COSTCO

[erno james]

i

[Dave Johnston]

Sometimes you have to specify with your printing company that you do not want them to "auto-correct" your images. Many companies make the bill off of folks printing straight from their Point and shoots. So they bump the contrast and bump the saturation to make people happier. I have to specifically tell the place I go to when I need fast cheap prints to turn off the auto correction.


Of course. I have a calibrated monitor. I don

[Daniel Browning]

What does "accentuate the shadows" mean? Do you mean that shadows appear brighter than you expect? Or darker? Something else?


The most typical problem is that prints are too dark, and it

[Jon Ruyle]

I have the same problem with cosco prints. I calibrated one of my monitors to agree with a specific costco nearby, and that helped.


Seems like you should be able to tell them how your monitor is calibrated, and have them match the print to that, but it doesn

[Sean Setters]

I

[doggiedoc]

Oh Man you guys have me freaking out now. I just ordered some prints for the first time EVER. I ordered them directly from Apple via Aperture. Surely the don

[Sean Setters]

Personally, I like AdoramaPixas an online retailer. They give you an option when setting up the order to have the prints done "as is." Of course, they know photography and, more importantly, photographers--and how adamant they can be about their print preferences.

[Daniel Browning]

Then, when I pick up the images, I immediately look at my benchmark photo.


Thanks for the great idea. I'm going to start doing this.

[erno james]

Thanks for all who

[Daniel Browning]

Dan, the shadows come out way too dark....like black hole dark.





In that case, try getting some bright photo paper (or any "bright" paper even) and hold it up next to your monitor. If the white on your monitor is a lot whiter than the white on your paper, that may be part of the reason why the prints are too dark. If you reduce brightness on the monitor, it may be easier to get the prints to match.

[doggiedoc]

My photo albums and prints ($$) made on Aperture 3 come out just wonderful.


Whew!!





:-)

[TucsonTRD]

Dave, thanks for the comments on deactivating "auto correction." I know I need to learn about monitor calibration. Any suggestions or resources to study to learn more about this would be appreciated.
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Monitor calibration is accomplished via hardware and software that you purchase. I have the Spyder 3 Express and I love it. It is economical and seems to be well regarded as far as quality and accuracy goes. B&amp;H currently has them for $73.


Good luck.


Braden

[MattG]

I have used Costco and you do have to ask them not auto correct the image or turn it off if you are submitting online. It makes a huge difference.


Also about Costco it depends on the actual store. Some stores have better/newer machines than others. The store I use seems pretty good and they now offer 24x36 prints. Haven

[HDNitehawk]

Erno


Are there any of your pictures on flickr that COSTCO had a problem with?


On my Mac they all look pretty darn good.

[Jeff Lucia]

We all should. Heck, we all should start using the same benchmark photo [;)]

[erno james]

Hey nitehawk, the print i had made of this photo shows near blackout of the distant background. I can barely distinguish the palm trees behind the fishing poles. hopefully telling costco to turn off auto-correct will do the trick.


www.flickr.com/.../5032427294 ("http://www.flickr.com/photos/46737754@N07/5032427294/)


thanks again for everyone

[HDNitehawk]

Hopefully that advice will work out for you. Inconsistent lab