Prints too dark

I was using my printer to print out images for my assignment for school, and a good majority of them came out either too dark, the colors were somewhat muted, or both. How would I fix something like this so that my printer matches what my monitor shows? I have heard of calibration software out there for monitors, and I have tried them for my system, but it turned out screwing with the video card entirely and I had to reset the system almost entirely to get it back to normal.

Likely, your screen is too bright.

It really isn't though, matching the print to the picture on the camera's screen, it's still significantly darker. Same with my other monitor in which i cannot change the brightness.

It is too bright or the printing process (profiles/color management) is screwed up or not being used properly.

There are no other reasons.

Prints will always be more muted since you are looking at them with reflective light as opposed to transmitted light on a screen. Also paper has less contrast than a calibrated screen and usually far less than a non calibrated screen.

Ok well how would I go about fixing it then? I have to be able to see my screen.

mknabster wrote in post #12102527
Same with my other monitor in which i cannot change the brightness.

Why not? What model monitor and what OS are you using?

mknabster wrote in post #12102527
It really isn't though, matching the print to the picture on the camera's screen, it's still significantly darker. Same with my other monitor in which i cannot change the brightness.

The camera screen is 100% useless for judging exposure. It's only good for displaying the histogram.

Post an image maybe? (with embedded profile)

Missed the part about viewing on the camera LCD. That is useless other than checking composition, blowouts to some extent (blinkies), and the histogram. Or if you completely missed focus.

I have an early 2008 MacBook Pro with a Dell 1702FP running on OSX 10.6.7, and the printer is a Canon MP530. Now I can adjust the brightness of the Dell, but it's so insignificant to the options I have on the Mac, I just don't bother playing with it . Here's an example:

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png'

mknabster wrote in post #12102505
I have heard of calibration software out there for monitors, and I have tried them for my system, but it turned out screwing with the video card entirely and I had to reset the system almost entirely to get it back to normal.

I guess someone needs to say it... You absolutely need to hardware calibrate your monitor. No software-only "calibration" will do the job.

I used to use the 19" version of your Dell monitor and it calibrated beautifully. I was easily able to set the Brightness low enough to get a good match between the screen and prints.

The image has AdobeRGB embedded. That might cause trouble, depending on printer / settings used.
You say "i turned off the color correction on the printer". So I'm hoping you let the software manage colors?
What exact settings did you use to print? What software, what paper & what profile?

For my taste, the image has a warm cast, and is a bit dark on the left side (the left eye & cheek should just be visible in print)

Yes Rene, that's exactly how the image should be. My school says we have to use Adobe RGB, could that be the issue instead of sRGB? I was using Photoshop to print, had glossy plus Canon paper, I just had PS set to manage colors in the printing dialog. ChasP505, the calibration that I used was EyeOne Color, with the sensor that goes over the monitor, that's what had given me issues.

mknabster wrote in post #12102672
ChasP505, the calibration that I used was EyeOne Color, with the sensor that goes over the monitor, that's what had given me issues.

Let's get your color managed print workflow straightened out first... Listen to Rene.

Alright will do, thank you

Using PS, the print dialog should be set like this:
(Using the profile for Canon printer / Canon glossy instead of the Epson profile in the screenshot obviously)