Still annoyed with Photobox - what are my alternatives?

Raider · 9 May 2007 at 10:28

Ok i've just got another set of photos back from Photobox, and as usual they have a slight green tinge, and are generally darker with less contrast than I see on screen. I know I can't get them to match up perfectly, but they always look really dull and lifeless.

I had previously tried to calibrate my old laptop but it didn't help much, and my new MacBook Pro doesn't seem to match up that closely either.

So few questions:

1) Can I calibrate the colour in Lightroom in some way? I don't have Photoshop
2) Are there any other good photo places to try?
3) Is it easier to give up and buy a good photo printer + calibration device?

Ta!

robertgilbert86 · 9 May 2007 at 10:43

I don't calibrate my monitor at all. That way I know what I see will be pretty similar to what everyone else sees. My photobox prints usually come out a tiny bit darker, but I think that's because LCDs don't show actual black, whereas prints do.

I tried a spider 2 thing but it just made everything look super washed out.

If I were you just reset all calibration if you can to factory defaults. Another thing to check is the monitors colour temperature.

Another France based competitor can print photos for you. Clue: they sell all kinds of electronics.

SDK^ · 9 May 2007 at 11:05

Prints will always look darker than images on the screen because they don't have a bright light shinning behind them like LCD's and CRT's have

Generally speaking prints that show low contrast and less than vibrant colours are down to user error.
You need to obtain a print of the Photobox calibration image from the Photobox website, download the image and view it on your monitor and then create a proof profile that matches the brightness and colour of the print on your screen. This will ensure changes you make to an image on your screen will be a close match to your prints

^^Gord^^ · 9 May 2007 at 13:13

I did what SDK^ has suggested as well as getting hold of the colour profile file for the printer range they use. I had a bunch of A4 prints done afterwards and they were pretty damn close to the image on my TFT.

james.miller · 9 May 2007 at 14:09

yep. calibrate your screen and you wont have problems. when you do calibrate it it can be quite astonishing just how far of tft's can be.

Mohain · 9 May 2007 at 14:38

I used Colab for my last set of englargments (15 x 10s) and they were absolutely **** on!

PaulStat · 9 May 2007 at 14:50

Calibrate your monitor using one of these link.

And have a look at this thread

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8729130&postcount=5

Raider · 9 May 2007 at 19:52

Thanks for the link to the colour profiles for Photobox. Can I use them in Lightroom?

SDK^ · 9 May 2007 at 20:12

Raider said:
Thanks for the link to the colour profiles for Photobox. Can I use them in Lightroom?

I forgot to say in my post above - Lightroom doesn't (yet) support colour profiles. The default is sRGB which Photobox suggests you use anyway

Tarty · 10 May 2007 at 08:50

One cheap way I've just thought of (not 100% sure whether it'll work) but if you take a photo printed by photobox, then compare it to the picture on the screen, and then change the colour settings of your monitor to match.. would that work in the same way?
Personally only problem I've had with prints is when I was changing the light levels in photoshop with my tft on text mode... really showed with the prints being very white