How to print properly

[casp3r]

Hope someone can give me pointers in the right direction with this one. I have a number of images that look great on screen but when printed they always come out dark. I've tried brightening the images in Photoshop - no good, same thing happens. I've tried different types of paper and settings on the printer but still they print out dark.
The images don't have to be perfect when printed but something that resembles what's on the screen.
The printer is a HP4600 colour laser printer.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Michael

[tim]

Calibrate your monitor, I use a monaco thingy.

[casp3r]

Thanks for the reply, but I fail to understand how calibrating the monitor will improve the prints?

Michael

[tlc]

if your monitor is out of calibration then you are not adjusting your photos correctly. i dont believe its like wysiwyg.

[Reefbone]

He did say he was editing the images in PS and no matter what, the image coming out dark. His description seems beyond monitor calibration.What version of PS?

My question is are all of the prints coming out of the printer the exact same?

I checked out your printer. It isn't marketed as a photo printer. I must say in my limited experience laser printers don't do a great job with photos. I could be wrong but... anyways, bak to your problem. I would say that if you lighten the image in PS, Save, and the printed image is still dark, it might be one of these two issues.

1)The the problem could be that the printer is somehow optimizing the image. Check the print driver controls.

2)Could be that the printer has cached/stored the file in some kind of temp memory and instead of reloading it it is printing it from memory. Try changing the file name, moving the file or flush the printer's memory (refer to manual ;) ).

[casp3r]

All the images are coming out the same - darker than what's displayed on the screen.

I realise that the 4600 isn't listed as a photo printer but I was hoping that I could improve on what I had :)

I'm using Photoshop 7.
I have found that if I use
Image > Adjustments > Auto Levels
the image that is printed is alot better - even if it does look over-exposed on the screen.

Again thanks for all the comments :)

Michael

[René Damkot]

First determine whether it is your monitor or your printer that needs adjustment....