Printing (+monitor calibration)

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quarto

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Edit My Images
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Hi,

I have taken a large number of pictures over the years but I have not yet printed any and I am now looking to start printing some of my images. I do not own a printer and plan on getting the images printed using a commercial printer, likely an online company. I do not plan on buying my own printer.

I have a couple of questions about this process. My images look fine to me when I edit them online however I understand that I should calibrate my monitor so that whatever I print will look the same as on screen. When I look at some printing websites they seem to offer colour profiles to download. As I am a little clueless about this whole process of printing am I required to use the colour profile of the printer used as well as perform a monitor calibration? Or can I just set the printer colour settings on the monitor?

There seems to be a number of calibration devices available with Colormunki or the Spyder varieties being popular. Recommendations would be most welcome.

Also does anyone have any recommendations for printing companies to use for the highest quality output? Some of the pictures may be used for wall displays at work.

If it helps I will likely be editing with Lightroom/Photoshop on a MacBook Pro.

Thanks for your patience,
Quarto
 
No expert in these matters but its my understanding that you need to profile your monitor to a known standard and then use the profile provided by your printing company to soft proof you image so that you can see how it will look after its been printed, so you can make any adjustments necessary before you send it off to be printed.

There are a number of lowish cost hardware calibration solutions available I use the Datacolor Spyder myself but there are quite a few.

You must also use image edditing software that supports soft proofing, Photoshop and Lightroom being just two of them. (I think Lightroom Does) and would be surprised if it didn't.

That's my take on it, but as I said I am no expert, unless you are talking the true definition then I am (Ex as in has-been & Spurt as in drip under pressure :)

Paul
 
Paul has given a very good explanation. I can confirm that Lightroom does indeed offer a softproof option.

As far as monitor calibration is concerned , there a number of devices out there. I've not used the Spyder , but a there seems to be a lot of recommendations from forum members for this device. I personally use an X-Rite i1, .X-rite have introduced a low cost device, the colormunkie smile . At less than £70 looks a bargain, but I must admit I haven't used it.

However I would suggest that whichever lab you choose, i'd send a small sample order to check everything is OK
 
Choose a lab. See if they have a calibration print available by post that references their output from the machine that'll be used for your prints and on your chosen media. You can adjust your display to approximate to this.

That's the quick and dirty method but it can work fine (and has done in the past for me including for exhibition). You don't necessarily have to hardware calibrate with a device. Screens as sold are often much too bright, but this can be turned down.

Photo-paper prints up to 10" x 15" are often done on a Fuji Frontier. You may want to go bigger, or explore inkjet papers. There are labs that do this. Get some proofs done.
 
Thank you all so much for your replies. I found them all helpful. I will spend certainly spend some time reading that ebook. I may be back with some more questions!
Thanks again,
Quarto
 
I have just printed my very first picture to paper after years of shooting and only viewing online. I was recommended a company called DS colour labs. They have a great tutorial about setting up your photo for print. http://www.dscolourlabs.co.uk/tech_support.cfm

I'm also a great fan on Sean Bagshaw's tutorials. He has a free one about how to set up a soft proofing profile to match your printed image to the screen version as best you can. It worked well for me on my image :)
 
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