Printing at Walmart/Target

[mediadiva]

Anyone else think their prints are a bit dark? I know my photos are old and I was on Auto when i took them but I'm always surprised by how dark they come out.

[Jim Bryant]

that's because you get them printed at Walmart. Take them to Cosco where their technicians are properly trained on the photo printers. At Cosco you can get the color printers profiles.

[chapstick]

Thanks for the tip Jim. Never knew that about Costco.

[RubyT]

Is your monitor calibrated? Most monitors are very bright, and prints made from an uncalibrated monitor often look dark (what we seen on the monitor is illuminated from behind, whereas prints are not).

[kirbinster]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

that's because you get them printed at Walmart. Take them to Cosco where their technicians are properly trained on the photo printers. At Cosco you can get the color printers profiles.

Would you explain a little more about the color printer profiles at Costco.. what do you do and how do you do it---etc...

I have had the exact reverse, I have been very happy with the stuff at Walmart and less pleased at Costco. The paper that Costco uses seems thinner. To be 100% open, the stuff I have gotten from Walmart is where you submit it online and pick it up a few days later at a store - not the 1 hour stuff they do at the store.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

To be 100% open, the stuff I have gotten from Walmart is where you submit it online and pick it up a few days later at a store - not the 1 hour stuff they do at the store.

Hate to break it to you, but the stuff you pick up a few days later *was* done at the store. When you submit an order you select which store to pick it up from. Thing is, it's also PRINTED there too. They get the order, print it, package it, then wait for you to come pick it up. It's the exact same as the one-hour stuff.

WIth the printer profiles, it appears like a colour profile in PS (RGB, CMYK, etc). You set your image to that colour profile, then adjust it to look how you want.

[Patty]

I had photos printed at Target, in Columbia, MO, for a photo contest when I lived there. The ones that didn't turn out right the guy reprinted for me at no charge. I took first place for 3 of 4 entries. The guy was very nice there. But, I don't know how well Target is at other stores. Missouri tends to be a very friendly place. It might just depend on the person working at the time that you happen to go have prints made. I don't know but I have had good service with them.

Wal-Mart seems to have given me pretty crappy prints every time and at all 3 of the Wal- Marts that I have gone to. I won't ever bother with them again for getting prints made.

[kirbinster]

That is strange. I had some 11 x 14 done at Walmart and they were not printed at the local store. They came in a bulk order from somewhere else, as when I got there they had to open the big box that just came in and search for my stuff.

[davidlphoto]

Not all Wal-Marts photo labs work that way. My daughter works at one. The matt finish images that you get in one hour or days may be printed there, but the gloss photos are shipped in. The big machines they have in the stores do not print gloss finish.

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Hate to break it to you, but the stuff you pick up a few days later *was* done at the store. When you submit an order you select which store to pick it up from. Thing is, it's also PRINTED there too. They get the order, print it, package it, then wait for you to come pick it up. It's the exact same as the one-hour stuff.

WIth the printer profiles, it appears like a colour profile in PS (RGB, CMYK, etc). You set your image to that colour profile, then adjust it to look how you want.

[freybear3]

I actually ran into this the other day. It was my first time printing my photos at Walmart. I did a nature shot, of a forest fire. To put a long story short, the photo was printed way darker than the original photo. But it did make it look alot better, more of an eerie feeling to it

But I do know, I prob. won't go back there to get my stuff printed again. I heard alot of complaints (afterwards) about the darkness of their photos.