Advice on what I see on laptop screen to what i get printed?

Magic_x_uk · 24 Sep 2014 at 18:08

Hi, sort of like title really.

Taken lots of photos with my Nikon D90 and even though I play around with them in lightroom/PS etc. Before I send them of to be printed. I was just curious, if what I see is what will actually get printed.

Only have a run of the mill Packard bell Laptop.

I am trying to put the 'NEF' File here for you to look at it. But for some reason cannot seem to put it on Flickr?

Just wondered if some of you on here maybe have a calibrated / IPS monitor so you can look at this image and give me your opinion if it does look okay.

Thanks. (still trying to get the RAW image here for you)

Hyburnate · 24 Sep 2014 at 18:11

Aye you'll need a calibrator for it to be exact. Pretty sure some printing labs give you a specific colour profile to use.

Magic_x_uk · 24 Sep 2014 at 18:22

Hyburnate said:
Aye you'll need a calibrator for it to be exact. Pretty sure some printing labs give you a specific colour profile to use.

I do not have any knowledge on that at the moment, re: colour profiles etc

Just tried and exported as a TIFF file but it was 69MB so a bit big for on here I think.

Here it is as a Jpeg. I do not know if that is anygood compared to my original RAW/NEF file though?

Bit lost how to get a NEF file on here for you to look at? (any advice please)

D.P. · 24 Sep 2014 at 18:46

Looks very brown-orange to me.
With the sky in the background it is very easy to get good approximate white balance with the auto tool (just click on the clouds).

Saying that, maybe you want the orange look!

One important point that is typically overlooked is the DR of print. You D90 csn record up to 12 stop DR in RAW mode, when you process the image you are effectively reducing this down to 8 stops for a JPEG image. however the best quality prints only have a DR of 6 stops. Which is why you really need a printer profile to see what the output will be like.

What tends to happen is the highlights and shadows get lost to white and black when printing.

Magic_x_uk · 24 Sep 2014 at 18:55

Thing is I have played with it in Lightroom, just not sure how to get what I have changed in lightroom so YOU can see it. Do I just export the photo as a jPEG and then stick it on Flickr again?

Also what do you mean by DR please.

Thank you for replying D.P.

alexthecheese · 25 Sep 2014 at 07:32

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range

john_s · 25 Sep 2014 at 08:46

Magic_x_uk said:
Thing is I have played with it in Lightroom, just not sure how to get what I have changed in lightroom so YOU can see it. Do I just export the photo as a jPEG and then stick it on Flickr again?

That's the easiest, yes.

As above, the best way to be sure you'll get what you see is to get a colour profile for the printer that will be used.

There are some good tutorials about colour profiling on the net... have a Google.

I think Keith Cooper has had some useful articles... have a look here: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/articles.php

Baron C · 26 Sep 2014 at 14:33

I was having similar problems. I ordered the an x-rite idisplay. Works a treat. Let me have a clearer idea of what my images were like on screen.

I don't print but the advice above regarding printer profiles is correct.