Traceykate

Q: Pictures very different when printing than on screen please help

Hi

 

My husband loves to travel around the UK taking the most stunning photographs, but when it comes to printing them out they are a lot darker than they are on the macbook pro 17". He puts them on an sd card and takes them to jests, the print quality is great but they come out so dark, can anybody tell me why please. He wants to get his own photo printer that prints up to a3 size but not sure which one to get, any suggestions ?

Thank you in advance

Best regards

Tracey x

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)

Posted on Dec 8, 2014 5:48 AM

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Q: Pictures very different when printing than on screen please help

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  • by Keith Barkley,Helpful

    Keith Barkley Keith Barkley Dec 8, 2014 8:41 AM in response to Traceykate
    Level 5 (6,427 points)
    Dec 8, 2014 8:41 AM in response to Traceykate

    You need to invest in the hardware to set up a color management system.

     

    http://www.colormunki.com/

     

    At the very least make sure your profile is correct for the printer. Are you sending the printer an Adobe RGB file when they expect sRGB?

  • by William Lloyd,Helpful

    William Lloyd William Lloyd Dec 8, 2014 9:19 AM in response to Traceykate
    Level 7 (21,158 points)
    Dec 8, 2014 9:19 AM in response to Traceykate

    As Keith said, you really need to color manage your monitor. If the colors are different, then this is pretty much mandatory to get things right.

     

    If the prints are too dark, it's likely your monitor is too bright. You need to set the brightness correctly to match the printer. I believe "typical" is around 100 Cd/m^2. What does that mean? Well, it's a measurement, 100 candelas per square meter. The only real way to know is to measure it ;-)

     

    But I've found that on desktop monitors (iMac, Cinema Display), you're looking at about 1/3 brightness. I don't know on laptops. But if you have the brightness all the way up, and adjust photos there, then when you print them, it's guaranteed they'll be too dark.

  • by Kirby Krieger,Solvedanswer

    Kirby Krieger Kirby Krieger Dec 8, 2014 11:30 AM in response to Traceykate
    Level 6 (12,522 points)
    Dec 8, 2014 11:30 AM in response to Traceykate

    This is a common issue (read the articles at the first two links:  North Light and Luminous Landscape).  As Keith and William have said, a color-calibrated workflow is necessary.  Calibration that is not measured (that is, done by eye) is not reliable.  I use a Color Munki Photo photospectrometer.  It works well.  X-Rite sells a newer version of this.  Other companies sell similar devices.  I have not used them and therefore have nothing to report.

     

    For an excellent A3 printer, I would look no further than the Epson Stylus Pro 3880 (or newer version).  It will accept paper up to 17" wide.  Before you buy a printer you should select a paper and ink that you like (though, unless your likes are ... different ... it's hard to imagine not being able to do what you want with a 3880).

     

    I calibrate my monitors to 85 Cd/m^2.  On my rMBP, that's two dentils ( ) higher than mid-way.  See this post for more information.

     

    Within Aperture, your husband should soft-proof his Images prior to sending them to the print shop.  The print shop should provide a profile to use for soft-proofing.

     

    _Any_ transfer of data from the digital to the physical (which is what printing is) is fraught with problems.  Printing consistently well is not easy.  Even in the best circumstances, it takes _a lot more time and effort_ than sending a file to a print shop.

     

    HTH,

     

    —Kirby.

  • by Traceykate,

    Traceykate Traceykate Dec 8, 2014 4:10 PM in response to Keith Barkley
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 8, 2014 4:10 PM in response to Keith Barkley

    Hi kieth

     

    THank you you for your advice you have helped me muchly cheers xx

  • by Traceykate,

    Traceykate Traceykate Dec 8, 2014 4:11 PM in response to William Lloyd
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 8, 2014 4:11 PM in response to William Lloyd

    HI William

     

    THank you for your advice you hve helped me muchly cheers xx

  • by Traceykate,

    Traceykate Traceykate Dec 8, 2014 4:17 PM in response to Kirby Krieger
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 8, 2014 4:17 PM in response to Kirby Krieger

    Hi Kirby.

     

    thank you so much for your advice you have helped me very much, just as kieth and William thank you so much all of you.

    i Have looked at what you told me too and we have adjusted the preferences to your details thank you.

    wwe looked at the Epson printer and the cannon printers and the reviews all read that the EPSON always used a lot more ink than the cannon pro 10 so now unsure as you have advised the epson oh it's all so confusing lol.

    thanks so much for your advice appreciate it very much xx.

     

  • by Kirby Krieger,

    Kirby Krieger Kirby Krieger Dec 8, 2014 4:47 PM in response to Traceykate
    Level 6 (12,522 points)
    Dec 8, 2014 4:47 PM in response to Traceykate

    It _is_ confusing.  Ask more questions.

     

    I have never read that any of the Epson Stylus Pro printers are ink hogs.  Can you send a link to where you saw that?  I don't have any information of any of Epson's "consumer" printers.  Afaik, all "consumer" printers have small ink cartridges — the companies selling these derive a large part of their profit from these lines selling ink.  The Stylus Pro printers all have large ink cartridges.

     

    The Canon Pro 10 is usually compared to, among Epson printers, the Stylus Photo R3000.  I don't know anything about either.  A quick look tells me that they are each good products.  Note that the Stylus R3000 is limited to 13" wide paper.

  • by Traceykate,

    Traceykate Traceykate Dec 10, 2014 10:29 AM in response to Kirby Krieger
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 10, 2014 10:29 AM in response to Kirby Krieger

    Hi Kirby

     

    Thank you so much for all your input you have been so helpful. It was my husband that said he saw the reviews on the epson review but he cannot remember where it was. I have been looking for myself for recommendations on a3 printers and for what he wants it for i have found that the epson r3000 and the r3880 are excellent but the r3880 is very expensive running in at over £900 the r3000 is just over £500.  The cannon pr10 and pr1 are around the same price so i think he has opted for the pr10 which i have looked at reviews for and they all had excellent comments on it.

    Once again thank you smooch for all your help on here, don't know what i would do without this site.

    All we need to do now is to get his screen on his 17 " macbook ro retina replaced as the film coating on the screen has started to wear away as he cleaned it with a wipe which you are not meant to do which we never knew not to do, thanks to where we got it from, either curry's or comet in uk. salesmen had no idea of what they were selling at all, we never even got the complimentary demonstration on how to use an apple mac, cheers lol. Well i now have a macbook pro as well as iPad and i love them both i think apple are tip top superb machines.

    Thank you kirby and if i get stuck i will give you a shout.

    Tracey xx

  • by Kirby Krieger,

    Kirby Krieger Kirby Krieger Dec 10, 2014 11:56 AM in response to Traceykate
    Level 6 (12,522 points)
    Dec 10, 2014 11:56 AM in response to Traceykate

    Glad to help.  All the printers you considered are, afaict, excellent.  Good luck!