Damien Symonds

Yes.

Let's ignore the yellowness for now. Just concentrate on the brightness. Keep taking your screen's brightness down until it matches the prints.

Do you mean you have this exact photo printed at both labs? No sad face here. This is perfectly normal. Some people have to put their brightness all the way down to 0.

Yes, do those pixel edits, then this layer above that. Then your Levels work on top.

Great, glad you like it. Download the PSD

It's vitally important not to try to edit it. It's too risky. Treat it like a backdrop, and replace it. If you can give me a few minutes, I'll have something to show you.

There are probably half a dozen ways we could approach this, but let's keep it simple. I suggest adding a Hue/Saturation layer and putting it on "Multiply" blend mode. Then patiently mask it on to the area, until it's pretty good. I did that, but found that I was a bit fussy, and it wasn't quite as nice as I wanted. So I turned on the "Colorize" checkbox in the Hue/Sat dialog, then fiddled with the three sliders until I was happier with the result. I ended up with: Hue 19 Saturation 20 Lightness -9

Yes, only an sRGB screen. PLEASE don't attempt to play with colours that neither your screen can show you, nor your lab print. Change your workflow to sRGB immediately.

Thanks. That might help Brian with his diagnosis.

What screen do you have? Make and model, I mean?

Hi Gena, could you do this for us?

Nooo!!! This is a huge falsehood, please don't fall for it. Adobe RGB is dangerous.

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?