- Messages
- 385
- Name
- Scott
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I've had some requests for prints of one of my landscapes, and have used my goto pro lab of choice.
When they arrived, my wife pointed out that she thought they were really dark and I kind of brushed it off, however having checked them out, it's not her imagination. They are much darker than the screen images, and warmer (which I can kind of live with given that it's a sunset, but that's not really the point). I originally thought it was that I hadn't calibrated my screens for a long time, so had a bit of a facepalm moment, until i found that when I did calibrate my screens, they actually lightened rather than darkened the processed image. The ones on lustre paper seem a fair bit darker than the ones on the metallic paper.
I've always found accurate printing to be a bit of a dark art at home, and thought I'd got to a place where prints pretty well matched the screen. When choosing the lab, I never had any real issues with my test prints, and felt fairly comfortable using the auto fulfilment options on my website. It's only now I've moved back to my home town I've started getting customer prints sent to me rather than straight to customers (most of whom are local) that I'm noticing discrepancies, which just makes me question my products. I've no idea if the problem is me or the lab, though in this case, multiple screens of different types, are more consistent than the print, so I'm suspecting the lab in this case. Is there any way to be sure??
and a general moan, but I wish there was a local lab or printer who I could visit, get face to face advice from, see and correct prints quickly, and ultimately work together to print the products I want. Or that I had high enough volumes that I could invest in knowledge and equipment myself to do professional quality printing, larger sizes, etc. People seem to like my work, but I'm finding creating a consistent product that I can trust and sell far harder and more frustrating than any other part of the process! I thought a pro lab was the best option, but not so sure any more.
When they arrived, my wife pointed out that she thought they were really dark and I kind of brushed it off, however having checked them out, it's not her imagination. They are much darker than the screen images, and warmer (which I can kind of live with given that it's a sunset, but that's not really the point). I originally thought it was that I hadn't calibrated my screens for a long time, so had a bit of a facepalm moment, until i found that when I did calibrate my screens, they actually lightened rather than darkened the processed image. The ones on lustre paper seem a fair bit darker than the ones on the metallic paper.
I've always found accurate printing to be a bit of a dark art at home, and thought I'd got to a place where prints pretty well matched the screen. When choosing the lab, I never had any real issues with my test prints, and felt fairly comfortable using the auto fulfilment options on my website. It's only now I've moved back to my home town I've started getting customer prints sent to me rather than straight to customers (most of whom are local) that I'm noticing discrepancies, which just makes me question my products. I've no idea if the problem is me or the lab, though in this case, multiple screens of different types, are more consistent than the print, so I'm suspecting the lab in this case. Is there any way to be sure??
and a general moan, but I wish there was a local lab or printer who I could visit, get face to face advice from, see and correct prints quickly, and ultimately work together to print the products I want. Or that I had high enough volumes that I could invest in knowledge and equipment myself to do professional quality printing, larger sizes, etc. People seem to like my work, but I'm finding creating a consistent product that I can trust and sell far harder and more frustrating than any other part of the process! I thought a pro lab was the best option, but not so sure any more.