Printing for a show, output unexpectedly dark

[ex machina]

In theory yeah, in practice I've seen newer machines still using it.

Get a colorimeter and calibrate it, nothing short of working with a system that's colour managed is going to work. You can waste money doing test prints to try and get it closer or just bite the bullet, calibrate, and get it right.

You can override the system gamma, but everything from OS X.6+ going forward use 2.2 by default; mine's definitely using 2.2. But the effect really is what I'd expect to see if the gamma was 1.8, color is fine as far as I can tell, which is where I'd expect a colorimeter to be most helpful. I'd hate to shell out $250 to find it's a different issue. Have I mentioned that I'm also a cheap bastard?

 

[ex machina]

I use Lightroom soft proofing with printer profiles provided by the actual printer in the print shop I plan on printing. Makes a big difference. Actually, huge difference.

Would not even bother without a properly calibrated quality monitor.

I did download Bay Photo's print profile, though I need to double-check that it's up-to-date and the one actually used for metal prints. Made a preliminary stab at using it but need to spend more time understanding how these work with soft-proofing.

 

[ex machina]

So after installing Bay Photo's ICC profile and using soft-proofing, I see zero difference between the original and soft-proof using the printer profile. If I enable the Simulate Paper and Ink soft-proof option, then there's a slight difference, resulting in lowered contrast.

 

[ex machina]

I have a friend who has offered to loan his Huey Pro colorimeter -- looking forward to resolving this!

 

[ex machina]

It occurred to me that I could scan my test print w/o any eq and compare to the source -- doing so results in pretty much what I see when using LR's Soft Proofing with Bay Photo's ICC profile. I'm still going to borrow my friend's colorimeter, but I'm betting I'm going to have to brighten my prints to compensate for these admittedly dark to begin with images for not having a backlight. For my screen to look like what was printed, it would have to be so dark I wouldn't be able to read the control labels in LR.

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[jziegler]

I have a friend who has offered to loan his Huey Pro colorimeter -- looking forward to resolving this!

Be wary of the Huey Pro results. I had a Huey pro, and threw it out because it made things worse rather than better on my monitor. There was always a very bad cast when I used it, which I never resolved. I even got a second as a warranty replacement, and it was just as bad. I know they work fine for some people, but make sure you look at the results to see if they make sense.

Also, not all calibration software will help with brightness. I don't think that the Huey calibrates brightness to a specific level. I have a Spyder 3 Express now and I know it doesn't. You'll probably need to increase brightness for printing vs on screen viewing.

 

[ex machina]

Be wary of the Huey Pro results. I had a Huey pro, and threw it out because it made things worse rather than better on my monitor. There was always a very bad cast when I used it, which I never resolved. I even got a second as a warranty replacement, and it was just as bad. I know they work fine for some people, but make sure you look at the results to see if they make sense.

Also, not all calibration software will help with brightness. I don't think that the Huey calibrates brightness to a specific level. I have a Spyder 3 Express now and I know it doesn't. You'll probably need to increase brightness for printing vs on screen viewing.

I ended up borrowing a Spyder 2 Pro instead, but it apparently also is unable to "see" the LED backlight technology the iMac uses. sigh.

 

[ex machina]

You'll probably need to increase brightness for printing vs on screen viewing.

Is there a typical brightness value you guys who do boost brightness use?

 

[ex machina]

I have been learning Lightroom recently, never having post-processed before.

I am also trying to learn about printing, having been disappointed in both the colour and brightness when using an online print lab.

Scott Kelby's new "The Lightroom Show" has been talking about brightening photos for printing and the problems with screen vs. print (I think the first episode). The other shows discuss about printing to JPEG at various increased brightness percentages (10%, 20%, 30%, 40%) on the same test proof at your lab to see what looks best going from screen to print.

Anyway, there are only 4 episodes so far and each show is about 10 minutes long. http://lightroomkillertips.com/the-lightroom-show/

Thanks for this link sgreszcz, lots of good tips in there.

 

[sgreszcz]

Is there a typical brightness value you guys who do boost brightness use?

If you watch the short Scott kelby videos that I posted above, they suggest to start at 20% and print to JPEG. In another video they show how to quickly make a proof with 4 different brightness levels to sen to the lab. They also discuss soft proofing too.

 

[ex machina]

OK, I've calibrated my iMac, but...

I find I can now see all shades of gray on the gray scale at http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/MONCAL/CALIBRATE.HTM -- overall, the calibrated iMac screen is less contrasty, and so some shadow areas in my photos appear lifted. However, this means that my test prints look even darker in comparison than they did before.

So, my conclusion is that, for modern iMacs at least, calibration doesn't appear to help with the dark print problem, and brightening for print is something I need to add to my workflow.

 

[ex machina]

Thanks to everyone for helping me work through this problem. I ultimately ended up bumping contrast and sharpness slightly on all prints, and brightness also slightly on I'm guessing half or so of the 30+ prints in my show -- speaking of which if anyone is in Rockville, MD over the next month and a half, I'd love you to stop by and take a look. Promo post @ https://www.mu-43.com/threads/75797/ -- thanks, again!