Unhappy with prints - what do I do?

elven

I just went and got some 8x10's (€30 worth of them) from that place at the top of Grafton St, I can't remember the name of it - but anyway, before I got them done I went to one of the wee machines that do 6x4's to check how the pictures looked in print, you know for any artifacting or banding or anything like that. So I was happy enough with the small ones, and chose a few to get enlarged.

I didn't actually look at them in the shop, because it was full of people with little brats causing mayhem (grrr) and I just wanted to get out of there. So, when I got home I opened it up and had a look - and they are all really really dark. Now, I know I like my pictures dark but compared to the little ones I got, they are ridiculous looking.

Do I take them back and ask them to re-print them? Do they actually manually decide how dark the prints will be or is it all automated? Do I have a leg to stand on, or have I lost it because I didn't say anything when I picked them up? I'm not sure what to do and can't really justify another €30 to get them re-printed. Would those little holiday snap machines be so badly calibrated that the prints from that are too bright and it's my jpg's that are too dark? I can upload them later on to see if you think they are, if that would help.

I'm so hacked off I hate having to complain about stuff, but I'm past the stage of just letting it go and losing out... help!

rymus

if it helps in any way... first time I got prints from photobox I noticed they were also very dark. I then got a calibration print from them, matched my monitor to it and since the prints have been spot on. I can only imagine thats why what you're seeing onscreen is not what youre getting in print.

You could go back to them but they'll probably say the same thing. It's worth a try at least, no point having prints that are too dark to do anything with. I'd say those little 6x4 machines do a few adjustments to compensate for the everyday joe with a camera. They also normally allow adjustments onscreen before you print.

Defo do go in and say it, if you bat your eyelashes you might get a re-print

elven

I see what you mean and that is what I'm worried about - but at the same time, if that's going to be the case where you don't know how their printer is calibrated, are you meant to get a test print before you get any enlargements from them? That being the case they could have said something.

I know what you mean about the automatic adjustments for Joe Schmoe's holiday snaps - but there's usually a choice whether to do the adjustments or not - and it really is a pretty big difference.

I'll have a look at the jpgs later on a different monitor and see if it could be down to the main monitor at home being too bright - I have noticed that everything I work on in PS on that one looks too dark on any other screen.

Gah.

311

Elven if you were happy with the shots on the order screen/box machine ,then I don't see how the prints could be too dark.

If you need to get them done again ,then I'd go back and tell them you want the right ones back.

L8rs
Brian

rymus

When all's said and done, I'd get back there post haste (while yerman still recognises your face and has your order in his memory) and gently complain. If gentle complaining yields no results, begin to rant.

elven

I can't remember if they looked dark on the actual screen, I just selected them from the thumbnails - and was trying to avoid the rugrats that were running rampant on the shop floor...

I'm thinking there's a good chance that it's because of that bloody monitor at home. I really don't want to fork out for another set though!

*goes away to find a low cut top*

StopWatch

eh, being a lab monkey myself for about the past 7 years,down in the photo mines, i would say that if its very obvious that the prints are too dark, then its just sheer lazyness, no-one should ever let prints go out that are really ****, its just bad work.
Go back, complain, get your prints re-done, then never go back to them again, and bad-mouth them whenever you can! Theres far too many ****ty printers in Dublin who just automate everything and dont give a F%ck what they hand out to customers

Chochese

I had the same problem as you until I started working in a photo lab myself. You should find out what system tht is being used in the Lab (as in Fuji Frontier xxxx or kodak or whatever) and download a colour profile from the net to match. I did this and my prints were spot on from then on when i used the correct profile with a properly calibrated monitor.

Also, the prints from the instant machine were different because more than likely they were done on a thermal printer which melts areas of coloured plastics onto the paper. this is done in a CMYK profile, but the main lab probably uses lasers, thus making images through RGB. If you run CMYK saved images through RGB print, they'll be darker and vice versa.

PaulieC

How do you use the colour profiling stuff? I've had silimar problems with photobox - my pix look fine on the monitor, but too dark in print. I read somewhere about the profiles and even downloaded one, but I don't know what to do with it...

rymus

if its photobox, get a calibration print off them.

Fajitas!

Get back and complain!

Just so you know in future, our light powered moniters(especially LCD, which is completly unlike paper) are a lot brighter than paper, I often turn the brightness right down before printing, just to get an estimation of how dark they'll be.

I really need a calibrator though...