docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

great stuff but I am getting worried about you.......

I found that it was just not cost effective for me to do my own printing. I've known some excellent Master printers and I am no where close to their abilities and more to the point, their interest in this aspect of the business. That said, it's critical that my work be printed and presented at a certain level of quality and for that I use local labs whose staff and printers know me and my work and often help me make better decisions with their professional input.....

thank you for putting this info out here this is and YOU are a good resource I will lean on down the road.

commodore-don Loc: Cleveland, OH

For about 11 years now I have had a color-balanced PC setup and have been using high-quality inkjet photo printers.

Early on I always wondered why what I saw on the monitor never matched what came out of the printer. I soon found out that because my monitor wasn't calibrated the editing I thought I was doing to the digital photos was just making matters worse. The more I attempted to "correct" the color in a picture the worse it got coming out of the printer.

Once I found out about having a calibrated system and got my monitor set up to display perfect color, then and only then did my editing get to the point where what I see on the screen matches what comes off the printer.

I do have one caveat, though. Although the colors on the screen and from the printer DO MATCH, there is one factor that will never perfectly match. That is the brightness of the pictures. You see, a monitor emits light whereas a print reflects light, therefore the picture on the monitor will always appear to the eye as being a bit brighter.

jenny Loc: in hiding:)

Yes, this makes sense to an old slide-shooter. When we had prints made from slides there were two noticeable differences: The process created more contrast and the print was just not glowing-lively as the slide. So if i have my brightness turned DOWN on the monitor, then anything printed will not only be that disappointing characteristic of reflected light but also much darker? All the previous discussions i've searched on UH from way back to last Sept.,mention only the numbers, not the brightness factor.
Forget what the minimum recommendation for the numbers was but i do exceed it

bvargas Loc: Palm Harbor, Florida

A true Professional Lab, would not be in business, if they can not satisfy their customer base. Problems I refer to, is you have got to be very knowledgeable, to do what you suggest. On top of that you have got to invest a small fortune, into the equipment you suggest, thereby making it unaffordable to make a profit on you investment and then reinvesting into new equipment, just to keep up with the big boys. Just not common sense. Of course if you are not into making money, that's another story. As a hobby, have fun. BV

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Thanks for posting this. I'm going to look this over closely. I've had significant problems with getting good results for one of my clients on his system and printer. Printers, actually. He has several family and service photos he is ready to print, and past experience has been very off-and-on. I'll definitely be using this as a reference.

designpro

In any business there is always a substantial investment. This investment is based on what you as a business owner wants to produce for his or her client.

Speaking for myself I've invested in top notch equipment. This is by far no hobby for me it's my living.

As I said, I do send out work to labs also. They do a heck of a job. For the most part, I prefer to do in-house printing and do very well and make a good profit from it.

I agree with you sir, not everyone can afford the investment for top notch equipment...

If you read my post again, I'm not telling anyone to run right out and spend all the cash in your bank account. To each his own!

I just gave some options...Most of you never knew some of this stuff was available. And Yes, Color management takes a good understanding and time. Knowledgeable with color management, yes sir I am...

I have a very good customer base which allows me to purchase the best equipment money can buy. I'm not the only one that can do this.

I am but one man of many that invests in this field.

Have fun and a great day.

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

Amen to that!!!

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

Hi Jenny,

Most of the monitors/displays on the market these days have a brightness/luminance that is 200 Lumens per meter squared (a way of measuring brightness) and the recommended brightness
should be set and calibrated at between 90 -120 Lumens per meter squared, a color temperature of 6500K, and a Gamma setting of 2.2.

If your monitor is at the higher setting more light is coming through your image on the screen and one would tend to reduce the brightness of the image in their editing software and consequently the printer is going to make a darker print (light reflected off the paper and not coming from behind image) so by having the monitor set at the above levels the ICC profile tells the printer how to compensate and give you a print that is just about (very close to) what you saw on the display.

Hope this helps and will clear things up for people --- it can be a difficult concept to understand.

designpro

Well said!

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

My interest in printing my own images has evolved over the course of the last year - year and a half, because I wanted to have some control over my prints and I wanted to see them right away.

It has been quite an adventure in learning, what with all of the books I've read and studied, the web sites I've visited, and the videos I've watched and I still have a lot more to learn! Doing the printing myself adds to the satisfaction that I derive from the digital imaging process and attempting to perfect the outcome of my efforts. I now have 2 Epson medium format printers (the dye ink Photo 1400 and the pigment ink Pro Stylus 3880} for my print making and I will say that it is by no means an inexpensive hobby, but a pleasurable one.

As you say it's not a path for everyone interested in digital photography, but it can be a rewarding one.

designpro

I agree 100% and thank you!