Why do my prints....

ianfulcher

ianfulcher

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Ian Fulcher
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Why do my images always look so much brighter on my monitor than arrive on paper from the Photo Printers?
 
One reason would be that your prints don't have back-lighting, as your monitor does. It's very difficult to reproduce the brightness of a monitor, regardless of how well-calibrated it may be, on paper.

Have you ever looked into soft-proofing in any great detail? That's generally the key to ensuring what you are seeing on screen is as close, in theory at least, to what you see on paper.
 
Calibrate your monitor and make it's brightness level is set to match the ambient light level in the room. Comparing prints to a monitor that is effectively a light source compared to low to medium ambient light in a room isn't a fair test.

It also depends on the company you use for printing. Photobox, for example, are well known for their dark prints compared to better printers.
 
glitch said:
One reason would be that your prints don't have back-lighting, as your monitor does. It's very difficult to reproduce the brightness of a monitor, regardless of how well-calibrated it may be, on paper.

Have you ever looked into soft-proofing in any great detail? That's generally the key to ensuring what you are seeing on screen is as close, in theory at least, to what you see on paper.
Click to expand...

Thanks Guys - what is soft proofing?
 
Soft proofing is a feature in Photoshop/etc. to preview how an image will look when printed on a particular printer and can simulate the effect of paper colour/black ink/etc. In order to do this you need a calibrated display and the icc profiles for the printer/paper/ink combination you wish to proof with - most labs will provide these on their website.
 
ianfulcher said:
what is soft proofing?
Click to expand...
It's a relatively involved process, but the quick explanation would be that you combine an accurately-calibrated monitor, as pxl8 has began to cover, with the appropriate ICC profiles for the combination of printer and paper you intend to use.

While you'll very rarely get close to the printed medium, you will at least get a much better idea of how your photo will look when reproduced on paper.

EDIT: Christ, pxl8's quick off the mark today. Must have had three Weetabix this morning.
 
Actually jumbo bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes for lunch ;)
 
Next obvious newbie question - how do I calibrate my monitor, and how expensive is it?
 
Ultimately it's not as scary as it all sounds, but it can be quite in-depth. Have a quick read of this for the basics and feel free to fire off any questions you have as a result.

I'm sure pxl8 will be more than happy to lend an opinion or three, amongst others.
 
Cheapest option is the Huey, will get fairly accurate colours and gamma but doesn't control the brightness level.

Huey Pro is slightly better and supports multiple monitors, still no brightness control

Spyder3 does allow setting the brightness but requires work by the user to achieve the correct values by tweaking monitor brightness and RGB values.

That takes you up to around £100, spending more and it's swings and roundabouts really, as the price increases the more geeky the features get - some will also allow you to profile your printer which might be useful. But in general they all calibrate your display well enough for most uses - one thing to watch for - if you've got a new monitor with a wide gamut panel or LED backlight then the lower end models won't cope with the extended saturation so you'll need at least a Spyder3.
 
And of course you've got the most important issue, which is the monitor itself. You can spend hundreds of pounds and many hours on calibration but it's all for nothing if your screen isn't up to scratch in the first place.

Even the very best calibration devices can't 'save' a rubbish screen. You might get close, but sometimes close isn't enough.
 
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