Printing colors

[Photos de l'amour]

When you create a photo book online at places like mpix and such, do the photos come out looking the same as I see themon my monitor? I have tried to prints a couple photos at home and it comes out darker than I see on my monitor. I have calibrated my monitor the best I can. If I go into the printer settings and adjust the brightness up 5 to 10 clicks it comes real close to my monitor.

So if I upload and have a book made, how do I know if it will be what I want?

 

[Markw]

I would suggest trying to get a small print done before you get the book. This way you will know what the prints from there look like before you jump into a book.

Mark

 

[Derrel]

In all seriousness, the Google search string "prints look too dark" brings up 3,620,000 results. A couple years back one of the bigger web outlets did an article entitled, I believe it was, "Prints look too dark",or a variation on that title. It might have been Popular Photography & Imaging's web site, but they kept referring to the tremendously widespread problem of prints looking far too dark in comparison to the images many people see on their monitors.

Here's an article that will help get you started on finding out the answers you seek.
Why are my prints too dark

 

[Photos de l'amour]

Thank you. I will look at that article.
So if I am doing a photo book will they be too dark just as if I printed them?

 

[EOS_JD]

I have calibrated my monitor the best I can.

THere is no simple answer to this. Proper monitor calibration is the answer and it looks like your could be too bright. Equally without a printer profile how do you know that you are sending the correct info to your printer.

Buy a calibrator and use that then get your paper company to provide a custom printer profile and you will see the difference.

You can't really do it by eye - most eyes see things slightly differently and whilst you may think it looks fine it may be because your eyes are used to how your monitor shows color.

THere is no simple answer to this - hardware calibration is your best bet - rather than guesswork and potetially wasted money on printing.

 

[Photos de l'amour]

I agree, I just can't seem to find a monitor calibrator that I can afford. Any recommendations?

 

[EOS_JD]

I use a Spyder2 - You should be able to buy second hand.

 

[Photos de l'amour]

I just found one on ebay but it doesn't have the cd, would that be a problem?

Now I found a couple more and will hopefully win the bid.

So, once I calibrate my monitor. What settings will I use in ps and my printer? Do I have my printer control or ps? I have tried to read on this and I just don't get it.

 

[KmH]

I just found one on ebay but it doesn't have the cd, would that be a problem?

Now I found a couple more and will hopefully win the bid.


So, once I calibrate my monitor. What settings will I use in ps and my printer? Do I have my printer control or ps? I have tried to read on this and I just don't get it.

There are 2 kinds of calibration devices:

1. Colorimeters
2. Spectrophotometers

You need a spectrophotometer to calibrate both your monitor and your printer if you want to make your own prints. A colorimeter can only calibrate a monitor.

To get prints made by a lab, you need the labs printer ICC profiles so you can use them to 'softproof' in your image editor.

You can download Mpix's printer ICC profiles at the bottom the this "How To Prepare Your Images" page:

Mpix.com - Help

 

[Photos de l'amour]

Great! Thank You! :hug::That is what I was looking for.

So, this may be getting a little off topic but, what size images do you use for a photo book? Do I just crop to 4x6 with the resolution box empty? I read that somewhere...

Or do I crop bigger?

 

[KmH]

Great! Thank You! :hug::That is what I was looking for.

So, this may be getting a little off topic but, what size images do you use for a photo book? Do I just crop to 4x6 with the resolution box empty? I read that somewhere...

Or do I crop bigger?

It depends on the size of the book, the bleed, and if you want to use the gutter or not.

Do you know how to use the Internet? http://mpix.com/Product.aspx/softcoverphotobooks

 

[Photos de l'amour]

[/quote]It depends on the size of the book, the bleed, and if you want to use the gutter or not.

Do you know how to use the Internet? Mpix.com - Soft Cover Photo Books[/QUOTE]

Yes, I know how to use the internet! Sorry if I missed something. I looked at the link you posted and I don't see where it says anything about bleed or image size.
If I want an image to fill the page do I crop it to an 8x8? I looked at the link and don't see where it says anything about bleed. I just want to be sure. Real sorry if I offended you!

 

[KmH]

You need to download their software.

 

[Photos de l'amour]

I did....I downloaded blurb, mpix and picaboo. I have been trying to learn them today. So far Blurb looks the most user friendly. Have you used any of these?
If I make a book using one of these software downloads can I have it printed somewhere else?

 

[EOS_JD]

No you can't.

Regards images, If you have large images, resize to 6x4 @ 300ppi for printing purposes.

Regards the calibration device, you don't need to calibrate your printer as it does become expensive. Get the coloromiter and when you buy paper, make sure they provide a free custom profile - Many good paper manufacturers do this. HTat way they provide you with the profile and you select this in Photoshop when printing - they will provide the required instructions on what you need to do.