I'm totally perplexed...and a little frustrated

[Turningleaf]

I posted a picture over in the action/sports critique section. Several people looked at it and gave me good feedback including suggestions on the crop, but everyone seemed to be ok with the color/saturation. I have tried printing my photos on my home printer (HP with a photo option) and haven't been able to get it to print what I see on my screen. Because this is a gift and I really wanted a good quality 8x10, I uploaded it to Wolf and ordered a print. I assumed Wolf is acceptable - better than the big box stores, but maybe not as quality as one of the higher end labs. I chose them because they are located close by and I could get pretty quick turn around at a reasonable price.

I use PSE 6 to crop/size it as an 8x10. Unfortunately, when I went to pick up my photo, it was all wrong. It had been cropped again and they cut the hand off of a player. Why would they need to crop a picture that had already been sized to fit on an 8x10? Why would a photographer want to turn over the cropping decision to the lab? And, the color was awful. It was heavily saturated - a lot of detail was lost. I was totally disappointed. I tried to talk to the assistant about it, but she was not real helpful. She said that I need to always use their cropping tool before ordering any image. She also said that they could adjust the color...if they could, why didn't they?? If everyone critiquing my photo was satisfied with the color, what did the photo lab see when they looked at it?

I have found other threads regarding calibrating your monitor, but I'm wondering about the printer. Is it possible my monitor is fine, but the printer needs help?

What do I have to do to get a decent print? This may be super simple, but I'm lost. If there is a thread that answers my questions, I didn't find it. I would be happy to go do the reading if someone can point to the info.

Thanks in advance-
Rachel

(Sorry for the long post.)

[KathrynWilson]

If the difference was that bad, I'd suggest getting a new lab But good labs also allow you to 'soft-proof' by installing a printer profile for Photoshop and then switching to that before printing to get more of an idea what the shot will look like printed.

[AnnaV]

I've stated using a professional lab (Digitalab) for prints I really care about and I use Photobox for snaps. These are both UK but thought they may be useful for anyone based here reading this thread.

I have never found that home printers produce very good prints. Even the smaller machines you can get in photo stores are a bit rubbish, especially with colour.

[xhan]

Was the image cmyk or rgb?

if you edited it on a computer it may well be rgb - which when printed will come out with completely different colours.

Try converting the image to cmyk you may well see that the images saturation changes and matches the one you had printed. which *may* explain where the colour issues.

I had a similar problem with foto.com.

[Turningleaf]

Thanks so much for the replies. I'm using Photoshop Elements and so far I haven't been able to figure out the color profile stuff. I see where I can apply RGB or sRGB. I don't really understand the difference and I couldn't tell after applying them either. I don't see an option for cmyk. I have definitely used my computer to edit these. Is there a good resource for learning about the color profiles and color management? I really don't know much about this area and I would like to get a better grasp.

I also went back to the website for Wolf / RitzPix and looked for an option to download the printer color profile, but I didn't find any information. You can go in and use their computers. I guess I could take my laptop in and compare to what they are running and see if someone instore could help. I just didn't get a real sense of confidence while there before.

We have just moved to this area...maybe I just made a bad choice of printers. Any one have a reommendation for the Atalanta, Ga area? I'm sure there must be many to choose from, but would love to find a "tried & true" service.

Thanks again for the help!
Rachel

[private]

The problem is RITZ - that is why they are closing shops. They have all closed here in VA, I believe. Do you have Costco? They are pretty good, if not there are on-line places like Mpix.

[kleidascope]

one thing I've noticed too, that after you upload to the lab, check the image, you may need to adjust the crop slightly to their 'cropping'. I've learned the hard way ... I tend to do a little looser crop in editing as most uploaders will offer a crop option once you get the photo uploaded. If I find I have the room to do what I want I can usually edit it right on their site, ocassionally I have to take it back and fix the crop then re-upload. I've tried this on walmart, walgreens and MPIX, all the same option for crop and preview. it's frustrating!

[FDCPR]

You are working on a problem that everyone has to deal with and there is really no simple solution. I have five printers available to print photos on, these are all middle of the line printers and short of spending several thousand dollars on a printer I am not sure it is attainable to get everything to match. Display is calibrated, printer is calibrated and really still not correct. I have tried the big labs, internet printing services, but I found a solution that works for me and probably would work for you. Look around for a Mom & Pop photo lab, in other words not a chain store type of operation. This type of operation tends to be more open to helping you. Ask them how often they calibrate their equipment, tell them your trouble of miss-matched color. Calibration should be performed weekly. Everyone of these places I have ever dealt with eventually end up saying "come on back and have a look at the screen before I print it". Everyone's eye is different, so if everything is in calibration then you can guide them in the look you want. Even though my equipment is calibrated there is still some difference between the lab and mine. There is a huge difference in their interpretation between the look they process to and the look I want. I am at the point now where they let me use their computer to make my own adjustments, save it, then they print it later. Look around a little, I did a search and found several hundred places in your area that may help you out. Before anybody gets on my case, yes I have had good results from bigger labs, but only 40% or so turned out the way I wanted them. Dealing with a smaller operation has been 100% successful.