High Quality Prints

[manaheim]

Here is your problem Exif from your image.

Camera Maker: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF50mm f/1.4 USM
Image Date: 2012-10-05 23:19:18 -0400
Focal Length: 50.0mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Exposure Time: 0.020 s (1/50)
ISO equiv: 160
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: ProPhoto RGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 Windows

Costco is used to seeing jpegs in color space sRGB and files in ProPhotoRgb or AdobeRGB will look dull and flat - exactly as you see them.
You must set up to export at colorspace sRGB

Oh yeah.

Or that.

 

[CGR]

WOAH! Lew! Kinda creepy you got all that info! But thank you so much. I think that is exactly the problem with the costco thing. So, basically, I need to export it differently from lightroom to pse. I need to set it at colorspace sRGB. PHEW! Got it!

And thanks for the mpix input and the link to digital darkroom. Sheesh! You all are an ocean of knowledge.

 

[otto0713]

Here is your problem ; these are Exif from your image.

Camera Maker: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF50mm f/1.4 USM
Image Date: 2012-10-05 23:19:18 -0400
Focal Length: 50.0mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Exposure Time: 0.020 s (1/50)
ISO equiv: 160
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (enforced)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: ProPhoto RGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 Windows

Costco is used to seeing jpegs in color space sRGB and files in ProPhotoRgb or AdobeRGB will look dull and flat - exactly as you see them.
You must set up to export at colorspace sRGB

(And, incidentally, you could raise your iso to get better DOF and shutter speed.)

I also think that this is the problem. Using Adobe RGB in post processing and not converting them to sRGB before sending them into costco. Good luck in your Lightroom experience.

 

[KmH]

WOAH! Lew! Kinda creepy you got all that info! But thank you so much. I think that is exactly the problem with the costco thing. So, basically, I need to export it differently from lightroom to pse. I need to set it at colorspace sRGB. PHEW! Got it!

And thanks for the mpix input and the link to digital darkroom. Sheesh! You all are an ocean of knowledge.

What Lew got is known as EXIF metadata which is appended to just about every digital photograph. I was pretty certain you had a color space issue.

What color space did you assign on export from Lightroom?

There are a bunch of free EXIF viewers available on the internet www.opanda.com being just one.

Mpix is a consumer online lab owned by Miller's. Miller's also has the pro lab - MpixPro.

For printing Mpix requires JPEG files, in the sRGB color space, with no embedded color profiles.

Check with your local Costco what print file parameters they require.

Not all internet browsers are color-aware, web sites differ on how they manage images, and image viewer applications differ in how they manage and display images.

 

[CGR]

Yep- Keith you were right with your initial suggestion. I just didn't see if because I checked how a regular Lightroom Export was set up and it was sRGB. But what I had been doing was exporting directly to PSE and I didn't realize those setting could would be different. They printed fine (yeah, even a quickie print at Costco) with this change.

Thanks to all for figuring this out for me. I don't know that I could have solved that one on my own. Still lots to learn. But I'm grateful for the support!

p.s. I also appreciate the ISO suggestion. I was shooting in AV mode because it was just a super quick capture- so I did have to lighten it a lot in Lightroom. Not a great shot. But it's my daughter and her great-grandmother- so very precious to me. Thanks to all for helping me mail her a copy that wasn't gray!