Damien Symonds

Some reading for you when you wake up. I'm very glad you calibrate your monitor (though I'd sleep better tonight if you'd answered my question about whether you get a good screen-to-print match with your lab prints). I'm not sure how deeply you understand the process behind monitor calibration, but for the purpose of this discussion I'll only outline it briefly. The calibrator creates a profile, which is a description of the characteristics of your screen. Every screen, old or new, has its idiosyncrasies. If your screen tends to show reds a little bit too pink, for example, the calibrator doesn't correct that, it simply records it in the profile. Then Photoshop can use that information to ensure that it compensates for the pink reds, thereby showing you correct red when you open a photo. Likewise, a camera profile (such as made by a SpyderCheckr) doesn't actually change your photos. It is merely a recording of the characteristics of your camera, for use by your software. You, the operator, still have to do your editing in all the usual ways. And that's where the white balance sheet comes in. Did you watch the video I linked for you earlier in the thread? It's SO important. A million zillion times more important than a camera profile. Good white balance is the basis of all your colour editing. It's the answer to your question:

Your lab!!!! Printing at home is for mugs.

And are you getting a good screen-to-print match? Oh no! You're just throwing away money lately

Great! And do you follow my instructions here? Which pro lab are your prints from?

Which one? 4, 5 or X?

Which Spyder do you use for calibrating your monitor?

You've wasted your money, sorry. The SpyderCheckr and the equivalent X-Rite device, the "Colorchecker Passport", are complete crocks of sh*t. Use it to rest your coffee cup on, that's all it's useful for.

No, I think you've slightly misunderstood. Yes it creates a profile for your photos, but you still have to do your white balance in the usual way. https://www.damiensymonds.net/white-balance-sheet

Well, can you post something else in the meantime?

Go to the Label menu, it tells you there.

https://www.damiensymonds.net/2013/09/grabbing-700x700px-100-crop.html

Hell! Can you return it for a "real" one?

That's odd, I've never even heard of such a thing. Did you buy new?

Please come back, @rswannabe! How did you go with this?

Hi @Orlando L. Morales, just to be clear, have you made sure you're using the very latest Spyder software?

Hi @Graphical, Let's rule out the obvious stuff first. Have you tried running the calibrator on another computer (either Mac or PC, doesn't matter) to make sure it works there?

You sharpen as explained in the bonus module of the class.

Of course you don't crop during editing (with photobooks OR regular prints). Edit the whole photo at its full size as usual, then only resize and sharpen when you're ready for the book.

https://www.damiensymonds.net/2014/03/how-aggressively-can-i-crop.html

Well yeah, please hurry up with that too.

As long as the focus was perfect, and you don't need to crop them for composition, you'll be fine. But you'll need to be utterly ruthless when culling for focus. If it's remotely soft, it's gone. Now's the time to take the Bridge Class.

Yes, Flow should be 100%.

Or this one? There are a lot of these programs out there.

Not HDR, but certainly some kind of tonemapping. Maybe something like Lucis Pro?

Phew! Good find.