Damien Symonds

So Pixieset shrinks the pixel dimensions of your files, AND re-compresses them - really aggressively. I've done some file comparison in the past, and even though you can see, when you examine really close, that the Pixieset files are degraded in quality, it's not enough degradation to actually make a difference to the print quality. You may rest assured of that. However, it's DAMNED hard to convince a client like yours that their smaller files will print fine. Clients are funny like that.

On this page it mentions "on upgraded accounts": http://support.pixieset.com/knowledgebase/articles/336833-what-file-sizes-can-my-client-download?fref=gc

Ah, Pixieset. This is a really tricky one, that arises from time to time. It's my understanding that there are different tiers of membership for Pixieset, is that right? I'm told that you have to pay a higher fee for them to NOT resize your images (that is, to host them at the size you upload them). Are you aware of that too? If so, do you know if you've paid for that level of membership?

Yep.

That photo makes it look like the desktop screen is too warm. Is that the case?

How did it look?

I have to leave now, and won't be back online for a while. I'll check in later to hear what soft-proofing showed you.

As you're finding, it's a way to bleed money, sadly. Yes, I know.

My heart is bleeding for you. I'm so so sorry you chose to buy a printer. I wish you'd asked me first

Well, yes, and you also though you should use Export to save ...

If you soft-proof with the printer profile, does it look like what's printing?

This was with "Let printer handle colors"?

Yep, always Relative Colorimetric.

Well, the "s" in "sRGB" stands for "standard", so that might be their way of saying it. Have you tried it?

Whoa. This is a problem, surely? That should be sRGB, not Adobe RGB?

No, we DEFINITELY don't want manual adjustment. We want the profile to do the work. May I see a screenshot from the "Main" tab?

We don't know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can't know if you're calibrated correctly if you haven't compared your screen to pro lab prints. Yeah, it does seem like double-handling, doesn't it? The problem lies in there somewhere. Either you need to find how to turn off the printer settings, as it advises ... ... or choose "Let printer handle colors".

Look, until we have a basis for judgement, we can't tell what your prints should look like. We're flying blind here. Please order those prints. Is this the screen you get when you hit the "Print Settings" button?

I have always said this is a foolish course of action, and you're beginning to see why. Printing your own is an expensive, frustrating hassle. I wish you'd asked me before pursuing this. You HAVE to have a set of prints from a pro lab. Without them, you can't calibrate your screen. Prints from your own printer are NOT sufficient for checking screen calibration. Plus, you have absolutely no idea if your home printer is printing correctly without reference pro lab prints. Please order them immediately, and we'll continue this conversation once they arrive. Or, make the break now. Sell your printer to some other sucker, and rid yourself of this burden. Print at a lab, and get on with your business.

Oh, just one more question - your images print file when you send them to a pro lab?

Good. Welcome back to the real world. Please don't use that Export shit again. Now, back on topic. May I see a screenshot of your print settings window? The reason you can't find a straight answer to this is it's a complex issue. Do you have a specific profile for your printer/paper combination?

It's the same box. PLEASE stop using Export. Just use Save As like everyone else. Show me a screenshot of that.

Oh, gosh. WHY? Yes, correct. You must never uncheck that box, anywhere, ever. Oh, ok, gotcha.

First, a couple of questions arising from your screenshot ... Why are you showing me the "Export" window? For what purpose are you using that function? Why is the image showing as "Layer 0" in the Layers panel? Did this happen after you cropped? If so, it seems like you might have "Delete Cropped Pixels" unchecked in your crop tool options bar?

Can you tell me more about this?