You can get any number of calibration devices and spend a lot of time and money getting a beautiful Pantone match, but if they are not using that system, you just wasted your time.

I use Flickr for casual prints. If they mail them to me, I am nothing but thrilled with the color. If I specify that I will pick them up at my local Target, they are always too red. Sometimes they are more red than others. (The people running the print service there are all in their 20’s, as if that has anything to do with skills.) I just adjust the image on-screen to my liking and then take the red midtones down about 0.10-0.15 by setting the middle slider to 0.90-0.85, depending on how red my subject is already. Some people move the blue midtones by a similar amount. See what you like. Make adjustments on your images, add a text note so you will know what you are looking at when you get your prints and then evaluate the final result. You might make the note along the border so you could cut it off and give the print away or whatever.

Of course, you didn’t mention cropping, but you sound like you are on top of that. We have many people asking why they can’t get a 4×6 print (2:3 ratio) our of their 4:3 point and shoot camera, because they don’t understand cropping.

If this doesn’t ring a bell with you, please ask another question about it.

If you haven’t calibrated your monitor you cannot expect the colors or hue of a print to match the display and saturation will almost always be different between a monitor and a printer even if they are calibrated unless you provide an image of an 18% grey card as a base or use a color profile with the lab.

Second, have you provided the lab with any feedback about your concerns. I use a photo quality printer to do my “in house” printing and send out oversize or high volume work because it is cheaper to have a good lab do the tedious or unusual work but I compare the results from the lab with what I get from my own printer. If there is a large variance in the color or saturation I contact the lab and discuss it with someone. Photofinishing is a very competitive business and there are lots of good labs that will bend over backwards to get your orders.

I use Adorama to get my orders on line, they have competitive prices, a decent ordering process, easy uploads and prompt processing and they mail the stuff right back to me. I ordered 100 prints about 2:00 am on Thursday morning and got an email confirming completion and shipment about 5:15 PM on Thursday afternoon. I have rarely had any problems with the quality of the work.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

This will cost some money … this is one more time things are not free.

I use the Eye One Display 2 by gretagmacbeth

Costco prints the images and they match my monitors contrast, saturation and colour