Simon_King
enthusiast
Reged: 17/11/2006
Posts: 242
Loc: South Wales
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I am sure that this topic has been done to death, however...
I have just calibrated my screen with a Spyder3Elite system, my screen is noticeably darker than it was before. However, my main reason for doing the calibration was to improve prints as before they looked so much darker than the screen. I read somewhere that there is little point calibrating the printer but by doing the screen that should sort things out.
However, after the calibration my prints are no better or worse darker than before. What am I doing wrong or what can I do to improve the situation.
My set up is:
Computer - iMAC (current generation)
Printer - Epson Stylus Photo R800
Camera - Canon EOS 40D
Software - Adobe LightRoom 2.0
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0
Any help or suggestions much appreciated.
Thanks
Simon
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My Gallery
An Englishman in Cwmbran, I like my toast done on one side!
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Monobod
'Phantom' of the forum!
Reged: 03/04/2003
Posts: 5991
Loc: Just West of Norwich, Norfolk
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Have you noticed any convergence between the prints and the screen since calibration? I know both are dark but are they more similar?
I am a windows user, so not familiar with your set up, sorry.
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David.
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PhilW
Blue Peter Badge Winner
Reged: 14/03/2007
Posts: 960
Loc: Near Wakefield, Yorkshire
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From what you have said we could assume that the prints have always been printing correctly i.e. whatever brighness levels each pixel had on the file was reproduced at the level on the print (or near enough). But because your screen was too bright you edited them all so that when printed correctly they were too dark.
With your newly calibrated screen if you edit them so they appear to have the correct brightness then they 'should' print at that new level of brightness
I get the (quite possibly wrong) impression that you thought by just calibrating the screen that old images would suddenly print brighter. As the files haven't been changed at all by calibrating the screen they will print exactly the same as before. But from now on, with new edits, everything should be fine.
Only if images that now look fine on the screen are printing differently should you bother about calibrating the printer too.
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Phil Winterbourne
http://www.pbase.com/calis
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NorthernNikon
Bulls Hitter
Reged: 16/12/2005
Posts: 6167
Loc: Harrogate, North Yorks
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What Phil says makes perfect sense. Incidenatally, I've never callibrated either my screen or my printer as any prints or files seem to be okay to my eyes.
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www.BarneyAllen.com the new home of ComicShots.
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Simon_King
enthusiast
Reged: 17/11/2006
Posts: 242
Loc: South Wales
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Quote:
From what you have said we could assume that the prints have always been printing correctly i.e. whatever brighness levels each pixel had on the file was reproduced at the level on the print (or near enough). But because your screen was too bright you edited them all so that when printed correctly they were too dark.
With your newly calibrated screen if you edit them so they appear to have the correct brightness then they 'should' print at that new level of brightness
I get the (quite possibly wrong) impression that you thought by just calibrating the screen that old images would suddenly print brighter. As the files haven't been changed at all by calibrating the screen they will print exactly the same as before. But from now on, with new edits, everything should be fine.
Only if images that now look fine on the screen are printing differently should you bother about calibrating the printer too.
Thanks for the feedback.
Following the screen calibration I then edited the image so that it looked right under the new settings and then printed. At that point it still seemed dark. What I have now tried a number of things, whilst wasting paper and ink, think I have arrived where I need to be.
In lightroom I set the colour profile to the one that matches the printer and and paper. In this instance SPR800 Premium Glossy. Then in the print dialogue I set basically inform the printer that my application is managing the colour space.
This has dramatically improved the brightness of the print, it's still not perfect. But I have read that will never be the case as the screen is back lit and the print is viewed with reflective light. Amusingly the writer suggested that the print could be viewed outside on a sunny day. I guess they weren't living in Britain with our summer.
All of the input is much appreciated, I'll continue to tweak to see if I can get any further improvements. But I am much happier.
Cheers
Simon
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My Gallery
An Englishman in Cwmbran, I like my toast done on one side!
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lisadb
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 05/09/2006
Posts: 1674
Loc: Staffs
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I went through all this a few months ago and it's just working on it till your prints come out how you want them (and try and ignore how much paper/ink you're wasting  ). I can't seem to get on with the ICC profiles at the moment and so have brightness set at +10 in the print dialogue box.  Lisa.
PS there's lots of info in the scanning & printing forum
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wollemi - 'look around you, keep your eyes open and watch out' (Australian aboriginal word)
My Flickr page
Edited by lisadb (12/08/2008 13:22)
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