How does home printing actually work? Need help

I have a basic question about printing at home as I have never ever dealt with this before. Basically, how does this work? Does the printer print as I see it on screen i.e. do my screen brightness levels affect printing directly?
I process most files with RAW files processed through LR4 so does the printer "sees" this file and not what's on screen? Thanks in advance.

Provided the computer/monitor have been calibrated, the luminance reduced dramatically and you use the correct drivers, then yes, what you see is what you get.

Not sure what you mean with your second question. The printer sees the file you send it and the monitor should be showing exactly that if you have calibrated the system properly.

1ds4Me wrote in post #16408718
I have a basic question about printing at home as I have never ever dealt with this before. Basically, how does this work? Does the printer print as I see it on screen i.e. do my screen brightness levels affect printing directly?
I process most files with RAW files processed through LR4 so does the printer "sees" this file and not what's on screen? Thanks in advance.

The brightness of your screen only affects the brightness of the final print insomuch as an improperly calibrated monitor will lead you to make adjustments to the image on the screen that may show on the final print. There is no direct connection to the screen brightness and the print brightness though. Its not like turning your monitor up bright will make your prints brighter simultaneously.

1ds4Me wrote in post #16408718
I have a basic question about printing at home as I have never ever dealt with this before. Basically, how does this work? Does the printer print as I see it on screen i.e. do my screen brightness levels affect printing directly?
I process most files with RAW files processed through LR4 so does the printer "sees" this file and not what's on screen? Thanks in advance.

First and foremost you need to calibrate your monitor.

When you go to print you can select LR to manage your print. If you have a quality printer say one of the new Pixma series, then your print will come out looking the same as it does on your screen. You can also load ICC Profiles for paper if you are not using a paper that is listed on your drop down menu when you go to print.

Here's some reading for you:
http://dpbestflow.org/​node/266
http://121clicks.com …libration-for-photography

Thanks for all the help. I have a friend who calibrated the Dell IPS monitor for me and on screen it looks pretty good but when I print, it appears slightly darker. I am printing through LR4.

1ds4Me wrote in post #16408891
Thanks for all the help. I have a friend who calibrated the Dell IPS monitor for me and on screen it looks pretty good but when I print, it appears slightly darker. I am printing through LR4.

Prints are not backlit like an image on a screen is so there is always a bit of a difference in looking at the print.

1ds4Me wrote in post #16408891
Thanks for all the help. I have a friend who calibrated the Dell IPS monitor for me and on screen it looks pretty good but when I print, it appears slightly darker. I am printing through LR4.

Two things:

First, make sure that you view the prints in good light, the equivalent of viewing them in nice day light, but not direct sun.

Then, if the prints are still dark, that is because your monitor is too bright and needs to have the Brightness turned down. That way in Lightroom you can adjust the image to match the outcome.

From there, you can tell Lightroom to "manage" the printing and also tell the printer driver that your app will manage colors and such. Of course the other option, to let the print driver manage things, means that you will turn it off in Lightroom, but since you are working with a "calibrated" display it makes sense to have Lightroom manage the colors.

By the way, you say your friend "calibrated" the display (was it with a hardware device as well as software?)...but calibration doesn't always "fix" the brightness issue, which is why you need to adjust it on the monitor!

tonylong wrote in post #16409046
Two things:

By the way, you say your friend "calibrated" the display (was it with a hardware device as well as software?)...but calibration doesn't always "fix" the brightness issue, which is why you need to adjust it on the monitor!

There is also a final print adjustment you can make in the print module of LR5 just before you print. I went from LR3 to 5 so I don't know if it's in there with LR4. I find that final print adjustment in LR to be very useful.

To the OP. I don't have a calibration tool for my Dell IPS monitor (yet) because I have, so far, done quite well with a profile I found on the web. When I got mine, I searched for a monitor profile by the model number of my monitor and found one that pretty much nailed it. But I will buy a calibration tool soon because things change as they age.

gonzogolf wrote in post #16408897
Prints are not backlit like an image on a screen is so there is always a bit of a difference in looking at the print.

Point well taken. Thanks.

In the Print module of Lightroom, there is a brightness slider that you can use. Works great.

tonylong wrote in post #16409046
Two things:

First, make sure that you view the prints in good light, the equivalent of viewing them in nice day light, but not direct sun.

Then, if the prints are still dark, that is because your monitor is too bright and needs to have the Brightness turned down. That way in Lightroom you can adjust the image to match the outcome.

From there, you can tell Lightroom to "manage" the printing and also tell the printer driver that your app will manage colors and such. Of course the other option, to let the print driver manage things, means that you will turn it off in Lightroom, but since you are working with a "calibrated" display it makes sense to have Lightroom manage the colors.

By the way, you say your friend "calibrated" the display (was it with a hardware device as well as software?)...but calibration doesn't always "fix" the brightness issue, which is why you need to adjust it on the monitor!

Yup. You can calibrate your monitor but if you're looking at your prints with a fifty watt bulb with a lampshade things aren't going to work out. Here at work the monitors and printers are calibrated and we check our prints against the art in a viewing booth which is also calibrated. If it's all in sync the art, monitor and print all match.

Thanks to all the valuable input from everyone, I am seeing much better results. It was very helpful.