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prints too dark, monitor brightness all the way down


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And once again I have issues.  It had been a while since I last calibrated so I did so.  Edited some photos and got them printed.  Clearly I calibrated wrong again because the last time I ordered they were perfect.  I followed the instructions I swear.  It has been a while since I've had trouble though.   The prints I got back were cooler and darker than my monitor,  Do darker prints mean I have to turn down my brightness?  Because I was only at like 5 brightness to begin with.  I tried turning it all the way down and my prints are still darker than my screen.  I can try calibrating again later when it gets dark, but is it really going to make a difference if I just calibrated a week ago?  I can get the color to match my prints by manually going into the monitor settings and changing the color that way, but they are still too dark.

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1 hour ago, Damien Symonds said:

Do you still have those prints?  If they are still perfect, then it would mean you have simply received a bad batch of prints this time, you know?

I just opened a print I have here in photoshop.  I did notice that the print is slightly darker than the monitor but not so much as it would annoy me.  The color is fine but this is also after I have already manually adjusted the color to match the prints I just got.  Is that a bad thing - to manually do it?  Should I try re calibrating later?  If it helps I have a Spyder 4 pro and a Dell Ultrasharp U2312HM

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4 hours ago, Damien Symonds said:

What's your assessment?  Do you think the lab has printed your new prints differently from the older prints?

It's probably something that I did wrong.  I'm horrible at this stuff.  It started when I got a second monitor.  I had trouble figuring out how to calibrate the main one that I was using.  

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1 hour ago, Damien Symonds said:

Can you just read over this and make sure everything is kosher?

Just read it and checked everything.  It's fine.  I probably need to re calibrate because I've been playing around with the monitor settings?  I did notice that when I changed the contrast from it's default of 75 to 62 that my prints matched the screen much better.  The old and the new.   Is that ok?  It looks so dark to me.  I am horrible at this.  

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1 hour ago, Damien Symonds said:

Yes, that's ok to fiddle with the Contrast setting, but yes, you need to recalibrate afterwards.

when I recalibrate what should my target brightness be?  I recalibrated earlier and it changed it to 40.  When I do it now it says my target is 120 and I'm currently at 29

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yes, but if I factory reset then my brightness and contrast is way too high.  I'm so messed up.  I manually had it where they matched and when I recalibrated it's now messed up again.  It's close, but I hate the contrast being so low.  

Edited by badwolf1009
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18 minutes ago, badwolf1009 said:

when I recalibrate what should my target brightness be?  I recalibrated earlier and it changed it to 40.  When I do it now it says my target is 120 and I'm currently at 29

Are you SURE your room is bright enough?

https://www.damiensymonds.net/2012/01/light-around-your-computer.html

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15 minutes ago, Damien Symonds said:

Probably not. I bought them to be the right temperature, but it's only a 5 bulb hanging chandelier ( with the candle like bulbs) in the room and unfortunately not easy to change.  It swings over from a very off center place to make it somewhat center and the beams or whatever are apparently going in the wrong direction or something.  My husband said he'd have to tear the drywall down in the ceiling to put in more lights it and that's not happening.  Anyway.  There's no other way to get more light.  No room for even lamps.  I've had this problem before.  Int he same room.  But I've never had to lower my brightness or contrast this low before to match prints.  I'm going to start completely over. Do I have to recalibrate if I manually change settings to match my prints?

Edited by badwolf1009
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9 hours ago, Damien Symonds said:

What about windows?  If you open the blinds in the middle of the day, how does the screen compare to prints then?

I was doing this at about 1 in the morning so I had to wait for daylight.  With the curtains open the light isn't bad.  The prints aren't as dark.  I completely recalibrated last night.  It has to be done in the dark?  But prints need to be checked in good light?  How does one do that without going insane??  So, calibrated last night and checked the brightness with my crappy lighting.  Would track lighting work?  Because I think we could make that work with our ceiling situation.  Checked this morning at 10am and screen didn't quite match the prints.  Fiddled with the brightness/contrast and rgb sliders until it matched my prints.  But because I did that I have to recalibrate again??  Won't that mess up how I got it to match though?  And I can't recalibrate until it's dark right?   Thr room is open to the rest of the house so I have no door to close.  Could I throw some blankets over the screen?

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