file will be compressed, and will take less time to transmit to Arrow. Typical compression with LZW is less than JPEG compression, but unlike JPEG compression, LZW does not affect the quality of your image. LZW compressed files take a little longer to save and open on your desktop computer.

Click OK, and your file will be saved as a TIFF. Upload to Arrow Camera

Saving a Photoshop file in JPEG format

To save a JPEG file, set Photoshop options like this:

Select Save As from the File Menu, as below:

The following screen will appear:

We recommends that you convert a copy of your original file, rather than the original, which you can do by selecting the check box Save: As a Copy, as shown in the screen shot above. Photoshop will insert the word "copy" after your image’s title; you may change this as desired.

Next, set the Format to JPEG, as shown in the screen shot below.

When you select JPEG format, the following dialog will appear. Set the Image Options Quality slider all the way to the right, to Maximum. Set the Format Options to Baseline Optimized. Click OK. After the image has been saved, upload to Arrow Camera

Your settings should match the settings shown above. Click OK, and send the result to Arrow Camera.

Getting A Good Color Match

If you have color critical applications, we provides guidance for two different approaches on experiencing a closer monitor to print match.

Before you select either approach below, please review your work area. Color perception is affected by several environmental factors which need to be controlled for best results. The following steps are important.

Reviewing Your Work Environment

Does light strike the face of your monitor directly? If so, the light source should be redirected, or a hood put on the monitor, or both. This is because the color of the light reflected from the monitor can affect how your eye sees the color of the images you prepare to send to Arrow Camera.

If lighting changes through the day, such as when your monitor is next to a window, your eyes’ perception of color will change as well. For best results, judge color on your monitor with consistent, subdued lighting in the work area.

A large amount of distracting color on or next to your monitor can cause your eyes to see color on the screen differently. For best results, remove pictures and other colored objects from the bezel of your monitor. If you want to take this principle to the extreme, the area around your monitor should be a neutral gray without any color distractions.

Finally, if your operating system allows you to do so, change the background screen to a neutral gray, so that a colored background will not skew your color perception. Please Note: If you are editing photographs in Photoshop for Windows or Macintosh, you can change the background color using Photoshop commands. Type the letter "f" (lowercase f), and the background surrounding your image will be masked with a neutral gray. Type the letter "f" again, and the background will change to solid black. Type the letter "f" a third time, and the background reverts to whatever was showing before.

Macintosh OS 9 Users can change the background to gray as follows:

Under the Apple Menu, scroll down to the Control Panels. Select Appearance. In the dialog box which appears, click on the Desktop tab. If you have a picture selected already, click on the Remove Picture button. Then, select the Gray Space selection from the Patterns scroll window. Then, click on the Set Desktop button, and the background will change to neutral gray.

Getting A Good Color Match — Two Approaches

Approach #1— Adjust your monitor to match Arrow Cameras output.

With your first order, Arrow Camera will provide you with a print of our diagnostic image. The Arrow Camera dignostic image is provided as a color reference tool: comparing this image on your monitor to the printed version will give you a sense of the difference between how color appears on your monitor and on prints from Arrow Camera.

download Testfile

Important Note: If you are using more than one printer in your work, matching your monitor to our printer means your monitor will probably not match other output devices you may be using, such as an office color laser printer or inkjet printer. A more comprehensive, though more complicated, method for achieving a color match is through an ICC color managed workflow.

Approach #2 — Using an ICC Workflow

The International Color Consortium (ICC), comprised of leading companies in the imaging industry like Kodak, Apple, Microsoft and Adobe, has developed a sophisticated methodology for achieving a match between color devices. An ICC profile can be thought of as a "fingerprint" that describes the characteristic behavior of a given color-rendering device — be it a monitor, printer, scanner or digital camera. We have an ICC profile for our own printing system and makes this profile available to our customers. In additional, we provide guidance on integrating this profile into your Photoshop-based workflow.

If you are already using an ICC workflow, please download a copy of the latest Arrow Cameras ICC Profile. Note that we will periodically update our profiles as the state of the printing system changes (due to new paper lots, different calibration, etc.) We will inform you when there is an update to a profile you have downloaded.

Arrow Camera does not recognize embedded profiles. Customers using an ICC workflow will need to optimize a file for printing with Arrow by performing a conversion in Photoshop using our output profile. Instructions for doing this are provided below.

The ICC workflow is designed for critical color matching, and may exceed the needs of many Pictopia clients. However, if you wish to implement this workflow, here are the steps necessary to do so, using Photoshop, versions 6 and 5.x. These steps are illustrated with a series of screen shots. The instructions work the same for both MacOS and Windows.

Step #1 — Review Your Work Environment

The steps listed above should be implemented prior to Step #2.

Step #2 — Profile Your Monitor

This single action is the most important step you can take to enure both color consistency and color matching. Profiling your monitor establishes a common baseline for viewing images, and tells Photoshop how to interpret your particular monitor’s color behavior. Since different monitors display color differently, profiling your monitor is the best way you can help guarantee that what you see on your monitor will closely match what prints.

Calibration can be done in a variety of ways, using free software solutions, or hardware/software combinations.

Software with hardware calibration requires the use of a device, either a colormeter or spectrophotometer, which mounts on the face of your monitor, and reads a series of color values displayed by calibration software.  

Software Calibration

If you are working in Adobe Photoshop on Windows or MacOS, use the Adobe Gamma Control Panel which was automatically installed with the program. Click here for a screen-by-screen explanation of the Adobe Gamma Control Panel.

Important Note: If you are working on the Macintosh, and have already run the ColorSync Calibration Assistant, do not use the Adobe Gamma Control Panel.

Step #3 — Download the ICC Profile.

Step #4 — Install the ICC Profile

In MacOS, if you are using ColorSync 2.0-2.12, profiles are installed into the System Folder: Preferences: ColorSync Profiles folder . If you are using ColorSync 2.5, they are installed into the System Folder: ColorSync Profiles folder.

In Windows 95 and Windows 98, profiles should be saved to Windows\System\Color folder. In Windows NT, they should be saved to the Windows\System32\Color folder. Initially, the profile icon will be grayed-out, indicating it hasn't been installed. After copying a profile there, click-and-hold the right mouse button on it. A popup menu appears. Select "Install profile". The profile will no longer be grayed-out.

Step #5 — Launch Photoshop

Launch Photoshop, and open a copy of the file you wish to print with Arrow. The following instructions are the same for both Windows and Macintosh Photoshop users.

Printing with Photoshop

After you have opened a copy of the file you wish to print with ArrowCamera file is not in TIFF format, please save it as a TIFF.

Under the View Menu, click on Proof Setup, and then Custom.

Select the ICC Profile you downloaded from Arrow Cameras

website and installed in the appropriate location on your computer, as shown above. Your dialog box should look like this:

You can save this setup under a custom name, such as "Arrow". After making the settings shown above, click on the Save button, and name your setup "Arrow". Then, you can load the settings each time you prepare a file for Arrow.

Once you have set up the Proof Setup, select the Proof Colors command as follows:

Photoshop will use your monitor profile and the Arrow ICC profile to preview on your monitor how your print will appear when printed at Arrow you convert the file to Arrow printer profile.

To convert the file, select the Mode Menu, then over and down to Convert to Profile, as below:

The following dialog box will appear:

Under the Destination Space heading, set the Profile to the Arrow profile which you have already downloaded and installed in your operating system. Click OK. Because you have already selected the Proof Colors command, you should not see a change in the appearance of the file.

WARNING! This changes the pixel data in your file; if you haven’t been working on a copy, do not Save; rather, Save As, and preserve your original file in case you need to use it later. This step can not be undone once you save.

Save this file as either a TIFF or JPEG, and send it to Arrow Camera.

Printing with Photoshop

In Photoshop 5.x, you will need to set your color settings as follows:

Under the File Menu, click and hold on Color Settings, then select the RGB Settings.

In the RGB Setup window, set the RGB pull-down menu to Adobe RGB. Make sure the Display Using Monitor Compensation is selected, and that the Preview box is checked as well.

Under the File Menu, click and hold on Color Settings, then select the CMYK Settings

While you will not use the CMYK setup in preparing a file for Arrow Camera, it’s a good idea to set it to an ICC profile for consistency’s sake. If you don’t have an ICC profile for a specific CMYK device you wish to use (typically a desktop inkjet), select a good generic CMYK profile. Several of these should already be installed in your system. The setup is shown below.

Make sure the Preview checkbox is selected. Set your Engine to Adobe, and your Intent to Perceptual.

Under the File Menu, click and hold on Color Settings, then select the Profile Settings

Set your settings as follows:

Once you have made all these settings and closed the windows by selecting OK in each one, you’re ready to use an ICC workflow in Photoshop 5.x to prepare files for Arrow

Next, open a copy of your original file, and select Profile to Profile as shown in the screen shot here:

When you select Profile to Profile, the following screen will appear:

In the pull-down window marked To: select the current Arrow Profile (in the screen shot above, this profile’s name is Arrow msc), click on whatever profile is shown next to the word To: as shown below:

When you release the pulldown menu, your

screen will show the ARROW profile, as below:

The Intent: should be set to Perceptual. Click OK.

The image will be converted to the color gamut defined by the Arrow profile, and your image data will have been altered. After making this conversion, the screen display of your file may look very strange. Don't worry. It should print out just fine when you send it to ARROW CAMERA

Save your file as a copy, if it is not already, and upload to ARROW CAMERA.

Technical Guidance

This technical guidance section is designed to give you the information needed to produce the best possible results with arrow cameras services.