printing

[cruso]

hi just done a trip to Costa Rica and i was looking forward to having my favorite ones printed of at jessops to show to Friends and family as i haven't got a printer myself And when i got home from work to see them i was gutted they look crap compared to viewing them on the computer they are very dark and dull what do you think ? were do you lads and lasses take them for developing

 

[Nod]

For large batches of things like holiday pics, I take them wherever's cheapest on the High Street then use those prints as proofs to see which are worth blowing up for larger prints at home.

 

[hewhoknows]

Has anyone tried Snapfish, was thinking of using them myself but not sure of the quality?

 

[Alastair]

DSCL. Good quality, good price.

 

[Halflap]

Two questions for you:-

1. Is your monitor calibrated

2. What application are you using to view your photos

If the monitor is not calibrated then your chances of getting anywhere near a match from prints is slim.

DSCL are good and have their own printer profiles available to download which will let you get a closer match to the prints.

 

[snappingsam]

Cruso - you have experienced one of the biggest problems in printing.

How do you know how bright your monitor should be? Go into Currys or any TV shop - and see the wide selection of colours and brightnesses of image from the same program.

Labs have no idea of how your monitor is set.

Labs use an international standard - called ICC - and this was set some time back, when CRT monitors were the standard - and now flatscreen monitors are many times brighter. If adjust your images to look right on an overbright and cool screen your prints will be dark and yellow. If you use the images as they have come from the camera you might find they make better prints.

Many printers can look at the "metadata" in the file that came from the camera and this is used, along with other information to make good quality prints - but if you modify the brightness etc in any software this data is destroyed.

 

[hewhoknows]

This was the one thing i was worried about. I use a 26" LCD as my monitor and was experiencing my printed photos coming out darker that they actually seems on my screen. And that was printing through an Kodak office jet printer!!

Ive since calibrated my monitor the best I can and they are coming out better, having said that ive never had any of my photos professional printed so im hoping the 17 ive just sent off for printing for a photography assignment dont come back too dark :shrug:

 

[cruso]

hi every one been back to jessops and complained they said they will look at them next week in the mean while I had a few done of the same at max spielmanns and they are what they are on my computer so i will take them back with me and see what they say?