It is perfectly normal if your photos look different than they did on screen once printed. This is because the two technologies use very different methods in the way they create images. So first of all lets take a quick look at the differences between the two.
When you look at an image on your computer screen it is using a combination of red, green and blue pixels (RGB) to add light to your black monitor and create the best representation of the image it is capable of. The adding of light to make colours means this is referred to as an additive colour space.
Your printer ads cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink (CMYK) to cover the white of the paper to create images. Some printers use additional colours but the theory is the same regardless. As you are effectively removing light by adding ink this is called a subtractive colour space.
Both of these methods utilise a slightly different range of the colour spectrum and as such the results can look pretty different. For example take a look at the photo below by Hamed Saber that illustrates the differences between RGB and CMYK nicely.
The first thing you will probably notice is that the CMYK image looks a little duller than RGB version of the same image. This is because the CMYK model is only able to faithfully produce around 60-70% of the colours that are possible in RGB and sadly it is the most vibrant colours that suffer. To illustrate the differences further we have put an image gallery that you see here.
How can I make my prints look better?
There any many ways hundreds of pieces of software available for photo editing that can help you make the most out of your photos but I will be focusing on software freely available online that is easy to learn to use. Firstly I would recommend doing as much as possible in Paint.NET adjusting brightness, contrast, hue and saturation. Paint.NET has many other features and pre-defined effects to play with but as a relative novice I find I get the best results playing around with these 4 basic sliders until I am satisfied.
Now you have an image you are happy with it is time to convert it to the CMYK colour space. Advanced programmes like Photoshop have built in tools that can easily make the switch but in the absence of such a programme I would recommend visiting RGB2CMYK.org and using their excellent online tool.
By doing as much editing as possible before converting you will be preserving as much data as possible for your final image. With your image now in CMYK I would recommend loading the image up in GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) and going to “Colours” and them selecting “Colour Balance”. You can then use these sliders to fine tune the levels of cyan, magenta and yellow to get the best representation of the final image possible.
I hope you have found this article useful. if however you have anything else to add or know of any other tips and tricks, please get in touch via any of our social media platforms.
