Soft proof

[badwolf1009]

I'll edit a photo and then go to soft proof and the photo looks horrible.  Very dull.  I have been trying to re-edit them with the soft proofing turned on to get them to match my original edit.  Should I not be doing this?  Except in most cases I have to edit them a bit in order for them to actually print right, otherwise they are definitely duller than they should be.  These are two examples that I just screenshot. The ones on the left are with soft proof.

   

Also, I've read that you said to turn off the simulate paper color.  Doing so definitely looks closer to my original edit, but the instructions from the place where I print say to check it.  Should I just ignore them?

 

[Damien Symonds]

Hi @badwolf1009,

Yeah, DEFINITELY don't turn on the "Simulate Paper Color" function.  Labs say that because they assume that people aren't calibrated, but I see a Spyder listed in your sidebar profile, so that's good.

Can you tell me why you're soft-proofing?

[badwolf1009]

I thought I had to. ?  I did the last time I got prints and they turned out fine.  I didn't the time before and they were too dark and just "off" somehow.  Should I not worry about it?  I am calibrated but it's been a bit so I should probably do it again.

Edited March 19, 2019 by badwolf1009

[Damien Symonds]

Soft-proofing is only something you do when you are about to print a photo with one or more VERY vivid colours in it.  Neither of the photos above have such colours in them; so there is no need to soft-proof.

Your monitor calibration should give you a sufficient screen-to-print match for all "normal" photos.

Make sure you follow my calibration instructions here.

[badwolf1009]

Thank you much!