Costco Prints are too dark--solution?

[Karin Sue]

I just had a couple of 8x10 collages printed at costco. They are much darker than the one I printed at home. (HP deskjet 5550, office depot paper)

I did check off the do not autocorrect option. Was that a mistake?

Is there a way to get the prints closer to my intended colors?

Should I just lighten up the file before I upload it?

Images print darker at Walgreens and Target also.

Thanks

Karin

[LeeOtsubo]

Is your monitor calibrated? If not, ask them to print with Auto Correction ON.

If that doesn't work, talk to the people at you Costco. Some locations have knowledgeable people who can help you diagnose problems.

[Brio]

Custom printer profiles for individual Costco stores are available here:
www.drycreekphoto.com
They also have a workflow for printing, but it involves softproofing in photoshop.

[Karin Sue]

Thanks for your help.

It is a laptop with an lcd monitor. I recall reading somewhere that lcds are difficult to calibrate. However, it currently does a good job of matching the output of the printer it is hooked up to. I don't want to do anything that will screw that up.

I went to the drycreek photo site and got terribly confused. Among other things:
Notable applications that do not support converting images to RGB printer ICC profiles:
Photoshop Elements (through version 5). Only allows conversion between sRGB and Adobe RGB. RGB printer profiles can only be used with printers connected directly to your computer. Images can not be converted to printer profile and saved for printing on other machines or photo lab printers.
We have a free, stand-alone utility to convert tiff images to a printer profile. It can be used in combination with one of the above image editors to perform ICC profile conversions.

I do have a Mac running OS 9.2 that has PS 6 that I could use to make conversions, but there is a note about complications with their printer profiles and OS 9 :eek:

The dry creek site looks to be an excellent one. I think I will need to set a few hours aside to study color callibration. Costco has great prices and fast turnaround. I just have to figure out how to get my colors right.

The collages I got will do. Its just that they are of my uncle's 60th HS reunion and I used a nice royal blue (school color) background that printed from costco as a purplish navy blue.

Any other advice or insights would be appreciated.

[Brio]

I have used the workflow as outlinrd in Drycreek Photo with good success.
I have used PS 6 to do the conversion without difficulty. However I use a PC
Why not try some samples (4*6) using different profiles and then compare.
I have downloaded one of the colour patches available and printed it to compare. When you have the patch in PSE you can use the text tool to label the profile you have used. Remember to tell Costco no adjustments or just write "Drycreek no adjustments" on your order form.

Cheers