Did you know your computer screen is not calibrated? This is true in every case unless you have proactively calibrated your monitor for printing.  You may think your screen is correctly showing your image's tones and colors but if you don't have a calibrated screen it's a role of the dice on color accuracy. Because the printer is seeing the true color values in an image it is printing rather than what a monitor shows, those colors have the potential to be slightly in accurate. This means colors may be a shade different, your print looks darker than expected or it lacks the contrast you thought it had. This is not because the image was printed wrong but because you were not able to see what the image really looks like.

A solution to this is to calibrate your monitor. The color calibration print is a reference print you will want to try to match your screen to. Once this has been done you can see if your file needs some adjustment to bring it closer to the standards a printer expects.

How to Use

1. Download a copy of the Color Calibration Print (PDF)  (click here for older version) 
2. Compare it to the print you receive in the mail
3. Adjust your computer monitor to match the print

Prints being too dark is the most common issue people experience when printing at home or through a professional lab. This is almost always due to incorrect monitor settings which imply the images are brighter than they truly are. This leads to people printing or sending images which are actually darker than their display shows. Many color labs offer corrective measures for this however ideally you will want your images to be as accurate as possible before you submit them.

Important: Do not rely on this for soft proofing. In order to properly soft proof you will want to have calibrated your monitor with a monitor calibration device.