Digital on Computer to 16x20 print

glenna1984 · Oct 4, 2022

On my high res pc monitor the photo I want to enlarge looks perfect.
When I order a 16x20 print I am converting from an RGB monitor to CYMK paper.
Are there any adjustments I should consider before submitting the photo to get the print to be as close to the pc as possible?
i.e. lighten the photo on the pc, change shadows, etc..

snowbear · Oct 4, 2022

I'd order a smaller test print first. You will probably have to rduce the brightness of your monitor so use the test print as a guide. A brightness level of 50% would not be surprising. Also compare the colors and calibrate the monitor if needed.

Strodav · Oct 4, 2022

Take a look your photo lab website and check their available file formats and color spaces. I'll bet they are jpg and srgb. To get the color close to right start by calibrating your monitor. Here's where it gets a bit tricky. My monitor is about 96 ppi and designed and calibrated for a wider color space, Adobe rgb. I have a "soft proofing" option in Adobe Lightroom, which lets me look at the image in srgb while I'm still editing. Once I'm happy, I export to jpg, srgb, which is the file I sent to my photo lab. Of course you can calibrate your monitor to srgb.

It's a good idea to test your photo lab. I have a test image that I made up with a Kodak gray scale and color control patches, X-rite color checker and other assorted stuff. You can get what you need on Amazon or Adorama. I took the image with my D850 at base ISO, set to the Adobe rgb color space, with a high quality lens, moved it into LightRoom just to export it to jpg, srgb. I send that to my photo lab and have them make an 8 x 10 (mpix.com charges $3.29 for 8 x 10 on photo paper) and check the print against my monitor and a print I make on my own photo printer. If they are close, I know I'm good to go. BTW, you need to look at your print under 5500K light and off to the side from the monitor, and you don't want your 5500K light source throwing light on your monitor.

It's good to think about the number of pixels in your image and the size you want to print at. Assume a 24mp sensor producing a 6000 x 4000 pixel image. There is a lot of debate on how many pixels you need per inch, but I've gotten good results as low as 180 ppi (iphone 13 pro), and you shouldn't ever need to go above 300ppi. So for 6000 x 4000 at 180 ppi, you can make a reasonable 33" x 22" print. At 300 ppi, you can make a high quality 20" x 13" print.