Digital Beginner: Digital Print Color Problem

[RegRoy]

Calibration devices for monitors can be had for under $100.

Can you recommend one in this range?

 

[Garbz]

In reality unfortunately the average person probably doesn't care.

At the $100 I can't recommend any since I haven't used them. I'm sure someone on this forum has though. Pantone ColorMunki is one of the ones in this price range. The Pantone Huey also comes in at around that price.

Personally I use the X-rite i1 Display2 but that comes in at $199.

The Spyder calibrators are also quite popular. The Spyder2 would probably fetch for around $100 I guess. They just released an upgraded Spyder3 last year for an inflated price, so finding the older model may be more difficult.

 

[table1349]

Well I didn't mean to generalize -- but I wonder if the average person is using color profiles? I mean if you are posting on this forum about calibrating I'd say you're ahead of the curve already.

One of the problems with digital these days over film is most newbies still think of photography in film terms. I shoot it on my film camera, rewind the film, put it in an envelope and send it off to be processed. I'm done. That was the majority of the film shooters. There were far fewer that had their own darkrooms and processed their own negatives or positives. There were good labs around that would develop film, but the number of photographers with positive darkrooms was still a fraction of the shooting population.

With the advent of digital there are a lot of shooters that are now confued with the process. The sent the film off and got pictures back. They had no idea that the person printing their photos from negatives made adjustments to the photos before they printed them. Now you are the person that "gets the film envelope", unless you want to pay someone to do your post processing for you. Now it is the photographer that needs to make those corrections to get the best out of a photo. In the digital age, you the photographer need to come to an understanding of how you are going to work.

One, you shoot them and take the card to Walgreens and print them at the little kiosk pretty much as they are just like the film days. You can send them off as well, but many of the places do not do much in the way of correction before printing.

Two, you pick up the processing part, which means you get the tools to process including the hardware and software, learn about post processing and develop your own work flow. From this you can either send them out knowing what to expect to get back or if you choose, you can do your own printing. That does entail more knowledge up front so you can be proactive instead of reactive in your purchasing.

Three, you can pay someone to do the post processing for you.

There is no right or wrong choice here, there are just choices.

Me, I choose number two, including most of my own printing. But I was also one of those 40 years ago that had my own dark room.

 

[Steve01]

Well I didn't mean to generalize -- but I wonder if the average person is using color profiles? I mean if you are posting on this forum about calibrating I'd say you're ahead of the curve already.

Calibrating your monitor is a big first step.
I think the next step is to make sure "Photoshop Manages Colors", you can find that when you open the print dialog box in at least CS3 to CS5.

Go to your Printer Settings and make sure all setting for color management, enhancement, effects, are off.

You'll usually get the best quality when the paper is matched to the printer, at least it cuts down on trial and error.
Canon printer, Canon paper.
Epson printer, Epson paper, etc.

Finally use the right Printer Profile for the paper you're using.

 

[RegRoy]

Tw

o, you pick up the processing part, which means you get the tools to process including the hardware and software, learn about post processing and develop your own work flow. From this you can either send them out knowing what to expect to get back or if you choose, you can do your own printing. That does entail more knowledge up front so you can be proactive instead of reactive in your purchasing.

Thank you for the breakdown. I think I'm somewhere in here. I'm tried of so-so photos and extra tired of finally getting a good one and then having it come out poorly when printed. So I think I will find my spot somewhere here in "option 2".

 

[Flash Harry]

If you have a reasonably well trained eye, (good colour vision) and PhotoShop on your system try sorting your editing monitor with adobe gamma, use the other for the tools/layers etc pallettes. This usually will do for hobbyist stuff on a decent monitor, spend your cash on something else. H