Damien Symonds

Unfortunately it's not possible to change muddy water to blue water. I get asked this all the time. You see, if water was blue, it would have to be clear. And if it was clear, you'd be able to see (a) through it to the bed to a degree, and (b) more reflections. If you change brown to blue, it doesn't look like clear, nice water, it looks like nuclear waste. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

Oh gee Renee, you've got a greater problem than a muddy river here. Please go here to fix it.

Ok, this is very interesting! Have you tried soft-proofing?

Ok, that's great. I mean, it would have been nice to be able to blame your lighting for the problem, rather than your over-priced POS computer, but still ... In all colours? Or only some?

The bulbs are a fair match for the natural light? They don't clash with it, colour-wise?

Is the light in your room ok? How is it lit?

Can you post one or two of the photos for me to see?

Once your screen matches your prints, you WILL love both. Because you'll be editing accurately at last. Those people are idiots.

No.

A home printer? Or a lab?

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No no no no no. What your pictures look like on your monitor is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT unless they match your prints. Prints are the only standard that matters. Unless your screen matches your prints exactly, I forbid you to love your pictures on your screen. I hope you understand why I'm saying this? If your screen isn't accurate to your prints, you can never accurately edit for perfect prints, and you'll waste fistfuls of dollars with disappointing prints, every week of the year. The purpose of your screen is not to look lovely. It's to match your prints, period. As it happens, there is a relevant and important parallel to be made with your computer. Computers are not meant to look lovely on your desk. Their only true purpose is to be the best possible tool for your work. Sadly you, like so many thousands of other photographers, bought a Mac. It looks sexy, but it's an inadequate tool for your work (and ironically, you paid far too much for it.) Mac screens can't be adjusted when they are too warm or too cool for print matching, and so you're left with the calibrator's adjustments only, and as you've found out, those are often inadequate. For now, yes, get prints from a new lab and see if they're much different. Regarding calibration, just below "Native" in the white point options, you'll see one called "Daylight Temperature ...". Choose that, and it'll allow you to try an even greater range of colours than the listed presets. But it's not a magic bullet, sometimes you get odd results, not at all nice.

Ok, so what are you thinking? Do you recall them being a perfect match in the past? Or do you think you weren't so diligent in checking, and maybe they didn't match in the past either?

Hang on, whoa. Let's not change your whole calibration based on one recent (possibly dodgy) print or print batch. Concentrate on previous prints that you've been happy with, when checking your calibration.

Can you elaborate on this? What has changed recently?

Hi Rachelle, have you read the Troubleshooting part of my instructions?

Please don't keep me hanging! Can you post the closeup again, with the profile attached?

All I can tell you is that I've always been very happy with my simple, cheap tablet. I don't have any fancy extra buttons or anything, just a tablet and a pen.

You can't, though. Well, if you do, you'll have to do your skin work again.

Oh crap. And it's untagged. This is really bad. Always make sure the Profile box is checked when saving:

Hmmm ... what happened? The photo is suddenly much darker than before?

It's exactly the same in LR.

You see? It's not an insult, any more than it's an insult to tell somebody with dark skin that they're black. It's simply a statement of fact. If you don't restart your computer every one or two days, you are an idiot.

Also, this might interest you: https://www.damiensymonds.net/patch-tool-for-eye-bags.html

Yep, you HAVE to restart. Please do so, and see if the problem still exists.

How long has this problem existed? Can you pinpoint the day when it started? Also, just so we can be thorough, can you do this for me?