Lab Printing Profiles

SoDoSoPa

SoDoSoPa

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Gordon
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I would like to get some Lab printing done, I have had a go with getting prints done from Loxeley and DSCL with poor results in the past (pictures coming back dark or muddy with poor colour).

However I now have my monitor properly calibrated and have downloaded printing profiles from Loxeley and DSCL and converted images to sRGB colour space at 300dpi which is what these labs prefer images to be for there machines.

But I notice when soft proofing my images they can be a bit darker which would be normal as monitor lighting is different from papers reflective light. Should I be lightning my images a bit? working side by side with a duplicate image with soft proof on and off prior to sending my images to be printed? Have you used Loxeley or DSCL before and what do you do?

Thanks in advance Gordon.
 
I have always used DSCL with their printer profiles (not sRGB). I've always been very happy with their prints.

My screen is calibrated and I've never added any brightness to my images prior to printing.
 
Hoping that you meant PRINT SIZE at 300 dpi, otherwise it's meaningless ...

Soft proofing is one thing, and embedding a profile is another, but have you considered a proof print from the chosen lab?
 
droj said:
Hoping that you meant PRINT SIZE at 300 dpi, otherwise it's meaningless ...

Soft proofing is one thing, and embedding a profile is another, but have you considered a proof print from the chosen lab?
Click to expand...


How do you mean embedding a profile? As in Photoshop convert to profile? How does that make a difference if soft proofing is a preview of how an image will look on paper.
 
No, forget about embedding. This is fairly lucid:
http://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/using_printer_profiles.htm

Soft proofing won't tell you whether your prints'll be too dark or not, though, unless you've paid attention to monitor brightness to start with as part of your calibration. I'd get a print file looking right on your display first, then get a (smallish) proof print from the lab to check things out.
 
Gordon

First thing is your monitor correctly profiled. If not then it is going to be difficult for you to evaluate what is going on. As far as soft proofing giving you darker images than not soft proofing , well this could be what the profile is telling you. The profile is a characteristic of the printing process.
 
Get an image you like on monitor then export for dscl/ loxley, adjust brightness by 10%, export to a new name, e.g. Image+10, repeat at brightness +20,30 resaving- send them all off and when they come back you can compare print to the onscreen image and decide which adjustment, if any, hou need to apply for sending of to print
 
Jim_Tod said:
Get an image you like on monitor then export for dscl/ loxley, adjust brightness by 10%, export to a new name, e.g. Image+10, repeat at brightness +20,30 resaving- send them all off and when they come back you can compare print to the onscreen image and decide which adjustment, if any, hou need to apply for sending of to print
Click to expand...

Good idea. Hadn't thought of that. You could probably put several adjusted images on one print - like a contact sheet - and save on printing costs.
 
psybear said:
Good idea. Hadn't thought of that. You could probably put several adjusted images on one print - like a contact sheet - and save on printing costs.
Click to expand...

If you do a contact sheet then you're never really sure which file is which- I know is should be obvious from brightness but if you do first set as a check with different filenames and different prints then the file name is usually printed on the back- helps a lot
 
ecoleman said:
I have always used DSCL with their printer profiles (not sRGB). I've always been very happy with their prints.

My screen is calibrated and I've never added any brightness to my images prior to printing.
Click to expand...

:plus1:
 
Jim_Tod said:
If you do a contact sheet then you're never really sure which file is which- I know is should be obvious from brightness but if you do first set as a check with different filenames and different prints then the file name is usually printed on the back- helps a lot
Click to expand...

I was thinking that the various filenames like +10, +20 etc could be put as text just below the images on the contact sheet.
 
Despite my best efforts at calibrating my iMac and Epson R3000 using a Color Munki, I always end up adding about +30 brightness and +10 colour before hitting the print button. Hadn't used DSCL in a while and recently ordered an acrylic panel - followed my usual procedure and of course I ended up with an image that was way too bright.... should've used their profile of course.
 
Remember dscl apply an auto correction unless you tick the pro only print option
 
Yeah I always do go for the Pro option, so it wasn't that. Still, I should've known better as I used them a lot more before I had my own printer and generally didn't have to apply any additional brightness to images.

Excellent customer service still though and they reprinted the panel without charge as the mounting bracket had been wrongly affixed - and let me send in a corrected image when I told them I wasn't happy with the first one (even thought I admitted full responsibility for it).
 
Ok I've sent some test prints to Loxeley and DSCL, With Loxeley I had some corrected and non corrected prints done. both sets came back a little darker than I expected but the corrected ones more so.

With DSCL there prints were fairly close to what I was seeing on my monitor using there own profile instead of sending a standard sRGB profile. But what I noticed was there prints seemed to have a more warmer cast than Loxeley.

For both company's I used perceptual colour rendering as recommended instead of relative colourmetric. does it matter which one I use as I found I more often liked relative colourmetric as its closer to what I want my image to turn out like.

Why is it that labs have these sophisticated printing machines but they can only print sRGB, while home printers can print Adobe(98) colour space?
 
Hotshots said:
I would like to get some Lab printing done, I have had a go with getting prints done from Loxeley and DSCL with poor results in the past (pictures coming back dark or muddy with poor colour).

However I now have my monitor properly calibrated and have downloaded printing profiles from Loxeley and DSCL and converted images to sRGB colour space at 300dpi which is what these labs prefer images to be for there machines.

But I notice when soft proofing my images they can be a bit darker which would be normal as monitor lighting is different from papers reflective light. Should I be lightning my images a bit? working side by side with a duplicate image with soft proof on and off prior to sending my images to be printed? Have you used Loxeley or DSCL before and what do you do?

Thanks in advance Gordon.
Click to expand...

This is what softproofing is for, yes. So long as your monitor is accurately calibrated, then you can make adjustments under softproofing conditions.. as I said.... that's exactly what softproofing is for.

Calibrating a screen will ensure accurate colour, but many people still calibrate to conditions unsuitable for editing that results in incorrect luminance. Many will calibrate to 120CD/m2 by default, then work in a dark room... or calibrate to 80cd/m2 and sit there with blazing sunlight coming through the window or have massively bright room lighting. Like all things.... knowing how to use your tools correctly matters, and this applies to your calibrating device.

If your screen is accurate, then differences between the full gamut image and the soft-proofed image can be adjusted out under softproofed conditions, yes. The only exception to this is if you are actually converting an image to specific print profile rather than just softproofing it on screen, in which case you should leave it alone.
 
My dscl prints have always come back a lot darker than I expected, despite calibrating my monitor and turning the brightness right down. I always brighten the image a little using a simple curves adjustment just before saving to print. It seems to work, and ever since I started doing that I've been very happy with the results.
 
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