Prints keep coming back to dark...suggestions please.

So can the histogram be helpful in the editing of the brightness. I understand the histogram and use it all the time when I photograph. How can I use it in the editing to get a better idea with correcting the overall exposure levels. I take a lot of sunset pictures so you would expect to see the histogram shifted to the left side. Just wondering if there is something I'm missing and a helpful hint in regards to the histogram in LR 2.

Should I use the exposure or brightness slider to adjust when finished with processing to lighten before sending to lab?

Thanks

Krystal -- I sometimes use a curves adjustment layer, renamed "Print Mid-tone Lift", where I boost the center point on the curve up to 135, 145, or even 150 depending on the type of image and where it's being printed.

Good luck!

Gary

krystal99 wrote in post #11942841
I believe when I calibrated with the spyder it set the luminance to the 120cd. My monitor is in a cabinet so I work in a low light conditions with only some light behind me. Confused on what is best light to do editing.

The best light is consistent light. The same lighting conditions every time you edit photos. If you have daylight coming in through a window, that light is changing temperature throughout the day,

I work with windows covered and with only one 5000K low wattage bulb, set far back from my monitor. You print from a lab, so having a viewing area near your monitor is not important.

The Spyder created profile is only used by the monitor and color managed applications. It should not be confused with ICC printer/paper profiles. It should also not be confused with color spaces like sRGB or Adobe RGB.

So when I save my files what options should I be using under the color management in LR? Do I select the Costco printing profiles, and not sRGB?

Thanks

krystal99 wrote in post #11943915
So when I save my files what options should I be using under the color management in LR? Do I select the Costco printing profiles, and not sRGB?

Thanks

Most labs do not work this way! Unless the lab is very specific and precise about using their profiles this way, you should Eport in the sRGB color space. The printer profile is used by Lightroom when you are printing directly to your own printer. You could eperiment with printing to a file (using the Costco profile for rendering) and test that out -- if you do that you need to make sure that your image is not downsized.

As you work through this, do test "proof" prints, and take notes and/or use presets to make sure you get consistent results from a given lab!

krystal99 wrote in post #11942841
Are you saying that when you do this the photos are not printed out at the Costco store? I pick them up at the store, so figured that is where the printing is done.

No. When you said, "I'm open to using a different lab that could mail prints", I was under the impression that the Costco ones were also printed online.

Are you sure the lab guys not editing your photos when u send them to print?. Because lots of them that I know automatically editing the contrast of the photo by giving them +10...without looking at the picture even once... Now I am putting a note to my prints...DO NOT EDIT JUST PRINT WHAT YOU SEE!

I always choose the do not correct option when I order my prints.

Take a look at this link ... might help you:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk …ment/prints_too​_dark.html

Put a file you sent to a lab online and link us to it. Exactly the same file you sent to the lab.