Photoshop Proof with Mpix profile looks different

deronsizemore wrote in post #14652550
You mentioned that whether I calibrate or not, I'm still going to get the same result from a soft proof.

No, I said the "effect" will be the same: massive loss of contrast.

But if your screen is way too bright, the print will be a lot darker then what you see on screen.
The softproof is only as accurate as your screen.

I get dark prints from MPix too.

Monitor is calibrated.

I can soft proof the same photo with a couple of different profiles and they all just have slight differences and they print close to what is seen on seen. When I select the Mpix profile the preview is significantly darker and the print I receive from them matches what I see on the preview as well, significantly darker. I could double check but I'm pretty certain I have the correct profile, it's called Mpix E-paper.

I approach the Brightness issue seperately from "color accuracy". With a new monitor, the first thing I do is to dial down the brightness -- and on a "consumer" monitor, that can seem to be an "extreme" adjustment. In fact, on consumer monitors as well as laptops I'll typically dial down the brightness until the display looks downright ugly, then up it just enough to look "good" in my normal lighting, which is either a "subdued" daylight coming through my study window (no direct sunlight) or in the evening a pretty dim lamp lighting. This way I know that my prints will not come out/back with the "dark" look (if viewed in good light).

Color accuracy is another thing. I'm not real picky about this unless a print comes out substantially "off" color-wise, so intitially I "eyeball" the colors of a monitor, and the resulting prints. I have a calibrator and use it when called for. But I differentiate between a laptop display and my "workstation" display, I haven't calibrated a laptop for a long time, since I bought one specifically as a "mobile workstation" with a display and the "guts" to do a top-notch job (for $2k USD). I don't use a laptop for "serious" processing these days, since my mobile workstation died and I replaced it with a cheap little laptop. But even then I'll eyeball the laptop display for good colors and I'll dial back the brightness!

Diver-Down wrote in post #14652785
I get dark prints from MPix too.

Monitor is calibrated.

I can soft proof the same photo with a couple of different profiles and they all just have slight differences and they print close to what is seen on seen. When I select the Mpix profile the preview is significantly darker and the print I receive from them matches what I see on the preview as well, significantly darker. I could double check but I'm pretty certain I have the correct profile, it's called Mpix E-paper.

If your prints are matching the soft proof then it sounds like your monitor is calibrated correctly (and brightness is set correctly) and soft proofing is working pretty well for you. Trust what you see and adjust according to the soft proof before sending the files to Mpix for printing.

It's normal to see a large drop in contrast, which could also seem like the image is darker, when you click "Proof Colors" while focusing your eyes on the screen.

tonylong wrote in post #14653683
I approach the Brightness issue seperately from "color accuracy". With a new monitor, the first thing I do is to dial down the brightness -- and on a "consumer" monitor, that can seem to be an "extreme" adjustment. In fact, on consumer monitors as well as laptops I'll typically dial down the brightness until the display looks downright ugly, then up it just enough to look "good" in my normal lighting, which is either a "subdued" daylight coming through my study window (no direct sunlight) or in the evening a pretty dim lamp lighting. This way I know that my prints will not come out/back with the "dark" look (if viewed in good light).

Agree. I had the brightness on my Dell eIPS monitor set to <15% and my prints matched pretty well. I now have a new NEC PA241 and set luminance to 110 cd/m^2, and I'm still waiting for my first set of prints to arrive to see if it needs to be tweaked a bit. If my prints match the soft proof in Photoshop I'll be plenty happy

When you turn on soft proofing and get the drop in contrast, your first reaction is "What-the-hell?" because you still have the memory of the unproofed image and you are comparing. Walk away for a minute before making a judgement.

It sure looks like a drop in brightness to me but could be both. The problem I have, and I would think others too, is that my photos look good when viewed on my Zenfolio site but when someone orders a print they get a darker version, if I adjust for the prints then the photos on the site will look too bright.

Are your photos "embedded profiles" being sent in "AdobeRGB" or "sRGB". If they are in "AdobeRGB", this may be your issue. They should sRBG or you will get a color shift. I have never had an issue with mpix, but I'm using a calibrated monitor and everything is sent in sRGB. Just something to check.

so...another question along these lines, should an image be processed to your liking in a regular view, then view as a print proof in whatever profile you'll be ordering in and continue processing in that profile until you get the desired affect?

Diver-Down wrote in post #14659567
It sure looks like a drop in brightness to me but could be both. The problem I have, and I would think others too, is that my photos look good when viewed on my Zenfolio site but when someone orders a print they get a darker version, if I adjust for the prints then the photos on the site will look too bright.

Well, I personally prefer to edit my photos to be "print-ready". I'd rather have them look a bit bright to someone with a consumer monitor that had not been adjusted and yet too dark to me or others who had adjusted their monitor. It's not a matter of your particular Web host, though. If customers download and print a photo and it's too dark, that's because you are uploading photos that are too dark!

Accessoire wrote in post #14660608
so...another question along these lines, should an image be processed to your liking in a regular view, then view as a print proof in whatever profile you'll be ordering in and continue processing in that profile until you get the desired affect?

If your Soft Proof view is accurate as far as printing goes, but your "normal" view looks better on-screen, then you will certainly need to deal with that if you are outputting an image for print. So, if you are giving a client a file to print, let it be one that has been "tweaked" for the profile of the printer/paper. But that means that the client should only go to the proper print lab! All bets are off if they grab the file and run to Walmart for a quick cheap print! The Soft Proof profiles are specific to one paper/ink/printer combination! Otherwise, you are "stuck" with just generic stuff, which can be fine for many things/clients as long as nobody is looking for "just right"!

IamRoger wrote in post #14660264
Are your photos "embedded profiles" being sent in "AdobeRGB" or "sRGB". If they are in "AdobeRGB", this may be your issue. They should sRBG or you will get a color shift. I have never had an issue with mpix, but I'm using a calibrated monitor and everything is sent in sRGB. Just something to check.

I'm set to sRGB across the board.

So if you, or anyone else, opens an image and view it in you're default profile then click on the mpix profile, do you see a significant difference ? or about the same ?

Diver-Down wrote in post #14661539
I'm set to sRGB across the board.

So if you, or anyone else, opens an image and view it in you're default profile then click on the mpix profile, do you see a significant difference ? or about the same ?

I see a significant difference soft proofing to EZPrints and I'd expect the same for MPix. It sounds to me that what you are seeing is normal.

I don't know. I just went through a couple of different profiles that are loaded and compared them to the default one which is "monitor RGB" When I print my own I use either Canon or Illford and when sent out either Adorama or mpix. The canon, illford, and adorama profiles are all very close to the default but the Mpix is quite a bit different, darker and that is how they print as well. As far as best matched prints, I get the best match using Adorama, the softproof and actual print are the best match I have seen.

I sell very few prints through Zenfolio and so far it has not been much of an issue so I'm not going to go through and re edit all of my photos to mpix profiles. For the few prints I sell I should probably just handle the printing myself for the best match but it would be nice to be able to get a better match with mpix and not have to worry about it.

Diver-Down wrote in post #14663187
I don't know. I just went through a couple of different profiles that are loaded and compared them to the default one which is "monitor RGB" When I print my own I use either Canon or Illford and when sent out either Adorama or mpix. The canon, illford, and adorama profiles are all very close to the default but the Mpix is quite a bit different, darker and that is how they print as well. As far as best matched prints, I get the best match using Adorama, the softproof and actual print are the best match I have seen.

I sell very few prints through Zenfolio and so far it has not been much of an issue so I'm not going to go through and re edit all of my photos to mpix profiles. For the few prints I sell I should probably just handle the printing myself for the best match but it would be nice to be able to get a better match with mpix and not have to worry about it.

It is what it is though. If your soft proof matches the MPix prints then you either need to edit to ensure the prints through MPix are correct, leave as is and live with the MPix prints being dark or try a different print lab. If not many are buying the prints right from your Zenfolio account then handling the print order yourself so you can properly soft proof and adjust before printing sounds like the best approach.

Diver-Down wrote in post #14663187
I sell very few prints through Zenfolio.........

Your experience is better than mine. I've not sold a single one.