"Dark" printing

[eyetea]

Hi All,

 

We have some photography students who are using the Sixth Form work room printer (HP Colour laserjet) to print of their work for their books. They're stated that the prints coming out are darker than what is appearing on screen.

 

Aside from turning the screen brightness down, is there anything else I can do to try and sort this out? If it were up to me I'd suggest they send their photos off to be printed via photobox or similar, which is what we had to do when I took photography!

 

Cheers,

 

J

[Joanne]

Make printed colours match those on screen - How-To - PC Advisor

 

I remember back in the day at one of my old schools, we had a tool that you would plug into USB, hang on your monitor, run some software and it would calibrate the monitor for you. No idea what it was called or anything!!

[smithson83]

is there a calibration setting / printout to match the monitor with printer output?

[Seb1780]

This could be a minefield! Calibrating and matching printers and monitors is a very subjective issue.

 

Theres' a good wiki here ColorWiki - Printer to Match my Screen

 

Among the items needed to match a digital image from a computer screen to an inkjet printer are:

 

 

• A properly calibrated monitor
  
• A properly applied printer profile
  
• Soft proofing procedure
  
• Lighting
  
• Eyes and a brain.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Seb1780

[smithson83]

This could be a minefield! Calibrating and matching printers and monitors is a very subjective issue...

...

• Eyes and a brain.

 

So it's all in their head...

[eyetea]

It is hugely subjective and as been stated a minefield. If their classroom or workroom is dark the print would then appear darking in there, whereas in a well lit environment / bright day the print might appear fine...

[Joanne]

can they not do a test print and then adjust accordingly (eg/ make the image brighter)?

[eyetea]

Is what I'm going to suggest for a start, just trying to not sound sarcastic/talking down to them by suggesting they up the brightness of the image..!

[psydii]

This is one of those things were I'd expect the teacher to understand the tools better than the IT techs. If they don't know how to calibrate the colour, they should up skill themselves.

 

I think a technique ours use is to shoot very bright and then adjust down as necessary, compensating using adjustments in Photoshop/Lightroom based on how they know the printer will render things.

[difinity]

If they are photography students they should understand the need to calibrate their screen-print. It's not just brightness/darkness.

The type of lighting affects how the prints look too. I have cool white LEDs throughout my house and it makes my canvas prints look washed out. They are perfectly fine in daylight or at a friends under halogen or incandescent bulbs.

[mowgli82]

Make printed colours match those on screen - How-To - PC Advisor

 

I remember back in the day at one of my old schools, we had a tool that you would plug into USB, hang on your monitor, run some software and it would calibrate the monitor for you. No idea what it was called or anything!!

Spider do a device that does this

[mowgli82]

if you get prints done for a competition you can choose the paper etc based on the lights you think they will have where your image will be displayed...can't remember where I saw this....dscolourlabs or onevision or something. in my experience all lasers seem to print photos far darker than they actually are.

[Joanne]

Spider do a device that does this

 

That could very well be what is was... it had legs and did dangle like a spider!

 

edit: YUP: http://spyder.datacolor.com/display-calibration/

 

Could be worth getting one of these fo' sho'.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Joanne

[mowgli82]

That could very well be what is was... it had legs and did dangle like a spider!

 

edit: YUP: Display Color Calibration With Datacolor Spyder5 - Datacolor Imaging Solutions

 

Could be worth getting one of these fo' sho'.

 

unless you have a decent (ish) monitor I wouldn't bother as most don't have a wide enough gamut something like this maybe: Eizo ColorEdge CS230 23 inch Black Monitor with Colour Navigator (CS230-CN) - Wex Photographic

[GeekyPete]

The brightness and colour on a printer will never match what is on screen. No more than a projector will match a monitor. The best you can hope for is an approximation. The way they produce the image differs too much. The screens are effectively black (Absence of light so even IWB are considered black) and colour is made up by adding RGB to give the correct colours. But these are optically active and emit light. Paper is white and the colours are actually filters for reflected light and that why they use CYMK and paper is optically passive.

 

Paper won't ever be as bright as a monitor as it doesn't emit light. To demonstrate the point turn the lights off, which can you see better?

 

By the same token you very rarely get anywhere near a colour match between Monitor and Projector. The monitor can provide a Brilliant Pure White as a base for all it's colours. The projector can only ever be as White as the Whiteboard and they are only ever light grey at best.

[southhamster]

The paper makes a huge difference. Mrs hamster has an Epson 3880 A3 printer which can produce stunning prints with beautiful colours but only on decent paper. On ordinary copier stuff it's meh.

She likes Canson paper but it is pricey.

It's worth seeing if you can get some sample packs to compare.

Also a good lesson for students to think about all the factors that affect printing.

[jmak]

Excellent explanation from @GeekyPete . Also, I assume we're talking a conventional laser printer here? In which case it's the wrong tool for the job. For a few photos in a document, fine, but for a photography course they should be using printers designed for the purpose - or send them to photobox to get printed properly on photographic paper. I've stopped trying to print my own photos - I can't do it as well or as cheaply as sending them off.

[steveking]

Yes with the calibrating (I have an x-rite display calibrator, but it's very similar to the spider), and also yes for using a proper lab (but not photobox, a proper lab!). The lighting levels in the room matter too, which is why when you're not calibrating the screen the sensor sits under the monitor and adjusts the screen depending on the ambient lighting colour.

 

I get photos printed at dscolourlabs, who are always quick (some photos I sent on Monday afternoon turned up Tuesday morning, and that's normal). They have their printer/paper profiles to download on their website, have instructions as to how to get them into photoshop and will also send you a calibration print to compare to your monitor if you don't have a calibrator. But you really want to use a screen calibrator and use a nice display, not a cheapo lcd.

 

You'll never get good photos from a laser, don't even bother trying to make it better!

 

Print Prices - DS Colour Labs

 

and postage is £4ish I think. (I don't work for them, I just use them far too much)