Damien Symonds

Still only in reds, though? All other colours, and neutrals, are ok?

WHAT?????????????????? No no no no no no no no no no. Your screen MUST MATCH YOUR PRINTS. Your screen is presently brighter than your prints, so its brightness must go LOWER.

If your screen is too bright, that would be wonderful. That's an easy fix. Calibrate again with lower brightness.

Bummer. Are you SURE all the other colours are ok? Especially the neutrals?

Terrific. And did it bring the on-screen image any closer to the prints?

No no no no no. Don't touch the Color Settings at all. They are completely irrelevant. Just do the soft-proofing, per my article.

Perfect.

Whoa! Oh hell NO. NEVER change your PS colour settings from "North America General Purpose 2". No, there should be actual profiles to download. Small ICC files. https://www.damiensymonds.net/2010/03/bit-about-soft-proofing.html

Did you also find the profiles?

Gosh, I would have expected the cyans to be more of a problem than the reds in this photo. Do any of your labs provide soft-proofing profiles? Have you tried them?

No, sorry, the monitor. What brand/model is it?

Ok, can you post a couple of the photos?

So the reds are lacking from every lab? In every photo?

Are you noticing this in every print, or only some?

Did your calibration achieve a good print match?

Calibration should be done in dim light. Some people even do it in the pitch dark, but that's not really necessary. But at the end of the calibration process, at the print comparison stage, you must be in good bright light. And your editing must be done in good bright light too. Have you read this one? https://www.damiensymonds.net/2012/01/light-around-your-computer.html

How old is the monitor? May I have a link to its specs?

Phew! Great.

Thanks. Mainly his work is characterised by bad white balance. I'm pleased that you know better. However, it's easy enough to mimic. Start by adding Photo Filter layer, choose Cooling Filter 82, at about 10% density, and with the "Preserve Luminosity" box UNchecked. (For heaven's sake make sure you check that box again next time you use a filter for cast correction purposes.) That will do most of the work. Then to your taste, you can add a Hue/Sat layer, choose "Greens", and play with the sliders. In most cases the Hue and Saturation sliders will go to the right, and Lightness to the left.

Hi Alina, may I see a screenshot?

https://www.damiensymonds.net/2015/07/buying-mac-or-pc.html

No, sorry, I didn't mean the cable. I meant the actual monitor. Does it have any other ports, apart from the VGA one?

Oh no!

How's the print match? I've got nothing, sorry. I don't know how it works.

Well, it seems an awful shame. But if it's what it takes to get a print match, I guess you'll have to. At least until you can get a newer calibrator. Yeah, sRGB would be considered "Normal". I wouldn't dismiss this out of hand. If you can get it to work, it should be the best option.