Using a printing service and Colour Spaces

W

wornish

Senior Member
Cant find any threads about using external printing services.

I don't print many shots because I always struggle to get the same vibrance in the printed image that I see on the monitor.
It seems that changing the colour space of an image can make a big difference to the final output.

Anyone got any tips or links ?
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Print houses worth their salt will usually require you use sRGB since that's the only thing most printers are capable of printing (most consumer grade home printers will only handle a portion of that space). You need to have your monitor calibrated if you expect to match anything, so if your monitor isn't calibrated you're going to want to do that and tweak your images before sending them out. Nations Photo Lab will go as far as to send you their ICC profiles based on your monitor calibration method so that you can see what your print will look like on their monitors, and subsequently their printers. They'll also color adjust your prints as a part of the print process, which always seems a little strange to me, but I know a lot of people swear by them.
 
Browncoat

Browncoat

Senior Member
Jake is 100% right.

There are only a handful (about 5) print labs that I trust to make accurate prints. The good ones will always send you the ICC profile so that you can match your colors to theirs.
 
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