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
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 X-Rite sells a newer version of this.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.
Posted on Dec 8, 2014 11:30 AM