[Kenntak]

Hi, I recently had some photos printed by AdoramaPix. Their customer service contacted me over a week ago asking if I was happy with the results. I sent them an email that day and told them that the photos came out a bit darker than I wanted, looked colder, and a bit dull. The resolution was fine though. After they did not respond within a week, I followed up. Still no response.

Has anyone had pictures printed by AdoramaPix, and had them turn out darker and colder than expected? I actually had one of the same photos printed by Snapfish, and the exposure and color temperature were pretty close to what I was expecting, but the photos did not have as nice a color transition/resolution.

I told AdoramaPix that I was looking for a printing service that I could rely on for my printing needs. I suppose my quest for such a service will continue. Can anyone recommend another service (other than Shutterfly)?

[sergysergy]

I got pictures printed by both Adoramapix and Snapfish and I was happy with the results. Maybe I am not too picky!

[Outis]

Yeah, I had some photos printed by Adoramapix, and they came out somewhat too dark, but I always assumed it was a problem with the brightness on my monitor (a pretty cruddy laptop monitor) and not the printing.

They wrote me about my experience, too, and I wrote back saying that they'd included some of someone else's photos (!!!) and they never wrote back, either! Hmmm...

[Miguel]

Generally when one's prints are perceived as being too dark it can be a symptom of too bright monitors. This, combined with uncalibrated and profiled monitors, means that your obtaining a fine print is as much a product of luck as it is craft.
I'd recommend a printing service that has profiles for downloading for soft proofing. Bay Photo is excellent. Costco is a cheap alternative.

M

[Adam]

When I took some printing classes, the teacher recommended a 30% brightness increase in photoshop to get the same brightness on paper as on your screen. Calibration can help but I think in general, printed colors appear darker because of the lack a backlight.

[MadMathMind]

AdoramaPix by default doesn't apply any processing or juicing to the images you provide them. That makes them very different from virtually every other printing company you might encounter. The Kodak kiosks at Target apply the maximum amount of contrast boost and brightening by default. The assumption is that most photos printed will come from camera phones, so these enhancements are necessary to make the photos look half decent. But for those with SLRs and PP skill, it's a not so welcome nuisance.

AdoramaPix is targeted at the more serious photographer, so it's not surprising they don't do juicing. For many, that is the appeal of their product. It's something to keep in mind. If you've been printing at a local store and liked the results, this may be the difference.

[Helen Oster]

@Outtis @Kenntak please can you email me: Helen@adorama.com with your respective AdoramaPix order numbers and I'll get onto this right away.
I suspect that the email is some sort of automated process, but it's a bit of a nonsense if a customer responds but nobody is following up on the other end

[Kenntak]

Thank you for the comments. I don't mind so much if AdoramaPix does not boost the photos like apparently Snapfish does, but I wish they would have told me that the pictures would be darker so I could have done something on my end. If I decide to use AdoramaPix again, how much increase in the exposure setting in Lightroom would you recommend?

Thank you Helen, I sent you an email.

[markdesmarais]

I just made a photobook of my sisters wedding at Adorama- came out great. I have a calibrated monitor (not a great one) but before printing the book, I sent off a sample set of images- dark, light, and color swatches, and had those printed on the same paper. This let me check my calibration vs their print, and to have confidence in checking that "don't mess with my images" box.

[aleonx3]

Make sure your images are in sRGB. That is the only color space they support.

I could be wrong, I thought it is the other color space AdobeRGB which printer supports, sRGB is for web only. AdobeRGB supports wider gamut, I set my camera to this color space and RAW and then convert in LR for sRGB for web and sharing. When I print I keep it in AdobeRGB.

[Kenntak]

I used sRGB color space.

[stormtech]

Here is a page that explains this. Note that they have an ICC Profiles which you can use:

Why did my prints come out darker/lighter than the image I submitted to AdoramaPix in my order? : AdoramaPix Community Forums

Color calibration and custom correction : AdoramaPix Community Forums

[Kenntak]

Thank you stormtech!