tschmath Loc: Los Angeles

For some reason my pictures are printing much darker than they appear on my monitor. This has never been a problem before, so is there a setting I need to change? I have an Epson Artisan 837 printer, and this is a new problem. Thanks.

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

Did someone else use your computer and change the monitor settings? My daughter did this once, and I had to recalibrate.

Have you bought a new monitor?

Is your monitor calibrated? Many monitors are demonstrated set to a far brighter image than suitable for photo use. Compensating for this will give you a darker print than you want.

Windows has a software routine which will help in setting the brightness, etc, but a hardware solution is the best. Spyder is one maker. http://spyder.datacolor.com/en/portfolio-view/spyder4/

This "automates" the process. Most inexpensive monitors are difficult to use even if calibrated, since the typical TN screen changes perceived brightness when you change the position of your head relative to the screen. Here's a link to some info on the various types and their strengths and weaknesses: http://lifehacker.com/how-to-pick-the-perfect-computer-monitor-1489862871

tschmath Loc: Los Angeles

I use a Mac all-in-one, and I have no idea how to calibrate the monitor, if that's even possible. Anyone know about this?

Wall-E Loc: Phoenix, AZ

ANY monitor can be 'calibrated'.
It's not actually the monitor, but the setup file for the display that gets changed.
Spyder and ColorMunki both have Mac software to do that.
Even projector's and TV's can be calibrated.

Calibrating your monitor is the biggest thing you can do to get a better handle on printing issues like brightness and color balance.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Buy a profiling tool from XRite or Datacolor to profile your display. Use a setting of 80 cd/m^2 for white point and .4 cd/m^2 for black point. If the prints are still too dark, lower the white point to 70.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

Agree.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

When you hit print a settings page will come up. If you click on the Change Settings tab a second page will come up. Click on Advanced Settings. On the right side of that page, under Photo Options is a box marked Fix Photo. Checking or unchecking that box will usually make a noticeable difference in color of the print. Depending on your print settings that box will sometimes be checked automatically. That could be what is happening if you have started using different settings.

bweber Loc: Newton, MA

MAC monitors are generally to bright for accurate printing. Your prints are always darker than you see on the screen. I calibrate using ColorEyes Display, Pro. It works with many calibration devices. The primary advantage is that Color Eyes will set the monitor to a brightness level that matches the brightness of your paper. This level is generally lower that the setting available from the mac preferences. Once the level is set you can easily increase the brightness for other uses of the computer and simply reduce it to the proper level for printing.

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

+++++++++++++++++++

I Too Agree. Most Definitely.

Ransch Loc: O'Fallon MO

Please correct me if I'm doing this wrong. Should I have begun a new topic, or is my question closely enough related? I have an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 printer, and a Sony Vaio laptop, both of which have produced good prints up to 13x19. Then when my old PC with Photoshop CS2 wore out, I got a dreamload of the Adobe Creative Cloud with everything I'd always wanted. I printed a 13x19 for a friend who loved the one I had framed, but the colors were abominably incorrect. The black rocks in the stream were greenish, and no there was no moss when I took it :) I examined calibration, but reasoned that the Vaio had produced good prints before. What could have possibly gone wrong?

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

Printing is an art in itself. Many will say calibrate but check your settings first, especially those in your post processing application and print dialog boxes. ICC profiles and paper types present other challenges. It all begins in camera as to whether you are shooting Adobe RGB or sRGB.

Let us know what applications you are using to process your images.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

All computer monitors tend to be way too bright for accurate printing, unless calibrated. For example, the IPS monitor I use required setting brightness to about 20-25% when new several years ago, based upon accurate calibration with a Datacolor Spyder. Now a few years later, it's still turned down to 30-32%. Things change over time, so I recalibrate every two months.

Too bright a monitor causes you to leave the image too dark, and that's how it comes out in the print.

The same thing happens with color balance. A calibration device creates a "profile" based upon testing a series of color samples. The profile is then applied to the monitor to render accurate colors, so that you can produce accurately colored prints. This also shifts over time and needs to be recalibrated periodically.

There are a number of different calibration devices and software suites. I use Datacolor Spyder... There are also X-Rite ColorMunki and others. Most manufacturers also offer several different versions.... from basic ones used just to adjust a monitor, to more complex that can measure ambient light and adjust on the fly, to those that can calibrate a variety or devices. The one I use also can be used to calibrate projectors, TVs and more. It also can produce custom paper/ink profiles.

Which brings up another point... When printing, for best accuracy you need to have a "correct" paper/ink profile, or the results may not be very good. Most printer manufacturers provide a "driver" that includes reasonably accurate profiles for their own papers and inks, but not for the myriad other possible combinations if you choose to use non-OEM papers and inks. It's possible to make your own profiles, if you have the right tools.... Or some paper/ink manufacturers provide profiles for their products used with some of the more popular printers.

A laptop, in particular, is more difficult to accurately calibrate. For one, with most the screen brightness varies a lot depending upon the viewing angle. A laptop I use has more than a full stop difference, depending upon the angle the screen is tilted when viewed. It's very hard to precisely position the screen each time, so your perception of the image's brightness can vary tremendously.

Another big factor is ambient lighting... the lighting conditions and color of light in the room where the laptop is being used. Since we are mobile with our laptops, that can be anything from daylight to fluorescent to tungsten or even mercury vapor and other types of lighting.

It's better to use a fixed location for fine image editing, with consistent and controllable ambient lighting. I also use a deep hood (homemade from matte black foam core board) on my desktop monitor to minimize the ambient light effects from a couple windows on the other side of the room. It might be even better if I always closed the curtains completely, but that would get pretty depressing during those long editing sessions!

I don't do it often, but when I take the desktop to a location for image editing purposes, I always re-calibrate it there. (Most often I just use the laptop on location, but I never try to do finished image editing with it.)

Adobe RGB vs sRGB setting in camera really doesn't matter if shooting and post processing RAW... you can simply choose the color space that meets your needs, when converting the RAW to a usable format. The in-camera setting only matters if shooting in-camera JPEGs. Even then, if shot Adobe RGB you can always reduce a copy to the smaller sRGB color space for printing purposes. sRGB is required for most inkjets and many printing services.... if left in Adobe RGB color space the images will look rather flat and lifeless. However, you cannot increase a JPEG image from sRGB to Adobe RGB... data is already lost and irretrievable.

wolfman

A laptop, in particular, is more difficult to accurately calibrate. For one, with most the screen brightness varies a lot depending upon the viewing angle. A laptop I use has more than a full stop difference, depending upon the angle the screen is tilted when viewed. It's very hard to precisely position the screen each time, so your perception of the image's brightness can vary tremendously.


I made a simple template out of cardboard. which makes it easy to get the same viewing angle every time.