I printed my first DSLR pictures today and i was nervous

[Rachelsne]

Ok so since my screen isnt calibrated, and its not the newest of monitors, I decided to see just how my photographs would look when printed.

I used walmart, I ordered on line and picked up in store-just for convenience, and I wanted to see them straight away, so I didnt use any of the better printing sites that I have book marked

I think both came out really well one i had photoshoeed to sepia and one was a kitten picture, I was so worried the colour would be wrong or they would be oof, YAY im happy:

here are the pics

This is Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. (its a bit blown out but I still like it.)

And this is Peachy, on of the new kittens at the cat shelter I volunteer at(i put him in a basket hoping he would look cute, this is one of the only pictures he was facing me):

 

[Rachelsne]

actually looking again the prints came up darker than my monitor shows, not a huge amount to worry about, but I was wondering to they look dark to you, or is it walmart?

 

[mrodgers]

I don't think they look dark in your post there.

I really like that first picture.

Every photo that I have seen printed at Walmart by someone who had them printed from a digital camera I thought seemed just a tad underexposed. Conversely, every photo I have seen printed on a home printer by someone who printed them from a digital camera has been way oversaturated and bright in color.

I have one particular shot of my daughters that I printed about 10 times with my little 4x6 photo printer specifically trying to get it looking like I saw on the monitor. I finally figured it all out, and printed quite a few more pictures that I am very happy with the result.

But, I have yet to send my pictures to Walmart or to something online such as MPix to have prints done. I am doing that soon though, as soon as I get a good shot of my oldest daughter so I can print each daughter in 8x10 and hang on the wall. I plan on doing this at MPix.com and also sending along a few other shots to be printed at 4x6 just to see what they look like from a print shop rather than my cheap little printer.

 

[davebmck]

They don't seem too dark to me, especially the kitten pic.

I bought the Spider 3 to calibrate my monitor. I think it was around $135. It really made a difference on my monitor and it's real easy to use.

Did you write "colour"? You're not really from Virginia are you?

 

[Rachelsne]

Davebmck-LOL yes I would be English born and raised. but in Virgina at present. my hubby's computer always tells me I spell colour wrong, but I ignore it because its the real English way LOL and Im real English

Spyder is one of the programs I am looking at getting.



Mrodgers-In the past I have printed with my old point and shoot on mhy printer at home, but its old and even after cleaning i get lines, so spending time adjusting settings wouldn't be beneficial. Its interesting what you say about walmart being a tad dark though.
Thanks for the compliment on the picture too.

 

[ryan7783]

Davebmck-LOL yes I would be English born and raised. but in Virgina at present. my hubby's computer always tells me I spell colour wrong, but I ignore it because its the real English way LOL and Im real English

Spyder is one of the programs I am looking at getting.



Mrodgers-In the past I have printed with my old point and shoot on mhy printer at home, but its old and even after cleaning i get lines, so spending time adjusting settings wouldn't be beneficial. Its interesting what you say about walmart being a tad dark though.
Thanks for the compliment on the picture too.

you know it's funny...now I can't read anything you post without putting an english accent on it.

 

[caspertodd]

I sent pictures to Walmart also, and they turned out too dark for me. Mpix was ok, but the best place was Snapfish. The interface is just like Walmart's, and they are also 9 cents each. They took about 5 days to get the pictures to me. It was definitely a night and day difference. I've only used them once though.

 

[davebmck]

Davebmck-LOL yes I would be English born and raised. but in Virgina at present. my hubby's computer always tells me I spell colour wrong, but I ignore it because its the real English way LOL and Im real English

The Queens English of course. Jolly right then. Cheers.

 

[manaheim]

I have -heard- that you can provide monitor profiles to a professional printer and they will print your image exactly as you see it on your screen. I have never tried this because the "local shop" I tend to print pictures I care more about refuses to do it... I probably should find another shop.

I've not printed at Walmart, but I've printed pictures I care a bit less about at various CVSes in the area and have a pretty wide variety of results... and in fact, even the local pro shop dude has a tendency to make choices in his printing I'm not totally happy with.

This is keeping in mind, too, that I'm hyper-anal about the color correction of my screen at home.

I suspect that this is a somewhat unavoidable curse... unless maybe the monitor profile thing is valid... has anyone else heard of this or tried it?

 

[Village Idiot]

Although more expensive than wal mart (unless you know the manager), Ritz does very good prints. I'd suggest skipping the glossy paper if you haven't though. A matte print just seems to make a good picture look better.

If you're going to do on-line prints, check out www.whcc.com White House Custom Colors does an amazing job. It was a tad bit complicated at first entering in my first order as their documentation isn't the best, but once you figure it out, it's easy. Plus their quality is amazing. I had a 24"x36" print made from a 1mb 8mp jpg file and I was extremely happy with the quality.