Printing too dark

[NicoleScraps]

I am having a problem with my photos printing darker than what they appear to be on my computer when I send them in.

For example, I recently had this photo printed.



I sent it in exactly as you see it here and it looked horrible, way too dark.

I do not believe that my monitor needs to be calibrated because I have looked at this exact same photo on several different computers and they all looked the same. Can you see the black horse's eye? When I had it printed, the black horse was so dark that you could not see his eye. He was > < this close to being a silouette, the details were so dark. This is just one example, but I have had this problem with many of my photos. Especially any that contain darker colors or B&W conversions.
How do I go about countering this? I have started attending a few local photography clubs and meet up groups, so I am trying to build a portfolio; ie, a photo album of some of my favorite shots to take along with me for critique and feed back. This is not working out so well.
I typically print at Costco, maybe that is my problem?? Do you know of an online/mail order printer that does a better job? Is there a way to get past this with Costco? Should I make the photo too light before I send it in for printing? What about the "auto correct" feature that they have? Should I leave that on or off? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

[teaking]

If you are happy with your processing and confident that the image appears on screen and that it is as it should be then I would not use auto correct, as it is taking the decisions you made in processing away from you.

As for ways to counter this problem do Costco make available there printer profiles? if so you could use there profile in your workflow, and check for out of gamut colours etc before printing.

And if possible I would try and calibrate your monitor just to rule that out if not with hardware calibration then a software tool or website.

[Photologyst]

Hi Nicole:

The original looks a bit over exposed on my monitor because, I keep mine at the top of the backlit scale when I am reading text or doing other computer work. I need to cut back the lighting by about half for photos in order for these to read accurately. You may have to experiment with your monitor to see what works for you.

Always, always do some test prints both at home and with the photo lab that you plan to use.

I can recommend AdoramaPix for excellent photo processing: AdoramaPix - Home

[digirebelva]

I believe Costco & Sams Club have color correct turned on by default and you have to manually turn it off..

[ororockcrawler]

as mentioned before it could be the auto correct some processers use, had prints done at Costco looked horrible, had them done at Japan Camera asked them to not use auto correct just print the image as provided and the images were stunning