Colour Temp

[Grasshopper]

Hi, I am having trouble that when I get my shots printed the colours are far from how they look when I edit them on my computer. I have a piece of white plastic I use for some shots and I use photoshop to give my shots a quick tweak and on screen the white looks perfect but when I have them printed they are far from white. I have been advised by a chap in Jessops (which is where I got some shots printed) to get colour checker passport but I thought I would ask on here to see if anyone has any other ideas.

Thanks

John

 

[ChrisR]

Generally the advice seems to be, get your screen calibrated...

 

[Box Brownie]

Three thoughts occur to me

1) get and use a screen calibrator

2) you mention the white plastic is in shot and looks white on screen but have you seen whether if you use that white target to set the 'white point' whether there are any colour shifts?

3) it is possible the mini lab operator in that Jessops branch has the system configured to make "corrections" perhaps you should ask them and if they say yes tell them yours are colour corrected therefore can they disable the correction for your images.

3a) are you by any chance processing in the wrong colour space, virtually all commercial printers and especially the likes of minilabs expect sRGB but if you have processed in aRGB and left that embedded that could be one cause for the issue you have had?

 

[yorkshirechap]

As ChrisR says, calibrating your screen is strongly advisable, but can be expensive if you buy a decent device to do so.

Try sending a few prints to Loxley Colour. If you talk to them beforehand, they might be able to advise you on whether or not they had to perform any colour correction, and to what extent. It's no substitute for a correctly calibrated screen, but it will give you a starting point.

I have never had a bad print from that company, hence why I strongly recommend them for this purpose. I am not affiliated with Loxley in any way aside from being a customer, etc etc.

 

[Chappers]

I'd agree that getting your screen calibrated is the first step. This will give you a good starting point. I'd also recommend you find a few simple tutorials on colour management to help you understand the basic principles as well.
I can't see how a Colour Checker would help, especially on a non calibrated screen It can be useful in a colour managed environment , if you need to get colour accuracy, but on a managed monitor.

 

[SoDoSoPa]

Lightroom with colour checker passport & a calibrated monitor should ensure your colours are correct, although a paper profile for printing needs to be correct too. Have a look at DSCL website, they have some tips on preparing an image for printing, to make sure what you see on screen is what you should get on paper.