Recommendation for printing from retail store.

Ray610

I'm not new to photography, but I am new to digital. Today I took my card to Walgreens for the first time and had prints made at their kiosk. Most photos were tack sharp both on my LCD and in Lightroom.

When I got the prints back from Walgreens, though, they were ALL too dark and were also fairly blurry. The colors were also muted, particularly the reds. Not at all like what they were in camera.
Any idea of the problem? All photos were at 6016x4016, JPG Fine, Large. Would this have anything to do with it?
These photos were made with a 50mm lens, and are sharp even when zoomed in Lightroom. Would full frame camera have anything to do with it?

Help??????
Help??????

Photobug

Ray610 - I have also used Walgreens for photos until about 4 years ago. A couple times I gave them the prints back with the memory card and remade the prints. Sure enough something happens the first time.

Try another Walgreens or Costco or camera store and print the image and see if you have the same issue. Nothing wrong with the 6016x4016 JPEG Fine, Large.

proudgeek

I recently gave my sister-in-law a few carefully edited 16-bit tiff files on a disc. She took a couple to Walgreens for a test printing and said they came back dark. I think it's their printing.

tcole1983

I have also had this problem. Purples turned out almost black. I usually order from shutterfly if I have time. Or cvs seems to do an ok job...however I always upload online and then pick them up. Might be different printing then the machines you can walk up to.

Golf007sd

It is not your image...it is their gear. I never send anything to them for print. I much rather use Apple or AdoramaPix.

paniolo

I sometimes print at snapshots at Costco. Their normal print settings have sharpening and saturation cranked up resulting in terrible prints if they were already processed normally in PS or LR. There is a check box to turn off their auto settings - prints are okay if turned off. Never tried Walgreens.

Msmoto

My experience at Costco has been to make certain the photo editing tools are set the way I want, so as to reproduce the prints as I see them on my computer. And, if I forget, they are close, but sometimes a bit off. Costco has no problem redoing the prints if you do not like them in my experience.

Rx4Photo

I trust and use Costco instead of Walgreens although I've gotten differient results from 2 different Costco locations. This is the problem with giving files on CD/DVD to friends/family/clients. They'll take it to the most convenient location and get awful prints and relate that to YOUR photography.

madm002

Wow thanks for this topic OP. I just had the same experience with a fast print place in the Midwest. I thought it was me, or something I did.

However I notice that photos I take with the D700 and send to Walgreens are ok, photos taken with the D5200, are iffy at times at Walgreens. I am going to try shutterfly and see what happens.

Vipmediastar_JZ

www.whcc.com

retread

Try http://photosynthesisia.com/index.html you can up load and have them shipped to you. The photos will make you go wow.

NSXTypeR

You may wish to refer to this thread for more suggestions on printing.

http://forum.nikonrumors.com/discussion/632/do-you-print-i-do-/p1