Help! My prints look different from my files.

[WhenIwas20]

Hi everyone,
I've been doing my own photography and creating my own files to upload to a printer in Quebec. I'm in New York. My problem is that my prints always come back looking different from my files. I bought Lightroom 4 back in January, and have been using it to create my files. I've learned a lot, and have gotten pretty good at judging files for some of my simpler work, like my charcoal drawings. But the files for my colorful work (I have another shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/FlowerArtPlace?ref=l2-shopheader-name) are still hit or miss. One thing I've been able to figure out is that for accurate yellows in my prints, the yellows in my files have to look too orange. Does anyone with more experience have any other tips or rules of thumb they've developed?
Thanks,
Susan

[SummerWeeds]

Prints will never automatically match files or artwork. There are color match experts that can match your artwork with your prints.

You can do a couple things to ensure a good match.
1. Provide the printer with the original artwork to match (obviously you probably won't be doing this since your working out of the country).
2. Provide a match print. Make a small print of all or part of the artwork to illustrate the color. It doesnt have to be really good quality, just get the point across.
3. If you cant do either of the above, give very descriptive directions about color.
4. And always ask the printer about the best color profile and file type for their use. Provide the file in the most desirable DPI and with saved color profile.

[WhenIwas20]

Thanks Kim!
I'm going to give the written instructions a try and ask my printer about their preferred color profile and file type, because they don't specify it on their website. I've been sending my files as jpegs in adobe RGB at 300 DPI which I've been assuming is the best way. But you know what they say about assuming.....

[WhenIwas20]

This is just for fun in case anyone else is having color reproduction difficulties. The "paint colors" scene from "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZwOGVWqHAw

[Former_Member]

Susan, thank you for posting this video link! It is hilarious and such a fun to watch! My morning definatelly lighten up - already!

[Former_Member]

Make sure everybody is using the same color space for all devices
sRGB and adobeRGB are very popular
In general, do not use jpeg ....... Use a format with no loss

[SummerWeeds]

Yes most giclée printers use RGB1998 for output. Most web and other devices require sRGB.

I always use TIF. If you absolutely have to send a JPG, save it at the highest setting 12 and do a "save as" from your original TIF file. Never re-save a JPG file. JPG should be considered a temporary format and/or only used for web and compressed files.

[PRPhotoandFineArt]

I haven't seen anyone mention this, so I will. Make sure your monitor is calibrated using a calibration tool such as Xrite or Spyder. Otherwise, the colors you see on your monitor may not be accurate to start with. As mentioned above, get a printer profile from your print lab that you can use in photoshop so you can preview how your print will look. Not all colors can be accurately reproduced on different printer/paper combinations (I find this especially true for very saturated reds, yellows and oranges). Then you can make adjustments to your file to compensate for the difference you see, comparing your original file with the view you see using the profile.

I have used WHCC who I find to be very good. My colors match pretty well. Intitally my prints were coming out too dark, and I found out it was due to the fact that my monitor is too bright. So I began decreasing the brightness of the monitor to make brightness adjustments to the files I was preparing for print. (this applied to photos on luster or glossy paper. Things may be different if you are printing giclees on fine art paper - I haven't tried it)

[WhenIwas20]

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

[Former_Member]

If you want high quality prints that look exactly like the original work I recommend Giclée scanning. I highly recommend Coupralux Giclée Studio & Gallery in Dallas, TX. You can ship your paintings to them from anywhere. They are wonderful and very helpful. When I walked in their studio they had printed a wall mural about 8' x 12' from a small painting and it looked like I could walk right into the aspen forest. I was sold on them and my search was complete. I am extremely satisfied with them. Call Katy the manager at 214-748-2300. Check out their website at www.coupralux.com. Please tell Katy I recommend them.