Damien Symonds

Yes, that's the right place to change it. But I don't know if that's the right profile to choose. You need to ask the printer exactly which profile to choose.

TIFF is fine, it's not the problem. (It indicates that your printers are old-fashioned and foolish, but it's not technically a problem.) The point of the article is that you can't just change the mode to CMYK. That's incredibly dangerous. I want to help you make sure your photo will print properly. No, that's only for newspapers.

A mouse button gets a heck of a lot of punishment. They're bound to fail eventually. It's a possibility we can't ignore.

Oh gee, this is REALLY bad. http://www.damiensymonds.net/2011/05/please-be-wary-of-cmyk.html

Ok, good. But I'd like to talk about this a bit more, if I may. Can you tell me why you're converting to CMYK? And which CMYK profile you're converting to? Where are these photos being printed?

Can we eliminate that? Do you have a different mouse you can try?

Is this with a mouse, a tablet, or a laptop trackpad?

Bridge and Photoshop should be completely identical. Please check again.

Right. And that's your problem. Those free viewing programs that come with computers aren't colour-managed. They can't even show RGB images properly, let alone CMYK ones. ONLY view your images in Bridge. In other matters, it's VERY important to always leave this box checked: Never uncheck it, ever.

Yes, but that screenshot didn't look like Photoshop. What program is it?

Hi Erica, what program is this?

*sigh* I don't know.

While you're fixing the raw editing, can you also look for some golden example images that have the same lighting as yours? That is, the "panda eyes" facial shadows? Presently, you're desiring a beautiful look that just isn't possible with your photos

No.

Ok, great. Go ahead and raw-process your photos as normal, then we'll talk about the golden stuff.

Did you maybe mean seventh and seventeenth? The 15th one, by my count, is a girl leaning against a stone wall with one leg out, and it doesn't look particularly golden.

Are you referring to photos that you print yourself, or ones that you sell as digital files to clients?

Spread the shadow out a bit, I think. Broader and softer.

Also, because it's probably relevant, this: http://www.damiensymonds.net/2011/02/selling-digital-images.html

Because you're viewing the jpeg files in a non-colour-managed program, I assume. Make sure you only view in Bridge. Oh shit!!!! And because you're in Adobe RGB. Do this NOW: http://www.damiensymonds.net/art_tscs000.html Follow it all the way through to its conclusion. This is bloody bad.

And it's considered a quality lab?

I mean, have you read the NEW raw class material? Just checking.

Have you read the Raw Class yet?

Sorry, I'm confused. Which pro lab do you use now?

Level 8 is fine. Don't make it bigger, it will just make it more unwieldy for your friend to manage. And yes, PLEASE take the Sharpening Class. So much will make so much more sense to you then.