Dark Photos: I sent a few 8x10 pics out to get developed by MPIX pro, they did a good job but came back a little dark color was fine .I have LR 4 and Fastone and looked fine when I...

Jim Bianco

I sent a few 8x10 pics out to get developed by MPIX pro, they did a good job but came back a little dark color was fine .I have LR 4 and Fastone and looked fine when I sent them out to Mpix but came back dark. I heard that I should darken my monitor and how much do I darken it? I have a laptop HP vista,I know it is old but works fine,my brightness is all the way up right now. Thanks Jim Bianco I fixed 3 pics in Fastone and 2 in LR.

William J. Renard

Some times what you see on the monitor, is not what you get, when someone prints your photo. In the old days, we had all our viewing screens calibrated, and also had the viewing area calibrated. Picture color etc.,
will change, depending where it is seen. I experienced the problem with light, and light, and color temperature, working in Dye transfer for 25 years.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

This, or something similar, should give you what you need.

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Jim Bianco

Thanks R.G.

Eliz

This very problem is what caused me to get a Pro 100, a good monitor and print my own pictures. It was so frustrating to send stuff out, get it back, and have it look so different. I have my monitor calibrated and in control of the printer(via profile). Yes, I have to buy and refill ink(using Precision color), but it's so worth it. I know when I hit 'print', all will be well.

tcthome Loc: NJ

R.G. wrote:

This, or something similar, should give you what you need.

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

GreT link , thanks !

warrenvon Loc: Ellicott City, MD

I'm not too sure that you've gotten a clear answer to your printing problem.
Yours is one that many myself included, have suffered when the try to print their images. Not just when sent out but also when they are printed locally.
The issue is very simply to fix as it is a problem caused by lack of your monitor being out of calibration. A dark image is usually caused by your monitor being adjusted too bright.
Your monitor may also be out of color balance as well.

Both issues can be corrected via software or a separate device attached to your monitor used to perform both color balance and monitor brightness calibration.

Check on line for these devices. They can be ad for less than $100.

The software applications that can do these two functions can be had for far less and their affectedness is also not a good; but better than nothing.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Jim Bianco wrote:

I sent a few 8x10 pics out to get developed by MPIX pro, they did a good job but came back a little dark color was fine .I have LR 4 and Fastone and looked fine when I sent them out to Mpix but came back dark. I heard that I should darken my monitor and how much do I darken it? I have a laptop HP vista,I know it is old but works fine,my brightness is all the way up right now. Thanks Jim Bianco I fixed 3 pics in Fastone and 2 in LR.

The answer to this common problem is to calibrate your monitor with a calibration system such as the Datacolor Spyder or Colormunki. A little costly up front (they often have sales), but you'll save back the cost by not wasting paper, ink or cost of outside printing. After calibrating, be sure to download the profile for the paper you're using (if printing at home) or from your lab (if sending out for prints), and enable soft proofing when you view/edit the image.

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

Jim Bianco wrote:

I sent a few 8x10 pics out to get developed by MPIX pro, they did a good job but came back a little dark color was fine .I have LR 4 and Fastone and looked fine when I sent them out to Mpix but came back dark. I heard that I should darken my monitor and how much do I darken it? I have a laptop HP vista,I know it is old but works fine,my brightness is all the way up right now. Thanks Jim Bianco I fixed 3 pics in Fastone and 2 in LR.

The easiest and most consistent way to deal with this is to use a profiling tool like an Xrite i1 Display Pro - it gives you the ability to precisely establish the displau's white clip point. Most displays are set to 120 cd/m^2 (candelas per meter squared), which will result in dark prints. A good starting point would be 80, which generally means you will need to do your editing in a darkened room.

Another way to deal with this is to look at your image's histogram in the editor - if most of the image data falls to the left of the center, your image will be dark, and vice versa. This may or may not be appropriate for your image, but If you are at the beach in good light you would expect most of the image data to be close to, but not touching the right side. If it is centered around the middle or on the left of middle, that will result in a dark image.

Hope this helps.

wteffey Loc: Ocala, FL USA

You should be able to have them reprinted free if you wish. I have had several instances where I returned prints for being too dark and they were reprinted for free, and came out fine the second time. It seems that some print services will adjust the print a little unless you tell them in advance not to make any adjustments. Even then they sometimes will do it anyway.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

First off, calibrate your monitor. I recommend Spyder Pro products for that. Next, request the color space MPIX uses. Adjust the color space of your images to that used by your printer. That should take care of 99% of the issues.
--Bob

Jim Bianco wrote:

I sent a few 8x10 pics out to get developed by MPIX pro, they did a good job but came back a little dark color was fine .I have LR 4 and Fastone and looked fine when I sent them out to Mpix but came back dark. I heard that I should darken my monitor and how much do I darken it? I have a laptop HP vista,I know it is old but works fine,my brightness is all the way up right now. Thanks Jim Bianco I fixed 3 pics in Fastone and 2 in LR.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

A simple answer is reduce the brightness of the monitor to get the photo displayed as dark as the print!

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

Jim Bianco wrote:

I sent a few 8x10 pics out to get developed by MPIX pro, they did a good job but came back a little dark color was fine .I have LR 4 and Fastone and looked fine when I sent them out to Mpix but came back dark. I heard that I should darken my monitor and how much do I darken it? I have a laptop HP vista,I know it is old but works fine,my brightness is all the way up right now. Thanks Jim Bianco I fixed 3 pics in Fastone and 2 in LR.

I had the same problem before I started using a Spyder calibration system. It is possible to judge whether the monitor is too bright if you can print photos yourself. But it is still "hit and miss". A decent photo printer is not expensive for the standard size [up to 8x10], which will let you at least do test prints before sending out. I print my own 8x10 and smaller, but send out for any that are larger. But the monitor still should be calibrated.

There are many photo labs out there, but none of them can do a better job if the image they receive is faulty!

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

even though I calibrate my monitor often using colormunki my pictures still have to be lighten .65 exposure in Adobe camera RAW before I print them

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

bdk wrote:

even though I calibrate my monitor often using colormunki my pictures still have to be lighten .65 exposure in Adobe camera RAW before I print them

Have you adjusted the monitor brightness? If your monitor is used for other things besides photography, it is natural to want it bright. When editing photos, it should be less bright. By testing it out, you could find the brightness that works for each and then switch back and forth!

I actually prefer a brighter monitor for actual editing, but can lower brightness if I want to see how the image will print. Saves paper!