Photography question.

Post by **pete** » Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:37 pm

I'm trying to print out some photos.

I looked at some online reviews and tried Photobox but the results aren't as good as I'd hoped - one out of the four is good the other three aren't as sharp as the originals look on the screen or are significantly darker.

Any suggestions?

vxc · Post by **vxc** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:45 am

screen maybe abit bright when adjusting giving the off view of what it should be .....i found this to be a problem recently....

robin · Post by **robin** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:47 am

Correct - your screen needs to be configured to same colour gamut as the printing process will use in order to be get directly comparable results.

Also the resolution of your screen is typically 75-125dpi, whereas the printing process is likely to be much higher res ... so in order to view pixel-for-pixel equivalent picture you would need a huge screen, or you zoom out and lots of photo pixels are aggregated into one display pixel; this can lead to some odd effects when comparing the two.

If you feel the issue really is with the printing process I would get straight back to photobox and ask them whether they can explain the apparent difference in quality between the prints and the on-screen images ... they'll know more than me!

I'm pretty sure Photobox use a lithographic process - meaning they project your digital image onto traditional photo paper. Assuming that's the case there is then still scope for over/under re-exposure and chemical problems in the fixing process.

Cheers,
Robin

graeme · Post by **graeme** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 8:50 am

Calibration. You need to "proof" by loading the printer profile into your photo software so you can see what it will look like on the printer. Ideally, you would do this on a calibrated monitor, in a dark room etc etc. Total overkill. If it's too dark and not sharp enough then lighten it up and sharpen it a bit more and send it off to print again. Repeat until happy, then remember roughly how much you tweaked by for next time.

There's a few things you can do to help with the trial and error bit... make sure what you see on the screen is what you actually should be seeing. Google-search for your monitor brand/mondel number for a "profile" or "icc profile" and load it.

That's about the best you can do without spending money. If you want to throw money at the problem:

For under £100 you can buy (or maybe borrow locally) something like the Spyder monitor calibrator. It tweaks your profile until it displays colours more acturately.

Now that you know WYSIWYG, you want to ask your printer for their printer profiles. http://www.photobox.co.uk/content/quality/technical

Photobox ignore embedded profiles, so you have to do the tweaking, they won't do it for you. No point complaining at them.

You'll need some photo editing software which can load printer profiles for soft-proofing. Lightroom always gets my vote, but if you tell me what you currently use I'll tell you if/how you can do it. Soft-proofing is basically using your monitor to pretend to be a specific printer/paper combo and translate the inky-printy colours into pixely-lighty colours so you can see what the print will look like. It's not perfect, but it will solve your problem.

Then, sharpen more for print than you would for screen. This is experimentation mostly. Lightroom has some defaults for print sharpening, but really it's just trial and error for personal taste, paper, finish, type of scene etc.

Actually, don't bother with all that. It's not worth it unless you get off on this stuff. Just brighten, sharpen, print again and do something more worthwhile with the time you saved.

JohnStewart · Post by **JohnStewart** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:13 am

Also make sure you send them the largest/original file size. If you have uploaded a 100Kb file with a maximum of 800 pixels along one edge and you want a 30" wide print, then there aren't enough original pixels in the file and the printer software will interpolate which will result in soft, fuzzy or pixelated images.

The dark images are most likely due to your screen brightness setting being too high (laptops and cheaper LCD monitors are particularly bad culprits for this). There are some web pages that can help you adjust the brightness and contrast to be accurate enough for most purposes, but the ultimate answer is screen calibration.

John

Post by **pete** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:44 pm

Hmm.

This is why I gave up printing out photos last time!

The screen calibration is definitely off slightly. I'll try downloading the screen profile. I was using Picasa, I've got Lightroom - I'll try "processing" them again.

Do all you keen photographers print out your own stuff or if not who do you use? The prints from photobox were inconsistent (if they were all dark then it's me but one was spot on).

Sanjøy · Post by **Sanjøy** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 4:01 pm

Asda for mugs of the little uns for family, photobox for calendars, prints, canvas prints. Dabbled with Printerpix for a canvas via groupon and was impressed, don't mess about after some red wine though and confuse imperial and metric....

smee · Post by **smee** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:24 pm

I used photobox but recently had some mixed results and customer service was poor.
If it is a special print or large scale then whitewalls is difficult to beat for quality, providing you have correctly calibrated the monitor has highlited above.
Is anyone using a colormonkey?

Post by **pete** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:52 pm

smee wrote:I used photobox but recently had some mixed results and customer service was poor.
If it is a special print or large scale then whitewalls is difficult to beat for quality, providing you have correctly calibrated the monitor has highlited above.
Is anyone using a colormonkey?

Cheers Smee. I think I just need to devote more time to it.

graeme · Post by **graeme** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:56 pm

smee wrote:I
Is anyone using a colormonkey?

Nope, but I have a spyder (2 or 3, I forget) you can borrow if that's any use?

Scottish Elises