can anyone suggest why pics i print look nice and bright on the monitor but when i print they are too dark
thanks
Bill
If your photographs had LED's and LCD's and backlighting, they would be as bright and brilliant as your monitor. But, alas, they are only paper.
You'll need to "adjust your vision" for this difference as it's not likely to change anytime soon.
billozz wrote:
can anyone suggest why pics i print look nice and bright on the monitor but when i print they are too dark
thanks
Bill
For a really accurate colour match you need to calibrate your monitor to your printer. There are instruments that help you do this. Look up "monitor calibration" on the net.
well i havent printed for a while ,when i did i used a crt monitor for viewing, seem like the gamma setting might need adjusted in printer setting, hope this is helpful
I, too, have been experiencing similar problems in that my commercially printed photos appear significantly darker than they do on my iMac. In talking to people and googling the issue, it became clear that the monitor brightness doesn't match the printer setting which causes the problem. I also surmised that it's somewhat trial and error to resolve this. This is addressed in Adobe's LR4 tutorial on printing by J. Kost (
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/getting-started-with-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-4/lightroom-4-print-the-perfect-image/) and Matt Kloskowski's LR Killer tips (
http://lightroomkillertips.com/2012/video-soft-proofing-and-print-brightness-in-lightroom-4/). In LR4 Print modules, there is a Print adjustment brightness setting for this purpose. However, changes made by this setting are not displayed on screen, but only appear during the printing process. Therefore, one needs to try several settings for printing and chose the optimum one for future settings. I am in process of doing it now for my monitor.
Also, x-rite colormunki display accessory is supposed to be able to automatically calibrate monitor brightness in addition to colors. I am also trying that. Good luck.
Bill[/quote]
I find the angle you have looking at the monitor affects the brightness. Looking down-angle on it is very light. Looking up-angle is very dark. Hard to calibrate for this :(
Trial and error (4x6 rather than 8x10), I found I have to increase brightness by 40 in PSE-9 for the proper paper print.
Monitors should be viewed at 90 degrees and you can calibrate them using Spyder 4 software. You have to remember that when you view your photos on monitors or LCD screens they are back lit and will appear brighter than what your printer will actually print. You can calibrate or keep guessing........
Computer monitors are set up for bright display of Text, Graphic, Web Pages, etc. Sort of like TV displayed in retail stores. They are cranked up to impress the shoppers. Office computer for sure are too bright for photography.
Hopefully you have a monitor that has brightness adjustments. Turn it down to a Luminance less than 100, preferably 90.
Or buy a graphic arts monitor suitable for photography.
Read David Brooks articles in "Shutterbug"
http://www.shutterbug.com/content/are-your-prints-too-dark-cause-and-cure
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