First I want to say that I am new to dealing with color management. As I am an amateur I send most of my prints to Costco for printing. When I first started uploading files to print I would print with the default color profile. Upon receiving a few prints back with their auto correct feature turned on the pictures came back horrible...too contrasty colors way off from what was showing on my computer. I talked with them and they said I should turn off the auto correct feature. I did this and the pictures came back much, much nicer. However, the color was still a tad off. They then said I should look at using their color/printer profiles. I downloaded and began using their profiles. When sending the files using their profiles the prints did come back just as seen on my computer.
The problem that I have is when I assign the profile the coloring of the file turns dark and muted. The picture loses its "pop" and bright colors that the original file has.
What am I doing wrong? How do I correct these changes or bring back the vibrant colors again?
Ray, just keep your files in sRGB or AdobeRGB or any other color space - do not convert your pictures to costco printer profiles. They give you their profiles for softproofing only. You probably need to calibrate and profile your screen so you can trust colors you see. Maybe try mpix for printing.
IMHO, firstly you make sure your monitor is calibrated and stay the way your files' color space are, only converting these files' color space(don't save) to their profiles before save as for printing.
gzasinets wrote:
Ray, just keep your files in sRGB or AdobeRGB or any other color space - do not convert your pictures to costco printer profiles. They give you their profiles for softproofing only. You probably need to calibrate and profile your screen so you can trust colors you see. Maybe try mpix for printing.
Sorry, Gzas, but this is incorrect. The printers at Costco do not embed their own color profile at the time of printing like mpix or WHCC nor can it read embedded profiles attached to photos. Their printers require the actual print to be converted to the color profile so it does nothing but just prints only as it sees it. So Ray, you're better off converting a copy of your print to the costco profile and dumping it after you've sent it as you can not unconvert or reconvert a profile after you've saved and closed it in photoshop. Just delete it afterward because the profiles get updated and all these files will have an outdated profile. As an aside I have about 1000 pictures on my costco account that have a profile from last year and they don't work with their newer profile. ...and the 500 or so I have of their new profile will be obsolete soon because they are going to upgrade to a new Noritsu 4xxx printer that is going to have a different profile.
Ray, your screen should first be calibrated and you want to do all your work in a standardized color space e.g. sRGB or the other two available. When you convert the print to the costco color profile it is certainly going to look different because the profile is intended to respond to the hues of the paper and ink used by them but when actually printed it should look like how your photo appeared on your screen in sRGB not how it looked after you convert to profiles. For example, I'm looking at a picture now that I just converted to a costco profile and it now has a strong green hue - these changes are normal as this is technically for the printer to see and not for our eyes. If you would like to simulate what the print is going to look like on paper then you would do a soft proof where the monitor simulates the conditions of printed paper with the profile.
The other thing about missing the pop - i'm not sure exactly what you mean but print media in general doesn't pop like it does on the screen. Yes, many printed pictures can really pop and jump out of the page, but in general paper is not going to be as vibrant as a back lit screen.
Step by step instruction what profile to use and when to convert to Costco Printers profile. what not to include in you file and what instruction you should include for the Costco operate can be found here; Pay attention to steps 1 add to it ProPhotoRGB and steps 16, 17 and 18.
Where you can download the profile for the particular Costco Printer and paper you use. On the left pick your state or at the top country or commonwealth for non-US.
brad_s wrote:
Sorry, Gzas, but this is incorrect. The printers at Costco do not embed their own color profile at the time of printing like mpix or WHCC nor can it read embedded profiles attached to photos. Their printers require the actual print to be converted to the color profile so it does nothing but just prints only as it sees it. So Ray, you're better off converting a copy of your print to the costco profile and dumping it after you've sent it as you can not unconvert or reconvert a profile after you've saved and closed it in photoshop. Just delete it afterward because the profiles get updated and all these files will have an outdated profile. As an aside I have about 1000 pictures on my costco account that have a profile from last year and they don't work with their newer profile. ...and the 500 or so I have of their new profile will be obsolete soon because they are going to upgrade to a new Noritsu 4xxx printer that is going to have a different profile.
Ray, your screen should first be calibrated and you want to do all your work in a standardized color space e.g. sRGB or the other two available. When you convert the print to the costco color profile it is certainly going to look different because the profile is intended to respond to the hues of the paper and ink used by them but when actually printed it should look like how your photo appeared on your screen in sRGB not how it looked after you convert to profiles. For example, I'm looking at a picture now that I just converted to a costco profile and it now has a strong green hue - these changes are normal as this is technically for the printer to see and not for our eyes. If you would like to simulate what the print is going to look like on paper then you would do a soft proof where the monitor simulates the conditions of printed paper with the profile.
The other thing about missing the pop - i'm not sure exactly what you mean but print media in general doesn't pop like it does on the screen. Yes, many printed pictures can really pop and jump out of the page, but in general paper is not going to be as vibrant as a back lit screen.
Brad, I just described the way it should be and that's how normal labs do it. If costco doesn't even recognize embedded profiles than using there service is absolutely useless IMHO. I never used them as a matter of fact and never will. Converting to output profile is through the ass color management.
Print colors cannot come close to what is possible on your screen. So depending on what you are seeing and what your settings are the colors can look very muted and dull. Have you used a hardware device to profile your screen? Then at least you are looking at accurate color and when you soft proof it should be a spot on match.
Brad, I just described the way it should be and that's how normal labs do it. If costco doesn't even recognize embedded profiles than using there service is absolutely useless IMHO. I never used them as a matter of fact and never will. Converting to output profile is through the ass color management.
It is a pain to use Costco because of the extra step of converting profiles for each different Costco site not to mention different profiles for luster and glossy, but you can't beat their prices and quick service for everyday pics and proofs.
For what it is worth, I'm also new at this and use White House Custom colors. They now accept Adobe RGB too.
I'm calibrated. I proof with their profiles and love the results.
