Photoshop/CS2 Mavens, maybe you can explain this for me…?

[GeneL]

After I purchased CS2 I began to shoot RAW with my 20D. This was a new experience for me.

I hate to admit it, but after two years, I still don't know how to best use my camera. It is very forgiving, though, and I do get some great pictures.

I love to take pictures of the birds my S/O and I find at our favorite birding places.

We were recently at Casper's Regional Wilderness Park and found that, due to the heat and unusually dry Winter, the birds were hanging from the slowly dripping water faucets spotted around the park.

It made for some beautiful pictures. I used very high speeds to intentionally blur the background and in most shots it worked perfectly, even capturing the water drops in mid-air and the birds' wings in flight.

I can only guess that in some shots the speed was either too high or the ISO too low because they came out very dark.

Which brings me to my issue:

My biggest problem is that, even when the pictures look fantastic on the screen, MY PRINTS ARE ALMOST ALWAYS TOO DARK.

Adjusting brightness and contrast doesn't produce the desired print results. The prints are still to dark or blown out if I adjusted too much.

Please, I need me your suggestions on how to fix this problem.

Thanks for your thoughts,

GeneL

[MacMagus]

> even when the pictures look fantastic on the screen, MY PRINTS ARE ALMOST ALWAYS TOO DARK.

It sounds like you need to change the gamma setting in your printer settings when you go to print.

What printer are you using?

[GeneL]

I'm using a Canon Pixma ip8500 and I don't have a clue about " gamma settings."

Thanks for your input.

GeneL

[jdc]

when you press "print" are you going through all of those options?

paper type, photo type, etc, etc -- adjusting all accordingly can help a lot

im assuming you are printing on photo paper, and not just plain paper?

[jeffNOTjon]

Here's a few tutorials that may address your issues:

http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/CS2Phot...rintSM.mov

http://av.adobe.com/russellbrown/CS2CameraRAWSM.mov

[GeneL]

[quote jdc]when you press "print" are you going through all of those options?

paper type, photo type, etc, etc -- adjusting all accordingly can help a lot

im assuming you are printing on photo paper, and not just plain paper?
I do use the "quality and media" settings to select paper type and "best" quality print.

Nothing else though.

[AlphaDog]

Have you ever calibrated your monitor? Prints not matching the color on the display is one of the more common complaints from newbies on the Adobe forums. I have a really poor eye for color, so I've never been able to calibrate properly using the built in calibration software. I finally bought a calibration tool.

[GeneL]

I've only used Apple's built-in calibration and have often thought that this might be the root of my problems. Also, I seem to remember that once I tried an alternative to whatever the "standard" color profile is, but I don't remember what the results were or how I made the choice.

The cost of one of the "better" color calibration devices is prohibitive right at the moment. Post Christmas, that is.

jeffNOTjon, I did start watching the first tutorial and saw that it mentioned calibration immediately. That will have to wait, I guess

GeneL

[hal]

finish watching it - most likely you are double color managing your pics

[AlphaDog]

[quote hal]finish watching it - most likely you are double color managing your pics
Oh yeh, another very common error. Either let your CS2 do it or your printer, but not both.

I bet you thought learning to use your camera was the hard part, huh?