Printing Photos

[thebutler4]

Dose anyone notice that when you print your photos they are darker than they are on the computer? .. I have both LCD and High Def. LCD monitors but when I go and print the photo they are much darker.

 

[Big Mike]

How do you know that what you see on the screen, is actually how 'the image' looks? Ahhh...

Before you can expect to accurate prints, you have to make sure that your monitor is displaying your images accurately. After all, you can adjust the brightness & contrast on your monitor...but that doesn't change the images, just the display.

To properly calibrate a monitor, you need a calibration device. The more popular ones are the Spyder and the Huey or Color Munki.

 

[thebutler4]

Very nice! .. Thank you very much! .. that was the issue I was having .. is whats displayed on my monitor is different than what prints .. I tried using the calibration built into windows 7 but its still not accurate ...

Thank you very much for the links! .. I will get on it right now!

 

[RauschPhotography]

The calibration built into Windows 7 (or really any OS) isn't going to be entirely accurate. As Big Mike had suggested, a calibration device is going to be really useful for you to get the truest colors. I'm a fan of Spyder, but I've also heard a lot of good things about Color Munki.

 

[thebutler4]

OK so I am thinking of going with the

huey™PRO

anyone use this and what are your thoughts??

 

[MichiganFarts]

Assuming you're using a cmyk 4, 6, or 8 color printer, a good test to do is print solid color swatches of each color. Starting at 100% and varying down by 10% or so. Most printers I've used, either large presses from my work, or my home printer, just lay down too much ink for the materials you use to print on.

If your swatches at 80% look the same as the 100% swatches, you know then that the printer is laying down entirely too much ink for the coating on the material you're using. You can also save ink this way, by limiting all the dark areas in your photos to lower percentages.

That will at least give you a grasp of why photos turn out dark. And it can help you when you're adjusting the colors before print, to determine which colors are over saturating the coating

 

[spacefuzz]

Also make sure once your monitor is calibrated that your using all the correct profiles for your photo printer.

 

[KmH]

If you are printing your own photos you will need to profile both your computer display and the printer.

Devices that can only calibrate the display Spyder, Huey, i1 Display 2 - are colorimeters.

Devices that can calibrate both a display, and a printer are spectrophotometers like the $499 ColorMunki .

 

[thebutler4]

Ya I was looking at the software/hardware yesterday .. its going to have to wait a little while .. lol ..

 

[lyonsroar]

I don't always print at home, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.

 

[thebutler4]

I don't always print at home, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis.

LOL!!

 

[JimCoventry]

I use an application called Gamma Control. It is available for both Macs and PCs.

I also use another program called Spyder II to get the monitor to it's optimum, then I use the Gamma app to calibrate to an image while comparing that image on screen to a print out of that image. I save the data to a file named with the date and the printer used. ie: Epson2200_032511 which allows me to have multiple printers "fingerprinted"

After that I am seldom surprised. Or disappointed.