Help! Prints too dark! - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0L USM

06/09/2007 02:13:09 PM · #1

Hello All,

I need to print out several photos, and when I try to print them on my printer at home, they come out too dark. The images look great on my monitor, but when I print them, the prints are much darker than the images on the monitor.

How do I make my prints match the way my images look on my monitor? Let's assume my monitor is properly calibrated.

Thanks!

-Chris

jjusa

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

06/09/2007 02:15:12 PM · #2

The only thing I can think is that your monitor isn't calibrated properly. When you say, assume that your monitor is calibrated properly, does that mean that you know it is or what?

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

06/09/2007 02:25:57 PM · #3

Originally posted by KelvinC:

The only thing I can think is that your monitor isn't calibrated properly. When you say, assume that your monitor is calibrated properly, does that mean that you know it is or what?

I guess I don't know for sure that it's properly calibrated, but I did use the calibration software in Photoshop to calibrate my monitor.

Another reason I think that my monitor is reasonably calibrated is that when I vote on DPChallenge images, I can see differences between all of those little grayscale boxes that appear at the bottom of the screen.

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

06/09/2007 02:27:28 PM · #4

Outside of proper monitor calibration, look at these things:

Are you using the manufacturer's paper and ink for your printer?

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

06/09/2007 02:39:13 PM · #5

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

Outside of proper monitor calibration, look at these things:

Are you using the manufacturer's paper and ink for your printer?

Yes, I am.

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

06/09/2007 02:41:08 PM · #6

Originally posted by Keith Maniac:

Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Outside of proper monitor calibration, look at these things:

Are you using the manufacturer's paper and ink for your printer?

Yes, I am.

Chances are that you need to calibrate your monitor with hardware calibration. The gray scale visibility is only a portion of a proper calibration. That is nothing more than contrast calibration. Your color calibration can't be done visually.

jmsetzler

Sony Alpha a6000

Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 E-mount

06/09/2007 02:41:43 PM · #7

PS - Laptops and Macs are notorious for this problem.. are you using either?

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

06/09/2007 02:46:29 PM · #8

If you can actually SEE differences between ALL the squares in voting, your monitor is set up too light for printing anyway. That's my experience, for what it's worth.

R.

06/09/2007 03:01:13 PM · #9

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

Interesting. Thanks.

Message edited by author 2007-06-09 15:02:19.

Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra

06/09/2007 03:04:51 PM · #10

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

If you can actually SEE differences between ALL the squares in voting, your monitor is set up too light for printing anyway. That's my experience, for what it's worth.

R.

I just tried turning my monitor brightness all the way down to zero, and now the image on the monitor is a lot closer to the print. But the darkest 3 or 4 grayscale boxes on the DPC voting page are all completely black!

I think you're on to something...

Bear_Music

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

06/09/2007 03:17:21 PM · #11

Originally posted by Keith Maniac:

Originally posted by Bear_Music:
If you can actually SEE differences between ALL the squares in voting, your monitor is set up too light for printing anyway. That's my experience, for what it's worth.

R.

I just tried turning my monitor brightness all the way down to zero, and now the image on the monitor is a lot closer to the print. But the darkest 3 or 4 grayscale boxes on the DPC voting page are all completely black!

I think you're on to something...

There's a reason for it; viewing by transmitted light (monitor) shows more demarcation between zones than viewing by reflected light (print). That's why your slides, in the old days, always looked better than the prints made from them.

R.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

06/09/2007 06:15:54 PM · #12

Originally posted by jmsetzler:

PS - Laptops and Macs are notorious for this problem.. are you using either?

No, it's a desktop PC.

awpollard

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

06/09/2007 08:19:55 PM · #13

You might want to set your Printer to use the same Profile (ICC or ICM file) that your editor is using, that way you will be closer to what you see is what you print.

Properties of the printer you should see a Color Management tab (WinXP/Vista) there you change the profile to match the profile that your editor is using.

TechnoShroom

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro

06/09/2007 09:38:20 PM · #14

Originally posted by Keith Maniac:

Originally posted by KelvinC:
The only thing I can think is that your monitor isn't calibrated properly. When you say, assume that your monitor is calibrated properly, does that mean that you know it is or what?

I guess I don't know for sure that it's properly calibrated, but I did use the calibration software in Photoshop to calibrate my monitor.

Another reason I think that my monitor is reasonably calibrated is that when I vote on DPChallenge images, I can see differences between all of those little grayscale boxes that appear at the bottom of the screen.

There's your problem. The last dark boxes should be difficult to distinguish on the light grey of the background. If you're going to use Adobe Gamma you'll want to set the black point of your monitor first outside of Adobe Gamma.

EDIT: I was typing all of this out and remembered that there is an excellent page on the subject. Take a look.

06/09/2007 10:29:20 PM · #15

Originally posted by TechnoShroom:

I checked out that page and you're right, it is excellent. Strangely, even with my brightness control turned all the way down, my screen was still a bit brighter than the pure black strips at the top/bottom of the screen. I guess that means my monitor is not ever displaying pure black. That could be a big part of my problem.

I didn't allow my monitor to stabilize for 1 hour before doing the test, but I will re-test after 1 hour.