Damien Symonds

Hmmm ... I wonder if there's something serious brewing behind all this.

CS5 is version 12, actually. Huh, weird. It definitely DOES accept it in the field. I wonder if this is another related problem? Have you noticed any other weirdness in your computer behaviour lately? Any other little things not working that should work?

Yep, that makes more sense. Photoshop 6 is really really old. Do you mean CS6?

Then we should ignore that for a moment. How about your normal prints (eg lustre). Does the problem exist with them too?

Yeah, I was thinking that you might need to process a bit brighter than you normally would?

On the usual paper?

Were the Christmas cards printed by your usual lab?

Can you confirm these two figures. The first seems unlikely, and the second is obviously impossible.

I didn't provide a fix or a file. Only the link which I've provided again above.

If so, can you do this for me?

@Jodie Williams, this is the problem you're having too, right?

Any screen at all.

Ok, then don't worry about any other labs. You have all the evidence you need. Now we're in "very good friend" territory. Do you have one who would let you borrow their computer screen for a day so you can attach to your computer and calibrate?

And did that one match your original lab?

I forget if you told me ... did you try a different lab?

Well, how can you make your room brighter?

Was the net result of this a brighter room than how it's usually lit?

This is rather common with some screens, and it's very annoying, isn't it???? Yes, I think you've done the right thing choosing "normal". Yes, this also seems like the right thing to do. Can you elaborate on this? What did you try, exactly?

I don't think it matters a bit. I mean, the example one is a complete dog's breakfast, yet she clearly likes it.

Yeah, I reckon that would work! You can borrow the whole area left of the lady in black.

Sure!

The shadowed side of her will need to be a bit blacker, but yeah, it looks promising.

The only way I know is to add a blank layer then press D to make sure you have black and white swatches, then go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Then go to Image>Adjustments>Levels (not a Levels layer, actual old-fashioned destructive Levels) and press Auto to make sure it's black and white. Then change its blend mode to Screen. Then mask as desired.

@Mary Burgy, are you there? I think you added fog to a photo the other day? Do you mind sharing with Wendy how you did it?

Well, I wouldn't buy it until I'd tried mocking it up on the low-res version first.