Motorcycle Mike Loc: Indy

Thanks Gene for the insight. I'm going to look into obtaining the i1 Display Pro and make an attempt to calibrate my monitor and reference the settings you kindly provide. I'm using a Toshiba Satellite laptop.

Pkfish Loc: Wilson Wy

I bought a NEC display and it has made my printing much easier. I've got an iMac with a Retina display on another computer and while it displays beautiful pictures it's hard to get correct prints off of it even after I've calibrated it.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Black point 0.5 cd/m^2

White point 80 to 120 cd/m^2 depending on ambient room lighting

Color temperature 5800 to 6500

Gamma 2.0 to 2.2 depending on taste

Calibrate, then profile

My printer output matches my iMac very closely.

If your prints are too dark, your monitor is too bright. Reduce the white point, recalibrate, reprofile.

View prints under photo grade 5000K CFL with 91 CRI or higher. Adjust distance to print to match monitor brightness.

Soft proof using printer/paper profiles.

Dun1 Loc: Atlanta, GA

First profile you display, with either Color Munki, or Spyder monitor calibration
A few months ago Costco eliminated several in-store printing services. It was great to hand them your cards shop awhile and depending on how busy they were, in approx 30-45 minutes go pick up your prints. Here is a link to the Costco Photo Website https://www.costcophotocenter.com/Home.
I also will add that I have used MPIX, or Miller's for over 10 yrs they are a notch or two above Costco, based on the prints and services I have enjoyed from them. You can specify the quality of paper you wish to use for your prints. In most instances you can specify whether or not you wish MPIX to apply color correction to your photo order. MPIX has an almost endless combinations of print options from photo paper-gallery wraps.
Adorama @ www.adoramapix.com also provides a full line of photo printing options. I have never used Adoramapix, so I can not vouch for their quality or service. I can't imagine a company of it's size not providing quality print services.
In an emergency, "I gotta have it in a few hours for a presentation later that evening. I used Wal-Mart print services the process was easy, the prints had a strange color balance, I later had the prints reprinted and substituted the MPIX prints for the Wal-Mart prints a few days later. My customer could not believe the quality of the MPIX prints vs the Wal-Mart prints.

Motorcycle Mike Loc: Indy

Thank you very much for the information. When you say "profile my display", does that mean I need to utilize some color calibration software? I'm thinking about purchasing i1 Display Pro....is that a good idea? I usually print at Walmart since Costco is not available. Walmarts prints seem to have a slightly darker tone to them which I don't like. I may also try sending of to either Costco as you suggested or mPix. I never realized the complexity of this whole matter. I certainly appreciate you assistance. Thanks.

Dun1 Loc: Atlanta, GA

When I mentioned profiling your display or monitor, yes, you want to insure that what you are seeing on you screen or monitor reflects the best color balance of your monitor.
By the way I go the same results at Wal-Mart their prints seemed to have a dark cast to them, one reason is because your prints are not reviewed by a person it's all a machine. At MPIX your images are reviewed and color corrected if you choose the "Apply color correction option"

MPIX also is offering a 25% discount currently