Walgreens < Personal Printer?!!?

So...i printed at walgreens and i hate how its so much darker and the colors are so much...UGH than what they are on my comp... im wondering if a personal printer will print something closer to what it looks like on screen... im not a fan of this walgreens stuff :[maybe i just sucks.

Well, if you are looking at your prints in good light and they come across dark, then the most typical reason is that you are working with a monitor that is too bright and so you do your editing with that brightness and the results are dark.

This is in fact "normal" for "consumer" monitor displays -- people like nice, bright screens for pretty much everything (think "consumer") and so the makers ship them set to a high level of brightness. But as you have seen, for photo editing this can really suck when it comes time to print.

The remedy is to turn down the brightness (you can use one of those prints as a guide) although many consumer monitors have a point at which darker becomes, well, ugly, so you want to stop before that happens. And then, you test things out until you reach a level where your edits produce a good print.

All that being said, this is the first step forward in trying to get an image to produce a satisfactory print. More comes with the field called "color management". Take a look at the list of "stickies" ath the top of this section and open the two dealing with "Color Problems" and "Color Management" and be prepared for your journey to start up a nice learning curve. Be prepared also to look for a "monitor calibrator" and to add it to your shopping list!

tonylong wrote in post #12145314
Well, if you are looking at your prints in good light and they come across dark, then the most typical reason is that you are working with a monitor that is too bright and so you do your editing with that brightness and the results are dark.

This is in fact "normal" for "consumer" monitor displays -- people like nice, bright screens for pretty much everything (think "consumer") and so the makers ship them set to a high level of brightness. But as you have seen, for photo editing this can really suck when it comes time to print.

The remedy is to turn down the brightness (you can use one of those prints as a guide) although many consumer monitors have a point at which darker becomes, well, ugly, so you want to stop before that happens. And then, you test things out until you reach a level where your edits produce a good print.

All that being said, this is the first step forward in trying to get an image to produce a satisfactory print. More comes with the field called "color management". Take a look at the list of "stickies" ath the top of this section and open the two dealing with "Color Problems" and "Color Management" and be prepared for your journey to start up a nice learning curve. Be prepared also to look for a "monitor calibrator" and to add it to your shopping list!

thanks for all the info!!! ill start using lower brightness lol but would it be different at all on a personal printer?

Get your screen calibrated first. Then see if the prints match.
No way to tell where it goes wrong until you know your screen is good.

Walgreens, Walmart and other default to auto correcting you photos also try turning that off and see what results you get.
I agree that monitor calibration is important but even after doing so if auto correct or enhance is left on you will get what their software feels looks best.

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thanks guys! just calibrated my monitor! it looks all new and crisp compared to the old one which looked old and yellow vintagey lol!

+1 on turning off Auto Correction. That "nice" little feature has bit me every time I forget to disable it.

.thach wrote in post #12148498
thanks guys! just calibrated my monitor! it looks all new and crisp compared to the old one which looked old and yellow vintagey lol!

OK, that was quick, you don't say what you used to calibrate it, though -- the reliable method is to use a hardware device with software that will "read" the device and then guide you through the steps of adjusting your monitor settings to a "standard". What approach did you use?

This matters when you are looking to produce prints that will match your screen, either through an outside printing service or on a desktop printer. It also matters when you are "sharing" photos, say on a Web site -- you at least want your photos to appear good to others with a "color-managed" setup.

And then, depending on your calibration system, you still may not have addressed the Brightness issue. So, with Walgreens, make sure their "Automatic Correction" feature is turned off, then you can make another run to test things out. A number of years ago when I was setting some stuff up I actually used Walgreens in this way -- printed a few photos, used them to fine-tune my system, repeat as needed, and it worked fine for me.

tonylong wrote in post #12151089
OK, that was quick, you don't say what you used to calibrate it, though -- the reliable method is to use a hardware device with software that will "read" the device and then guide you through the steps of adjusting your monitor settings to a "standard". What approach did you use?

This matters when you are looking to produce prints that will match your screen, either through an outside printing service or on a desktop printer. It also matters when you are "sharing" photos, say on a Web site -- you at least want your photos to appear good to others with a "color-managed" setup.

And then, depending on your calibration system, you still may not have addressed the Brightness issue. So, with Walgreens, make sure their "Automatic Correction" feature is turned off, then you can make another run to test things out. A number of years ago when I was setting some stuff up I actually used Walgreens in this way -- printed a few photos, used them to fine-tune my system, repeat as needed, and it worked fine for me.

i used the built in screen calibrater for my macbook, it wasnt a program though it had to be done by eye, adjusting the brightness of an apple to its background and also its color/hue. it probably wasnt 100% accurate of 90% but it helped from what ive seen flippin between old and new calibration.

I suspected you used a software-only calibration! Some people are quite happy with the Apple calibration, and I could say "if it ain't broke don't fix it", although doing a "proper" calibration using a device and software such as Spyder or iOne provide is the recommended approach.

But now the "test" will be how does it compare to a print? Make sure you view the print in "good" light (such as good daylight) to compare brightness and colors.

egraphdesign wrote in post #12148193
Walgreens, Walmart and other default to auto correcting you photos also try turning that off and see what results you get.

+1.

That thing drove me nuts, at one point I got so pissed none of my printouts from any shop looked remotely like the original. Once I turned that off I got something at least half way decent if not more.