Prints Desaturated

[Amber DeLeo]

Hey Damien,

So my prints (from professional labs) have never come back 100% to my satisfaction and I want that to change. The colors are always on the dull side and desaturated. My screen is not that at all. I have my screen (Asus ProArt) brightness down really low (100) and calibrate with Spyder4pro.

 

 

[Christina Keddie]

Dull and desaturated?  Are you 100% sure that your files have sRGB embedded?  Go through every single step of this troubleshooter to make sure.

[Damien Symonds]

Further to that, have you ever soft-proofed?

[Amber DeLeo]

Yes, 100% sRGB.  Thank you Damien I will read through and try out soft proofing as I have never done that. 

Edited April 17, 2016 by Amber DeLeo

[Amber DeLeo]

I will also mention my lighting in my room for editing is consistent with no windows. Lighting is florescent and bulbs are the correct kelvin temp per your advice. Just wanting to give as much info to figure out what I may be doing wrong on my end.

[Samantha LaRue]

How low do you have to go with your brightness to make the prints match? Or do they already match (in terms of brightness) at 100? 

Can you post one of the images here?

[Amber DeLeo]

[Amber DeLeo]

They are very close in terms of brightness.Her is the photo after levels work.

[Samantha LaRue]

So what is dull and desaturated in this image when compared to the print?

[Amber DeLeo]

Everything. The whole thing looks like there is a muddy overlay and dull/desaturated.

[Crystal Felton]

it *looks* like your monitor is too bright, at least part of the problem  Have you turned down your monitor to more closely match the print?  

How many labs have you tried test prints with?

[Amber DeLeo]

It is set a 1 as low as I can go. 

[Crystal Felton]

if you can't get the brightness of your screen to match your prints, it's not going to work....

How many labs have you tried?

[Damien Symonds]

Maybe this?  http://www.damiensymonds.net/desktop-monitor-brightness