My photos always look great on my computer monitor but when I go to have them printed, they look awful. I am just wondering if others have this problem and if anyone has any advice.
My computer monitor is old so I am wondering if it might need calibrating (I don't know anything about how do do that though). I usually use Walgreens or Target to process the photos. I am also wondering if I would get better results if I used a more professional processing center.
Yes you screen needs/should be calibrated to your printer and yes there is a difference between el-cheap-o printers and a pro lab. http://spyder.datacolor.com/
It's a challenge to prepare photos to print when you are used to seeing them on a screen. Make sure the resolution is at least 200 dpi and to get the sharpening right. And then the printer itself can make all the difference. Even a different color space can work well rather than sRGB. I usually let the pros do it, especially for large ones I want to show off.
You need to recalibrate your monitor. Monitors work in 3 colours, printers work in at least 4 colours (possibly 6, 8 or more) so the image has to be converted before it is printed. That's why it looks different. If you get a colour profile for your monitor, and also for your printer, in theory the results will be closer, but if your monitor is old, you may still have problems. I always get important shots printed at a pro lab as most consumer printers just cannot achieve the quality
@kimshawball Hi Kim, I'm not sure if you have this option in your area, but I found a local professional photo printing lab that has workstations with calibrated monitors and Lightroom/Photoshop. You can bring your photos on a thumb drive and do final edits there before submitting the file to them for print. This is a great option as I can't yet justify getting a top of the line monitor and calibration equipment with it. You may be able to call various photo printing businesses in your area to see if they offer such a setup.
@kimshawball - great advice by all. Yeah for printing the dpi is important as well as using right size and find the right sharpness to minimize color bleeding, utilize color correction, proper crop etc I'd only print with a pro and use Adoramapix in Manhattan though all can be done on line and it's much cheaper than you would think.
Also look at the settings... sRGB is for printing and Adobe is for viewing digitally. So I've been told. Not sure how it really works but I asked the same thing myself just a couple of weeks ago.
I've asked a few people and they suggest always using the same printer and tweeting your photos accordingly. Frustrating I know.
I have used this site a couple of times now and they adjust all the images for you before printing, if you wish which is a lot better than my printer could ever do , I have found them it a quality service which I am very pleased with ,
Here is a link if your interested https://uk.whitewall.com/photolab/print-photo
Thanks for the link @agima . I will look into calibrating my monitor...or maybe just a new one all together.
Thank you @peggysirk . I know lots of people use them but I never have. My problem is I never plan in advance. I'm usually sending the photos to the printer hours before I need them...LOL. I need to plan ahead!
@frankhymus , dpi is something I'd have to ask the printer about, right? I know I can control ppi but I'm not exactly sure what dpi is. I'll have to look into that. Thanks!!!
@pistonbroke - Thank you for your input. I think I just need a new monitor/computer!
@rellimdj - I don't know of anything like that around here. It sounds great though!!!
@michaelelliott - As I mentioned to Frank above, I know about ppi but am not really sure about dpi. Thanks for the name of the printer. I will look into it!
@bront - I just looked at my color settings and it says "Always Optimize For Printing - This setting will display your photos based on the colors within the Adobe RGB color space, commonly used for printing images.
@kimshawball I have no idea. Sorry. Really new to this too so will be following the answers you get. I know you can switch between the two in Photoshop as well.
@kimshawball no the problem is that my all printers are the same.
When you move to a pro level of printing your lab will give you a configuration file that matches the output for their printers and your screen is calibrated against their printers so it becomes a complete end to end process so they re all in sync.
Some printers your but come with these that you can use in application like Lightroom or photoshop
Does that help?
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http://spyder.datacolor.com/
I've asked a few people and they suggest always using the same printer and tweeting your photos accordingly. Frustrating I know.
Here is a link if your interested
https://uk.whitewall.com/photolab/print-photo
Thank you @peggysirk . I know lots of people use them but I never have. My problem is I never plan in advance. I'm usually sending the photos to the printer hours before I need them...LOL. I need to plan ahead!
@frankhymus , dpi is something I'd have to ask the printer about, right? I know I can control ppi but I'm not exactly sure what dpi is. I'll have to look into that. Thanks!!!
@pistonbroke - Thank you for your input. I think I just need a new monitor/computer!
@rellimdj - I don't know of anything like that around here. It sounds great though!!!
@michaelelliott - As I mentioned to Frank above, I know about ppi but am not really sure about dpi. Thanks for the name of the printer. I will look into it!
@jantan - me too!
@bront - Ahhhh, that could make a difference. I'll have to look into that!
@steveh Thank you so much for the link. I'll look into them!
Is this the setting that I need?
Any other imput from you other experts, @michaelelliott @pistonbroke @frankhymus @agima ???
When you move to a pro level of printing your lab will give you a configuration file that matches the output for their printers and your screen is calibrated against their printers so it becomes a complete end to end process so they re all in sync.
Some printers your but come with these that you can use in application like Lightroom or photoshop
Does that help?