problem with outsourced printing companies: I outsource all of my images to a print house. They inevitably return dark with little detail in the blacks. The flesh tones are not always...

canon Lee

I outsource all of my images to a print house. They inevitably return dark with little detail in the blacks. The flesh tones are not always acceptable due to over saturation. I would like to just send my images to them with no post editing (I post edit using LR and calibrated monitor), but not certain they would be totally corrected, since I shoot youth sports clubs and purposely under expose due to their light skin. ( mostly Irish kids., no pigment at all). I use 2 mono lights and a backdrop.
I would like some input from those photographers that have the same problem. And yes I am picky as my clients are parents. I would publish some samples but it would be viewed on monitors that will all be different. HELP!

texaseve Loc: TX, NC and NH

I would ask where did you send them? and are you sure your monitor is calibrated?

orrie smith Loc: Kansas

canon Lee wrote:

I outsource all of my images to a print house. The... (show quote)

have you ever experimented in printing yourself? the canon pro 100 is an excellent printer and will print up to 13X19 prints. that way you will be able to control what is being printed.

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

Talk to them, ask them what their process is - tell them the photos seem too dark for you.

Personally, I would want to confirm that they use the same process every time. If they confirm that, then I would submit a contact sheet with various exposures/adjustments to find the one I liked for the finished product. I would then make a preset in my post processing software to match my preference - it would be done automatically on export - good to go :)

canon Lee

texaseve wrote:

I would ask where did you send them? and are you sure your monitor is calibrated?

I use Colormunki and recal before I post edit. I also make sure my monitor has warmed up for at least a half hour. I send them to a lab called "Century Color Labs". They print and add templates and text. They do some post editing, but I am not sure what they edit. I shoot in RAW and edit the RAWs in LR, then convert to JPEG (sRGB color space). I was also wondering if converting RAW to JPEG has anything to do with shifting my settings?

canon Lee

orrie smith wrote:

have you ever experimented in printing yourself? the canon pro 100 is an excellent printer and will print up to 13X19 prints. that way you will be able to control what is being printed.

I do "Picture Day" for youth sports clubs, year around, & need a commercial print house to add Templates and Text for any number of items, like magazine covers, sports tickets, trading cards, memory mates, ETC.

texaseve Loc: TX, NC and NH

I use Meridian Pro and they always do a nice job for prints. Reasonable too.

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

canon Lee wrote:

I use Colormunki and recal before I post edit. I also make sure my monitor has warmed up for at least a half hour. I send them to a lab called "Century Color Labs". They print and add templates and text. They do some post editing, but I am not sure what they edit. I shoot in RAW and edit the RAWs in LR, then convert to JPEG (sRGB color space). I was also wondering if converting RAW to JPEG has anything to do with shifting my settings?

if your prints are dark and overly saturated, try manually adjusting the black and white clipping levels to .4 cda/m^2 and 80 cda/m^2 respectively. If they are too light, then raise the white point. Just because you used a profiling tool doesn't always mean you will get perfect results. The process is imperfect, so tweaking is necessary to get it right.

The lab may suggest other values for black and white, rendering intent (I am assuming you are using either relative colorimetric or perceptual), and gamma.

In any case, if you are not using the lab's printer profile, you might want to ask them for it so you can soft-proof using their profile - this way you can see how it will print and make any necessary corrections then.

Given the subject matter, I don't think that converting to sRGB in LR is causing an issue - I would anticipate that most, if not all, of the colors are well within the sRGB color space.

obeone

I've had the same problem with MPIX. I've had to lighten my photos by about 1/2 stop before sending them the files.
Other option is to hook up with a local custom lab, where you have someone to work with.

TGanner Loc: Haines, Alaska

Monitors emit light ... paper absorbs light. I always bump up my EV by a third of a stop before delivering to proDPI.com, who do great work.

GENorkus Loc: Washington Twp, Michigan

All my life, analog and digital, you could request custoM processing or printing. If your present company doesn't do this, I'd look elsewhere.

Even drug stores and Walmart gives you a choice to correct or not to.

Bushpilot Loc: Minnesota

One thing that helped me on this problem was after calibrating my monitor, I then sent 2 jpeg files to my print vendor, one color with a nice range of flesh tones, and another in black and white. With the returned prints I adjusted my monitors brightness to match the returned prints using the original jpeg files stored.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

canon Lee wrote:

I use Colormunki and recal before I post edit. I also make sure my monitor has warmed up for at least a half hour. I send them to a lab called "Century Color Labs". They print and add templates and text. They do some post editing, but I am not sure what they edit. I shoot in RAW and edit the RAWs in LR, then convert to JPEG (sRGB color space). I was also wondering if converting RAW to JPEG has anything to do with shifting my settings?

Does your lab ask for your files in the sRGB color space? You might be able to google your lab and see if they suggest a different icc profile for best results on the equipment and paper they use. I know that you can do this with Costco print labs but some of the people working there don't know what the hell they are doing so it's best to use sRGB there too.

If you use sRGB, do you know how to set the black point and do you know how to soft proof? If not, I'd suggest you youtube and or google that for how to in Lightroom. Setting your black point might bring out detail in the shadows. Also, when calibrating your monitor, be sure to get the brightness on it right. If your monitor shows you a picture that looks great, but all your prints are dark, you probably have the brightness too high on your monitor too. Lower it 20% and then edit your pictures to look good and sent to the lab.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

canon Lee wrote:

I outsource all of my images to a print house. The... (show quote)

canon Lee,

Did you inquire as to their specific attributes they will print to?
From your description it sounds like you are sending them a finished photograph saved in .jpg, but in the aRGB profile. Most professional printing houses specify sRGB.

Michael G

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

canon Lee wrote:

I outsource all of my images to a print house. The... (show quote)

I use Tempe Imaging Center and always get back exactly what I expected. I submit the files and request that they print what I give them. No editing on their part. It's also less expensive that way.
--Bob