When I’m chatting to my clients about their own photography, one major frustration is their photos don’t look the same when they’re printed out – they’re often too dark or the colours look off.  If you have this problem, there could be lots of reasons for it but the two main ones are:

  • You aren’t using a calibrated screen.  Sadly, the same image can look completely different on different computer monitors, even ones from the same manufacturer.  (That’s why I prefer to visit my clients to show them their images – then I know they’re making their selections based on the correct colours because my screens are calibrated.)  So how do you calibrate your screen?  
    • Invest in a screen calibration device.  They typically cost £100+ but if you’re having to get a lot of images reprinted because you’re not happy with them, then they’re a worthwhile investment.  There are various ones on the market.  I use an Eye One by X-Rite, but there are others – Google “monitor calibration” and check out the reviews to find the best one for you.  They work by plugging the device into a spare USB port on your computer, positioning it on your screen as per the instructions, then running the software that comes with it.  This will display a range of colours on your monitor, the calibration device will read and analyse the actual colour being displayed then tweak your monitor settings so that the colours are displayed correctly.  It only takes a few minutes and is well worth the effort.  Monitors settings can “drift” over time so you’ll need to do this every few weeks to be sure you’re still seeing the correct colours.
    • Manually change your screen settings.  A good photolab will send you a printed calibration image which is also on their website.  Once you’ve got the printed image in front of you, navigate to the callibration page on their website, then change your monitor settings (contrast, brightness, saturation, etc) until the picture on the screen looks the same as the printed one.  This is cheaper but a lot more time-consuming than using a calibration device.
  • Different photolabs interpret colours differently – Some print them darker, or give you more contrasty prints, etc so check out online reviews and try out different labs until you find one that consistently gives you the results that you like.  As with most things in life, you generally get what you pay for.

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