Lab prints too dark

[aaronp]

The dam is pretty smooth and slick from what I remember, and it's easier than it looks, it's kind of like surfing. That's why it's green? Dang, didn't know.

 

Have you had much experience with online printing companies?

 

Last night, in frustration over the whole monitor being to bright thing, I decided to try an old profile I had set up using QuickGamma from www.normankoren.com, and to my surprise it was pretty dang close to my prints. So, I guess I'll use that while getting this show together. Does anyone have any idea what I could be doing wrong with my Gretag-Macbeth Eye-One that it gives me such an incorrect brightness/gamma?

[Tim_Lookingbill]

Aaron,

 

I haven't used any online printing companies. I just use the

Noritsu minilab at my local HEB grocery store and I couldn't get

more accurate prints than I'm getting now over using any other

online service. I do convert to either a DryCreekPhoto profile or

AveragePhotoPrinterRGB profile depending which way the

Noritsu is leaning before printing them and they turn out fine.

 

It would help if you posted your original image and a scan of the

print as accurate as you can make it and post both to see exactly

what kind of problem you're dealing with.

 

I use EyeOne Display for my CRT that calibrates very close to

sRGB and use the same kind of profiles you use from Mpix and

don't have the problems you mention.

 

You didn't indicate if you're using the same Kodak E-surface

profile I mentioned previously.

 

Making your monitor look like your print using QuickGamma may

indicate that you have a corrupt EyeOne Display profile. It's hard

to troubleshoot such problems without seeing something.

[aaronp]

I am using the Kodak E-surface profile, which I did mention above. What is the AveragePhotoPrinterRGB profile? I don't have a flat bed scanner, but I can post an image I manually adjusted to visually match my print.

[aaronp]

Here is the original, which looked fine on my monitor.<div></div>

[aaronp]

and here this is about what the print looks like<div></div>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

OK, I missed the previous post.

 

Your original image shows a warm yellowish amber cast in the

leaves and the bench while the "What I Got" shows a reddish

brown darker image. Is this what you see?

 

If this is what you're getting from Mpix ask them why and if they

are converting to a matte finish profile or performing some auto

correction. I can tell you if you aren't converting to their profile

then you need to Soft Proof with Preserve Color Numbers

checked and edit from there.

 

The other setting is for checking gamut clipping before

converting, but your file's colors fit well within both any printer on

the market and sRGB so you shouldn't be getting even this

amount of mismatch.

 

But I think Mpix is doing something else with your file that doesn't

make sense because I took your original image and assigned

the Mpix Kodak E-surface profile and it looks nothing like your

"What I Got" print simulation image.

 

It seems they are converting to some other profile which isn't

accurate or their printer now has a red bias that isn't reflected in

the Kodak profile. When I assign it to your image it makes it

lighter but with no color cast shift to reddish brown making this

profile inaccurate.

 

I went and assigned several different minilab profiles including

glossy and matte, Noritsu, Frontier and AveragePhotoPrinterRGB

to see if I could induce a reddish brown cast like your simulation

and none of them did. Some caused a slight shift but not as

pronounced as yours. The Mpix printer is nolonger linear and

neutralized and needs to be recalibrated and reprofiled.

 

You can get AveragePhotoPrinterRGB by searching the web. You

might try using the term PhotoGamutRGB as well. But it's not

going to help you with the reddish brown Mpix printer cast.

[Tim_Lookingbill]

To find you a better printer, you'll have to have an sRGB test print

done. And if they have a profile, ask them to print your image with

the same printer software settings they built their profile from.

Once you see the test print match (hopefully) by assigning their

profile to your sRGB test image, you can now Soft Proof with

Preserve Color Numbers and edit from there any other sRGB

image for clipping or color shifting which should be minimal.

 

You'll have to search the web for other online printers. There's

plenty to pick from.

[david_henderson]

I have to say that my experience with a LightJet and Endura paper has yielded poor results with dull prints totally lacking in sparkle. Crystal Archive seems to generate brighter prints on this machine.