I'm having problems with colour when I'm printing my photos. My daughter wants one of my pics on her wall as it's all yellow and that's her fav colour. on my pc it is a very striking yellow, but when I print it, it's dull and lifeless. I have an HP printer but not using HP paper. I have noticed in the past after printing with HP premium plus paper and hp premium (normal) paper there is a big difference. Could this just be the case? Usually I'm happy when I print images but I think because thisimage is a block colour it's having difficulty or I'm just noticing it more.
I noticed that no one has commented on your discussion. I don't know anything really about that side so I haven't given my meager input yet. Have you tried talking to a print shop? They may have some ideas or be willing to print your photo out for minimal money? Just an idea, I know times are tight for most people.
My suggestion would be to take your prints to a camera shop that does photo printing...or try Walgreens, CVS, WalMart, Costco, etc developing...also there are online services such as Mpix, snapfish, and lots of others. I've heard that Costco does a great job with prints. I'm not a member so I haven't used them. I use my HP printer to make copies of photos that I'm not overly concerned about precision color quality. All that being said, I see that you live in Scotland, so other than a taking your prints to a camera shop or using an online service, I don't know how helpful this info has been. Good luck, Kirsty.
Is your monitor calibrated? Most uncalibrated monitors are way more vivid that the data they display - so check that first.
Is there an embedded colour profile in your image? Ensure that, at the very least, sRGB is embedded as its colour space.
Is your printer calibrated, or are you using the generic profile (or no profile at all)? If you are using a profile, is it the right profile for the paper you are using?
What kind of light is the image being displayed under? If you are using a crusty (standard) fluorescent tube, it is going to look kinda green and dull. If you are using incandescent, it is going to look a bit warm and muddy. If you are using standard LED lighting, it will lack colour range. Daylight-balanced bulbs are a good option.
I do not know much. I was told that my printer did not have enough resolution to print out photos with good quality. I sometimes use my printer, but adjust the quality of the print when I do so. I do not remember the exact settings, but I think I use the "quality" setting.
http://www.millerslab.com/
free part:
You get four test prints... 4 as they were when you submitted and 4 with their color touch up (correction) to see if they will work for your needs :) Just a thought :P
@jinximages I tried calibrating my monitor a while back and afterwards everything looked really dull. Don' know if it was meant to be that way but using facebook the blue band across the top looked more grey after I played about with it so reset it back to what it was at.
As for calibrating my printer, I haven't a clue about that. When I've been picking paper on it I've just picked auto, the other option would be to pick other photo paper as the only other choices are all hp papers.
The photo was taken in natural light but I edited it to make it really bright. Here'e the shot
I think I might try an online site and see how that works out and if it's what I want then I know it's me going wrong. Even if it's dull I'll still know there is something wrong, but if it is my calibration at fault I'm now wondering if all my shots are dull even when I think they're great after editing, but they all seem the same to what everyone else has on here.
Do you know actually, I'm wondering if it's the lighting in my living room. I had another look at my print and took it into the kitchen and it looked brighter. Maybe not bang on this image but a lot better than it looked in the living room. I'll have a better look through the day tomorrow and see
@kirsty1975 It will look dull after calibration, because native settings on monitors are so vivid (in order to sell monitors). Also, native settings tend to be cool-tones, so grey will look a little blue on an uncalibrated monitor.
@jinximages Calibrated the monitor but the print is still nothing like the photo on here. The print is more orangey but there is nothing coming up about low ink. How can I calibrate the printer?
I have taken a few prints of this picture now and the last one I upped the yellow in it, as well as brightness and saturation. I couldn't find how to calibrate the printer but did a few tasks like aligning printheads and doing test pages which came out absolutely fine. The only other thing I think may be wrong is the paper or the ink as I'm not using hp ink.
Really though, I shouldn't have to lay with the colours before printing. If I was doing a scenery picture I wouldn't know what colours to change etc to get the vibrancy.
@kirsty1975 You need to print a test chart, and run it through a spectrometer so the actual known colours can be compared with the printed colours. That way a profile can be created to tell your printer to print more or less of certain colours in order to print correctly. If you don't have one (I don't do my own profiling) you can just contact one of the larger pro printer resellers (in Australia, Kayell, for example) and ask them for a test chart, print that, and send it to them, and they can create your profile for you. It will usually cost one or two hundred dollars, but is well worth it. A cheaper option is to go to the Epson website, and download the generic profiles for the papers you're using - not perfect, but better than no profile at all.
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Is there an embedded colour profile in your image? Ensure that, at the very least, sRGB is embedded as its colour space.
Is your printer calibrated, or are you using the generic profile (or no profile at all)? If you are using a profile, is it the right profile for the paper you are using?
What kind of light is the image being displayed under? If you are using a crusty (standard) fluorescent tube, it is going to look kinda green and dull. If you are using incandescent, it is going to look a bit warm and muddy. If you are using standard LED lighting, it will lack colour range. Daylight-balanced bulbs are a good option.
free part:
You get four test prints... 4 as they were when you submitted and 4 with their color touch up (correction) to see if they will work for your needs :) Just a thought :P
As for calibrating my printer, I haven't a clue about that. When I've been picking paper on it I've just picked auto, the other option would be to pick other photo paper as the only other choices are all hp papers.
The photo was taken in natural light but I edited it to make it really bright. Here'e the shot
I think I might try an online site and see how that works out and if it's what I want then I know it's me going wrong. Even if it's dull I'll still know there is something wrong, but if it is my calibration at fault I'm now wondering if all my shots are dull even when I think they're great after editing, but they all seem the same to what everyone else has on here.
I am soooo confused
@shadesofgrey @peggysirk @daisy @jessicapena Thanks so much for your help and Jayden I'll have a look at that link, thanks
Really though, I shouldn't have to lay with the colours before printing. If I was doing a scenery picture I wouldn't know what colours to change etc to get the vibrancy.