Damien Symonds

This is really important. But I need to see the photos to be sure of the best way to manage this.

Can you post a couple of the images here? The actual jpeg files you sent to the lab.

Yes, generally I recommend leaving any monitor sharpness settings at their factory default. You don't want your screen too soft, of course, but too sharp is also a bad thing, for exactly the reason you mentioned.

No no no no no. You must NEVER do it that way. Please show me the two photos.

Your images are huge. They can easily go that big. But I'm worried. The printers should know this.

How very odd. Surely they print stuff this big all the time?

Sorry, I don't understand the question.

Yes, but only VERY lightly.

Oh gosh, that is unfortunate, isn't it? Still, I think simply adding a blank layer and choosing the Spot Healing Tool (set to "Sample All Layers in the options bar) should get rid of it ok.

Please Marcel, I beg you, take the challenge.

So the pixel dimensions of your file should be 7200x6000, is that correct?

Well, Facebook makes it quite easy for us, they've told us specifically that the best sizes to post are 720px, 960px or 2048px (on the longest edge). More info here. Other websites ... well, you have to delve into their information to find out their recommended sizes. More info here. Sharpening advice here.

It's not sRGB. http://www.damiensymonds.net/art_tscs000.html

Terrific. I love a happy ending.

http://www.damiensymonds.net/2015/09/black-boxes-and-other-weird-behaviour.html

The second-last photo, yours, is lovely. Can you find any VSCO examples that are akin to that? (Outdoors, greenery behind, no harsh light)

Excellent examples of presets being used to "save" terrible photos. Any links to examples of photos that aren't terrible?

Download the PSD file It's based on this tutorial.

Insofar as it's possible to be correct in such horrid mixed lighting, yes, I guess so.

Make sure you adjust the Blue channel on the Levels layer as well as the RGB channel. (In case you missed it.)

Fantastic!!! Now, add a dodge and burn layer underneath the boy layer, and start burning some shadowing on the grass around him.

Hmmm ... yours seems lighter than mine?

The masking is very rough here, but is this what you had in mind?

When you eventually print this, do you intend it to be portrait or landscape?

Then this definitely is a computer problem. How's that space-clearing going?