I've been experiencing some issues trying to get my monitor calibrated properly. I use White House Custom Color for my print vendor and they have always done a fantastic job. I've noticed recently (or just became aware) that some prints are coming back underexposed. They appear properly exposed on my monitor but the prints are about 1 stop under.
I calibrate my monitor using a Spyder2 device. Color rendition is spot on between monitor and print...it's just the exposure that is off. To verify it wasn't the vendor's printer, I sent off for a set of five prints of the same photo...all 1/3 of a stop apart from each other. The one that is 1 stop over-exposed on my monitor is the one that is coming back perfect from WH...thus confirming that my monitor is making me post-process 1 stop under.
I've calibrated several times but cannot get it fixed. My colors are perfect, just exposed wrong. I've dimmed the brightness of the monitor (LCD) to the point where it resembles my print's exposure but the screen is so dark it's not practical to work at. My office is not brightly lit and faces north with no direct sunlight entering the room. I usually work when it's dark outside anyhow. The lighting is not any brighter than the monitor.
My web posted pictures usually seem ok (for the most part). My Flickr and Pentax Photo Gallery link are below. Are my photos here all 1-stop too dark on your monitor? They appear fine on my monitor. Could it be the files I'm sending to the printing vendor? They tell me my files are properly coded with a profile. Is there a way to embed a compensation when sending them for printing?
Help! I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. I'm certainly no expert at this. Does anybody have any idea what I need to do? Is there a calibration setting I can set in Photoshop CS4 and/or Lightroom 2 that can compensate?? I'm not sure what else to do.
