What fomat should I save images in if they are getting printed? And resolution issue.

Should I not print them as Jpegs?

Should I reprocess them and save them as a different format?

MindlessConsumer wrote in post #11538166
So I tried printing the North Market photo on my Cannon printer (its not ver fancy or anything, but I just wanted to see how it would print. The colors are printer a good bit darker than they appear in the photo

Very common situation! First question is, "Is your monitor too bright?" Most of them are. Have you done any calibration? If so, how?

MindlessConsumer wrote in post #11538171
Should I not print them as Jpegs?

Should I reprocess them and save them as a different format?

No. Now they are 8-bit jpegs. There is no going back. Converting to another format will make things worse. Besides, if you use an inexpensive printer, sRGB is probably fine anyway.

For the non-standard sizes, you have two choices for printing: One was described earlier - mat in software to make it a standard size, then print. I prefer to print in the cropped size, using paper large enough to print the long dimension, trim, and custom mat and frame the photo.

First lesson learned: never edit the originals. Edit a copy.

derangedhermit wrote in post #11538420
No. Now they are 8-bit jpegs. There is no going back. Converting to another format will make things worse. Besides, if you use an inexpensive printer, sRGB is probably fine anyway.


First lesson learned: never edit the originals. Edit a copy.

I actually just found the originals for all of these!!! I am very happy about this.

So should I just quickly run them through PhotoShop again and then save them as a different format for a better print? There really wasnt much done to any of these. It would only take a few minutes each.

ncjohn wrote in post #11538229
Very common situation! First question is, "Is your monitor too bright?" Most of them are. Have you done any calibration? If so, how?

I bought this iMac used (from the photographer I bought the used 40D from).

So no, I havent done anything to it. Is there an easy way to calibrate it?

A different (B&W) photo I printed (just to make sure I hooked up the printer correctly) came out soooo dark. It was shot in low light already, so it came off the printer BLACK in some places


And again, thank you guys sooooo much for the help!!! It's so nice to know that people will selflessly help us new guys out like this!!

MindlessConsumer wrote in post #11538779
So no, I havent done anything to it. Is there an easy way to calibrate it?

The best thing is to have a hardware calibrator. But since you probably won't get one tonight, you can find web sites that will help you adjust your brightness using gray scales to get you in the ball park.

ncjohn wrote in post #11538932
The best thing is to have a hardware calibrator. But since you probably won't get one tonight, you can find web sites that will help you adjust your brightness using gray scales to get you in the ball park.

Adjust your monitor brightness until you see all 26 steps.

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One further thing to do -- don't adjust the brightness of the image according to your screen until you get it properly calibrated. Use the image histogram to ensure that highlights in your image are "nudging" to the right size of the histogram, and that a good amount of the image occupies the middle range that matches how you envision the photo. Print, and see if the highlights and midtones match the histogram. That is a "clue" of how you should adjust the brightness of your monitor or, if your monitor is not responsive, how to adjust your processing to get images to match your prints.

MindlessConsumer wrote in post #11538166
So I tried printing the North Market photo on my Cannon printer (its not ver fancy or anything, but I just wanted to see how it would print. The colors are printer a good bit darker than they appear in the photo

That often happens simply because the monitor is adjusted too bright, so its portrayal of the image is artificially brighter than reality. You can use quick and dirty assessments like this one, to adjust your monitor and also evaluate your printer.