Printing colour management

[Arjay12345]

I bought a mag here in the UK which spends a lot of time on steps to synchronise exact colour between monitor and printing using gadgets like Colormunki, etc., and stresses how this is paramount for photography. It shows how to then print test swatches of colour to ensure your printer is in-tune throughout the whole workflow.

But my problem is that all photos that I print would be given to a typical high-street photo printer (Boots, Jessops, etc).

Now I could tune my monitor to true life for the rest of time, but if I can't control the colour management of the printer shop, then it's all wasted, no?

How do people ensure the red they see on screen not only matches an industry swatch card, but also when printed out in a final picture, it still is the same red?

Or is this impossible using a high street vendor? Or is there a vendor here in the UK that has excellent colour matching?

Thanks
Arjay..

[OsmosisStudios]

The problem here is interpretation.

Colour management is not paramount to PHOTOGRAPHY, but to PRINTING.

That being said, if you can get Boots/Jessops to give you the model for their printer, you should be able to find the printer profile for that system. It wont get you 100% absolute perfection, but it'll certainly get you closer.

Monitor calibration is important when printing externally, but you can only go so far. After that, it's all down to minute variables. For instance, if your lab is using a chemical-based wet-lab (which it SHOULD), then the slightest variation in chemistry or temperature can affect colours.

As I said, calibrate your monitor to standard, then do some tests. Print out a few photos and see how it goes. If you need more saturation, then you know to up the saturation. If they come out dark, then you know to make them brighter before sending them off.