Hi Everyone I'd like to introduce myself as a new member even though I've been a lurker for quite awhile.
My name is Eric Perlberg and I'm the owner of a micro-business called Stone Quay Studio about which there has been some recent discussion on this list. I have a wide range of interests and a complex professional background. I've worked for a long time as an educator and a teacher teaching many subjects including most recently sixth form level IT. I've designed and run school networks, set up Macs and PCs done oodles of training and made countless training documents and have lots of experience troubleshooting both Macs and PCs and people's frustrations and difficulties with them. I've also been a successful professional graphic designer (photoshop, illustrator, QuarkXpress, InDesign, Dreamweaver) for 20 years producing books, manuals, web sites, brochures, letterheads and logos, etc, I worked for several years as a desktop publishing and advertising consultant for a major multi-national pharmaceutical company in Basel Switzerland where I was in charge of a project to help them develop a modern publishing workflow, purchase appropriate computers and software, designed and created guidelines for manuals, brochures, newsletters, and produced advertising materials, posters, packaging and packing inserts, etc I've also been active in online learning and community building and developed online teaching strategies and my own online e-learning software (java/oracle), I co-founded ASW2 with Southbank International School in London. ASW2 (A School Without Walls) is the UK's first and only online sixth form (which uses the software I designed and the teaching strategies I developed). I've written and designed any number of manuals and quick start guides for various purposes including those for my own businesses. My hobbies include photography, contemporary art, techy toys (including computers and cameras) and my blog, Curiously Incongruous. My personal photography can be viewed at http://www.curiouslyincongruous.net. About 2 years ago I decided it was time to take my interest in photography and the fine arts to a new level and I pretty much gave up my other jobs (occassionally I consult or go to a board meeting) to begin a late midlife attempt to be a practicing artist (I'm careful not to say professional photographer because most people think of someone doing weddings or photojounalism or commercial or fashion photography which I don't do). And now, I'd like to add some info to the discussion which came up over my pricing and the speculation about its meaning by some of my competitors. Steve Upton in a recent post made a point about custom profiling being a service. He made a rather unfortunate comparison that a �35 profile from Stone Quay Studio was equivalent to a cheap haircut. (well he didn't mention us by name the innuendo ws pretty clear). There were several other innuendos in the posts from Steve Upton and Neil Barstow (who happen to be "competitors") that suggested that someone willing to produce profiles at �35/profile is somehow a) not able to write full or clear instructions b) not well informed or lacking in experience and expertise c) not up to giving good customer support before or after purchase or d) not using top equipement for the job. Well Steve Upton was right about one thing. The time I personally put in making a Stone Quay Studio profile is small compared to the time I spend giving help and support to my customers who are usually new to colour management and more than slightly overwhelmed. And no wonder, colour management is a complex and rapidly changing field and even the experts disagree on finer points (and in at least one case, the not so finer points). Steve wrote in his post that its pretty easy for anyone to go out and buy an i1Photo. The fact is that with a bit of practice its also pretty easy to get a supurb profile from i1Photo which is every bit as good as that produced with the equipment he mentions, most of which is really designed for other purposes than producing profiles for inkjet printers. For example, Steve mentions the Spectrolino which Gretag Macbeth markets this way: "Spectrolino meets the needs of color formulation and control in the graphic arts, as well as color formulation for retail paints". It's much more expensive than the i1Spectrophotometer because its designed to do different tasks than the i1 Photo but it won't produce better inkjet profiles just because it can measure the density of paint. Even ProfileMaker Pro which is a �3000+ software collection doesn't produce better inkjet profiles just because it has capabilities to do things for CMYK printing presses that Match wasn't designed to handle. But when it comes to producing profiles for inkjet printers Andy Rodney, well known Colour Management Guru, in a recent post at Imaging Review said "... the profiles you build there (ProfileMaker Pro) verses Match are virtually identical." So from a product point of view, the profile I can make for you is virtually identical to the product they supply. I know from discussions with clients that the real problem they face as serious amateur or professional photographers is two fold: 1) its not cost effective to go out and buy a good profiling kit like i1 Photo to profile four or five papers 2) most photographers haven't enough time to spend following colour management issues because they're too busy trying to put the bread on the table or deal with the myriad of other photographic images issues we face. Because of my background with computers, software (especially photoshop) and photography, I can (through Stone Quay Studio) offer top quality profiles and strong customer support without the high business overheads needed to buy expensive CMYK based equipment and software, hire experienced CMYK saavy staff to build profiles, have office rental costs, hiring, employee issues, etc to deal with, expensive accountants to do the books, etc So its not a case of a cheap haircut by someone just out of an apprenticeship programme compared to a master stylist. Rather its a case of someone with a lifetime of professional expertise cutting down on costs by working from home, buying only the essential tools for the job, having a sharp business focus and willing to work at a modest (dare I say meagre) profit margin. 1) I produce top qualiity inkjet profiles. I don't supply CMYK profiles which require more sophisticated and expensive equipment that has to be amortised over every client and needs its own knowledge base. 2) I keep abreast of colour management issues as they affect photographers through any number of lists and discussion boards just as they do 3) I have the computer and software background to understand what is being spoken about and can evaluate the BS factor in what is being said (and this is a considerable factor) 4) I think Stone Quay Studio documentation is easy to follow and clear and compares favourably to anyone else's documentation. 5) I offer extensive, effective customer support. If someone wants to pay �90 or more for a profile, more power to them. If you buy a profile from me and you think you didn't get what you wanted, I'll return your money. But you won't get a cheap haircut here. Best Regards, Eric Eric Perlberg Stone Quay Studio =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
