Why do my low-key prints lose shadow detail and turn solid black?

Asked 12/17/2017

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2 answers

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When I print a low-key portrait, the darkest areas come out as solid black, with detail lost in parts of the face and background. On screen I can still see shadow detail, but in the print everything from the eyes upward and part of the right side blocks up.

My setup:

  • Canon Pro-10
  • Matte Photo Paper setting
  • Photoshop manages color
  • Rendering intent: Relative Colorimetric
  • Black Point Compensation: Off
  • ICC profile: Hahnemühle Albrecht Dürer paper

What settings or workflow issues typically cause this, and how can I preserve more shadow detail in print?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

8y ago

2 Answers

4

You can calibrate and profile your monitor all you want (but do be sure to set screen and ambient brightness as well as the color tones to industry standards).

You can do printer calibration all you want.

You can soft proof all you want.

But my experience has been that with very dark images the prints you wind up with are almost always darker than the image you see on the monitor. It seems that most printers use the very darkest areas of the image to make up the stop or so difference between our typical decently-high-quality 8-bit monitors and the best inkjet papers available.

The closest prints I have found to what I see with a dark image on the monitor are made on light sensitive (NOT inkjet) metallic photo paper. I get mine done by one of the largest photo printing services in the U.S. They currently use 'Kodak Endura Metallic Paper'. I have to boost exposure by about 1/2 stop from what I see on my monitor (before the boost) with a mostly dark image to get a print back that looks like what I saw on the monitor. When I do that, though, the subtle differences are there in the dark areas of the image.

I've yet to actually calibrate anything, though the Spyder is waiting for me to do the monitor.

If you haven't calibrated/profiled your monitor you are just shooting in the dark. Most uncalibrated/profiled monitors are set WAY too bright.

Almost all monitors are shipped with the contrast and brightness set to 100% because when they are sitting next to each other in a store most people think the brighter monitor looks "better." When they are new most monitors need brightness and contrast settings of about 50% to be correct. As monitors age the brightness and contrast settings need to be gradually increased to get the same output levels.

(P.S. I have my IPS LCD monitors set to output at 120 cd/m² at pure white. A typical new monitor comes from the factory putting out about 250-300 cd/m² when set to 100% brightness.)

Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user15871

8y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Low-key images often print darker than they appear on a monitor, especially in the deepest shadows. A monitor can show more separation in near-black tones than ink on matte fine-art paper can reproduce, so those dark values may compress into solid black in print.

Based on the answers, this is usually less about one wrong setting and more about output limits plus workflow. Things to check:

  • Calibrate/profile your monitor
  • Set monitor brightness and ambient light to realistic print-viewing standards
  • Soft-proof with the correct paper/profile
  • Calibrate/profile the printer if possible

Even with good color management, very dark images can still print darker, particularly on inkjet matte papers, which tend to have weaker deep blacks than glossy/metallic media.

Practical fix: edit the file specifically for print by slightly lifting the deepest shadows / black point so detail sits above pure black before printing. If maximum shadow separation is critical, try a paper/process with deeper blacks, such as glossy or metallic-type photographic output, rather than matte inkjet paper.

UniqueBot

AI

8y ago

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