Printing Help PLease?!

[Cody Covey]

Hey guys I just had some prints made that I was going to enter into the fair and they came out horrible. They are all very dark. Even a picture that I have had printed at Costco before came out very dark and the picture hasn't been changed at all. Now the real part that is confusing to me is that a picture from our wedding came out looking perfectly fine. It was only my files that were dark. Anyone know anything that would cause this?

Now my next question is in regards to sharpening. Do you sharpen more or less for printing than for web presentation? The pictures look fine on the web but in print they look almost like I was zoomed in at 100% in lightroom. Kind of noisy and just look oversharpened. Any help with this issue?

[noelle zaleski]

Did you have test prints done with your lab first? or is it Costco? If so I have always not allowed auto correction from them and I would have them reprint if they were dark.

I have used many labs over the past ten years and each one of them prints files differently. If you are going to display your work i would suggest using a quality lab and forming a relationship with them by testing first.

[Cody Covey]

I called them after doing a test print on my home printer and I did indeed have auto correction on which darkened and I assume sharpened before printing. They are going to reprint.

[noelle zaleski]

I called them after doing a test print on my home printer and I did indeed have auto correction on which darkened and I assume sharpened before printing. They are going to reprint.

Please let me know how the prints come out. Good luck

[Cody Covey]

They reprinted them and they look a lot better now. A pro photog where I lived said costco doesn't use the best paper or ink but they look good to me but I may try another lab or two to see which gives the best results?