Print to get even better image quality

[Ian]

I was at a wedding last Sunday and I took some shots of a friend and his wife and baby in very warm, indoor subdued light, without flash. I used ISO 1250 and 1/15th sec shutter speed, at f/2.8. When I looked at the default view of the RAW file in Lightroom I realised the picture would need a lot of work. I increased the exposure by a stop, corrected the white balance, made some quite big adjustments to black and recovery levels, sharpness, and noise reduction. On-screen at 100% it didn't, to be honest, look that great. When I sent the file to my friend I suggested it would be fine for web/email use or for 6x4 prints.

But then I decided to see what it looked like at A4, and I have to say the quality really amazed me - no noise issues, it was sharp, with plenty of detail. I don't know why it should have had this effect on me as I do know that prints often look better than when previewing the file on-screen.

Anyway, I was so pleased with the result that it motivated me to post this message to the forum!

The moral is - don't give up if you aren't very happy with an image; try printing it!

Ian

[Pol]

Re: Print to get even better image quality

The moral is - don't give up if you aren't very happy with an image; try printing it!

Ian

I'd most definitely agree with that!

I've managed to get some very acceptable, even excellent prints from files that looked very dubious on screen. Even salvaged and enlarged some small, badly saved files and had good 6x4 or 7x5 Photobox prints from them.


Pol

[carter2]

Re: Print to get even better image quality

Totally agree with this

[Pops]

Re: Print to get even better image quality

This definately does happen
I have also found that going mono and printing will also enhance a photograph

[Graham_of_Rainham]

Re: Print to get even better image quality

You may also want to look at what size reduction process you use, as some images will improve by using "BiCubic", some "BiCubic (sharp)" and others "Nearest Neighbour".

Trouble is all this takes time, paper and ink to get right, so getting the screen copy and print copy to look the same can be well worth while.

I use the Fuji Calibration image to get things right

http://www.peak-imaging.com/downloads/Fujical.jpg

[Kurt]

Re: Print to get even better image quality

I was doubtful about this, but today I have been trying to recapture my muse and decided to print out some of the people pictures from the Olympus OM-d trial day. I was not too happy with these on screen, but much to my surprise, the print was very good. I shall print some more, monochrome, maybe.

[Ray Shotter]

Re: Print to get even better image quality

Ian,

Thanks for the confirmation that prints often look better than the image on screen. I haven't yet managed to calibrate my screen yet but I do find that prints are often better than the image on screen although they are often slightly darker.

Has anyone got good advice about which is the best means of calibrating a screen and which is reasonably priced ?

My equipment has been out of action for the past two weeks mainly because I have been transferring data and photos from one laptop to another and changing our BTHub to the latest version. Even with some professional help I still have not managed to link my printer into our Home Net wirelessly and have had to resort to an ethernet connection between the Hub and the Printer. However, as both are within inches of one another this is not a problem but because it all worked faultlessy as a WiFi net with the old BTHub I'm afraid I am frustrated as I expect upgraded equipment to work at least as well as the older. However, I suspect the problem can be blamed on my lack of expertise.

Regards.

Ray.

[David Morison]

Re: Print to get even better image quality

I find this but I put it down to exporting from LR4.2 when I set the exported file to be "Sharpened for print". If you export with this setting and then view on the screen it appears very different to those files that have been exported as "Sharpened for screen". There also three different levels of sharpening that can be selected.

Do you think this could be a factor?

David