Photo Lab

Lab hours: 10:00AM–2:00PM Monday-Friday. Tuesdays until 8PM.

Supervisors are available during open hours.

The Photo Lab is located in Clubhouse #4, Laguna Woods Village:
View Map from Gate 5 on El Toro (PDF)

Location of Photo Lab at Clubhouse 4

Services Offered

Supervisors are available to help with your photography projects for all hours the Lab is open: Monday-Friday 10am to 2pm, Tuesday until 8pm.

• Printing (supervisors only)
• Image Editing
• Matting
• Mounting
• Scanning
• Darkroom – film (LWV residents only)
• Copy stand
• Art photography (supervisors only)
• Table top photography (supervisors only)
• Portrait & group photography (supervisors only)
• Passport photography (supervisors only)
• LED lighting kit, with softboxes (supervisors, approved members & residents)
• Library

The Club has several tutors available for a range of expertise. Contact the tutors directly from ther tutors list below.

Expert members are also available for paid events, photography and editing projects, and pro-bono work. Let the Club know what you need: cameraclub@cameraclublwv.org

We are finally updating the equipment is the Photo Lab! No more 2017 computers.
Help the Lab update, and the new programs that will follow, by donating to this fundraising campaign – tax deductible!
Donate to the Photo Lab Modernization Campaign

The Digital Photo Lab

The digital photo lab provides printing and image prep services to all Club members and Laguna Woods Village residents.

The Photo Lab supervisors handle all printing services in the Lab. They will advise you on what can be printed, and can make the prints for you.

The Lab charges nominal fees for prints to cover cost of materials. Of course, the Lab appreciates any additional donations for the skills and services rendered. Also, expert Club members are available for complex projects upon request.

The Lab is equipped with three Mac M4 Mini computers which are loaded with the Adobe Photography Suite – Photoshop and Lightroom- and the Topaz Gigapixel plugin. Each Mini is paired a BenQ monitor. The equipment is calibrated to print optimally to either our Epson P900 or Epson P9000 proffessional archival ink jet printers.

Prints can be made from either roll or sheet papers, ranging from 4″ x 6″ up to 44″ wide x ‘unlimted’ length (40′ to 100′). The Lab offers several professional grade Epson papers for prints.

• Matte, double weight – perfect for economical posters up to 44″ x 60″
• Premium Luster
• Metallic Luster (roll only)
• Metallic Glossy (roll only)
• Glossy (sheet only)
• Canvas Glossy (roll only)
• Canvas Matte (semi-gloss, roll only)
• Arches Watercolor “sized” paper – suitable for ink-jet, must be pre-approved (sheet only, provided by resident)

Two other papers that the Lab does not stock are also approved for printing:

• Hahnemühle Photo Inkjet Papers
• Redhat Photo Inkjet Papers

Residents may provide own paper IF the paper matches any of the print papers on these two approved paper lists. Additional papers may be considered for use. Residents must provide a sample of the paper, plus a print out or link for the paper specifications in order to the paper to be considered.

No printing may occur with new papers without PRIOR review and approval by by the Head Supervisor, and Lab print tech team.

Prints made with resident supplied paper are charged 20% of the cost of a regular print, in order to cover the cost of ink.

Bring Your Portable Storage

Bring your images to the Photo Lab on a thumb drive, an external hard drive, or on your smart phone. Supervisors will move your images to our work stations for processing, and will return any edited files to your storage media at the end of your session.

The Club also saves your files to a folder with your name on the Lab backup drives. Your images will saved on our devices for at least six (6) months so you may conveniently resume your projects.

For simple “as is” prints, you may also send us your images using the Lab CelCanLab program.

CelCamLab Program

Our “CelCamLab” program is intended for simple affordable prints to be made from images that have been emailed to the Lab.

Send your photos for the CelCamLab program to CelCamLab@gmail.com

Residents must come to the Lab for their images to be printed – images will NOT be printed until you discuss them in person with a supervisor. This is to make sure make the prints are completed as you wish. All CelCamLab prints are made “as is”, with no editing to the files other than sizing. For time spent on editing and image prep, donations are expected and appreciated.

Prints for this program may be 4″ x 6″ or 5″ x 7″ at $1.00 each, or 8″ x 10″ at $2.00, payable to the Camera Club.

Please note – this service is only available to Laguna Woods Village residents.

Scanning Room

The Fred Grainger Learning Center classroom at the Lab is dedicated to scanning slides, prints, and negatives. There is an excellent professional Nikon scanner for slides and negatives, two Epson flat bed scannersfor prints (up to 11″ x 17″), slides, and negatives, an Epson batch print scanner, and an easy to use Kodak scanner for medium resolution slide and negative scans.

Supervisors will help you get started, then it’s all yours. There is currently no charge for scanning, but again, donations are typical and appreciated for help provided by the supervisors.

Later this year (2025), look for this room to also provide Mac computers with the Adobe Photography Suite for your independant usage. A program that will allow you to handle your own printing to a dedicated printer is also in the works for the fall.

Photo Lab Darkroom

The Lab has one film darkroom, equipped with two enlargers, three enlarging lens, and large wet area sink for developing and washing. Various essential dark room tools are provided to help with both processes.

• Omega Super Chromega enlarger
  C760 Dichroic
• Saunders/LPL 670MXL enlarger
  Dual Mode
• Rodenstock Rogonar S lense
  50mm f2.8
• Rodenstock Rogonar lense
  80mm f4
• Schneider Kreuznach lense
  Componar-C 4/75

Chemicals must be provided by the individuals making the prints, and must be removed daily – no overnight storage.

Scheduling required to use this lab resource. Stop in the Lab to set a time, or email the Lab at photolab@cameraclublwv.org

Matting Room

The matting room is equipped with a range of tools and equipment for copying, cutting, matting, and mounting your prints:

• large work table
• counter space
• several paper cutters
• large mat cutter (up to 41″)
• dry heat press (up to 11″ x 14″)
• photo copy table with LED lights and camera stand
• miscellaneous supplies and hand tools for matting and mounting prints
• spotting dyes, inks, and brushes
• measuring tapes, yardsticks, and squares
• mat board up to 16″ x 20″ – white, cream, black

Library

The Lab has an extensive collection of photography books, from art books, to travel, to portrait, work by famous photographers, image collections, to how-to-books both film and digital, and more.

The books are available to everyone on-site, with borrowing allowed with registration.

Pricing

The Club charges very reasonable prices for materials in order to cover costs.

Print prices are calculated based upon the type and size of paper used for each print.

Since pricing is updated whenever papers and inks are restocked, supervisors can provide current price estimates upon request.

Other supplies, such as mat board, mounting tissue, tapes, sprays, etc. are also priced very reasonably.

Payments can be cash, check, or credit card, payable at the time of usage.

Donations for Services

Supervisors will help you get started, or work with you for every step of your projects.

Visitors to the Lab donate above material fees in appreciation of this support and to help maintain the Lab.

Guidance is $20 or more for dedicated projects of 1 hour or more.

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Guidelines

Guidelines are provided by members and educators to help you develop your photographic skills.

• Matting & Mounting Guide 1 (PDF)
• Matting & Mounting Guide 2 (PDF)
• Beginning Printing with Photoshop (PDF)
• Making Test Prints in Photoshop (PDF)
• UpRez Images with Topaz Gigapixel in Photoshop (PDF)

Tutoring

Supervisors and other Club members are available as tutors to help you improve your skills.

The first 1-2 hours are pro-bono, with further sessions mutually arranged.

• Lightroom Classic
  Brad Friesen is ready to help tutor beginning photographers and people interested in LightRoom Classic.
  Contact Brad
• Art & Composition
  Penni Rubin is available to help tutor members interested in exploring color and composition in art and photography.
  Contact Penni
• Photoshop, Canon Cameras & Lens
  Larry Goodman is available to help tutor members looking to improve their Photoshop skills, or want to learn how to use Canon cameras and lens.
  Contact Larry
• Photoshop on a PC
  David Wells has many years experience working with Photoshop on a PC. He is available to help tutor members in this focus area.
  Contact David
• Photography
  George Harper has many years experience photographing landscape, architecture, sports, and action events. He is available to help tutor members.
  Contact George
• Photoshop & Printing
  Jack Salvador has extensive experience preparing images for print, and printing to a wide range of media, including alternative processes. He is available to help tutor members with printing, Adobe Photoshop, and cell phone photography.
  Contact Jack
• Photography A-Z
  Adriana Greisman is an award winning photographer in several genres, with extensive experience as an educator. She is available to help tutor members in Lightroom Classic, cell phone photography, macro photography, composition, and wildlife/bird photography.
  Contact Adriana

Help The Club

• Teach
  Have an area of expertise that you would like to share with the Club? Teach a class or workshop.
  Contact Mary Madden, Education Committee Chair
• Donate
  Help with our Photo Lam Modernization Campaign
  Donate to the Photo Lab
• Tutor
  Help fellow members by tutoring/mentoring.
  I can help tutor
• Volunteer
  There are many ways you can volunteer with the Club.
  See how you can volunteer with the Club

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If you need any assistance, please email cameraclub@cameraclublwv.org