Hi Lois,
I love your photographs . . very vibrant and beautiful.
 
I have ordered  some of my floral photography cards and they were fantastic . . glossy. The one I ordered in matte wasn't as great, so I therefore make sure all of them are checked glossy.
 
Hopefully your problem is just a fluke and doesn't happen often.
 
good luck in the future,
elizabeth

Hi Lois
I think you have some stunning cards in your store. I sell mostly photographic cards and find I need to lighten the image slightly even for home printing, and it doesn`t really make them look less attractive online, and they print out better.
Hope that helps
Karen

I don't know if this would have anything to do with your problem but you said you are uploading cards in sRGB. They are supposed to be uploaded in RGB. Just thought I would mention it just in case.   Mary  
 
 
Quote from Lois_138267 on Nov 20^th, 2009, 12:19pm:

 
 
 

Lois:  Great photos!  Love your work.  For what it's worth, I do photography also and just ordered a LOT of my cards and they printed fine on matte paper so I compared our styles to each other and the difference could be that overall, your colors are a lot darker than mine. It's probably as simple as lightening them up some.   It might be a good idea to try a few that the colors aren't as saturated and order them to see what happens.  The good news is that mine do print fine so it's not impossible to get a quality card from them.
 

Thank you all so much for your kind comments.  
 
All good ideas ... the bottom line may well be that I'll have to redo the images, blind, as I'll have no idea how they'll turn out printed.   Gives me the shudders, LOL!!!  Neva your suggestion of lightening them is probably what I'll wind up doing, but how much trial and error before I get it right ... for ONE image ... then ... what about the next one??   ARUGH!!!  LOL!!!!
 
Andrew, your idea about getting the printer's profile seems a good one.  Not sure I'll understand all of it, but I'm willing to give it a go, for sure!!!!
 
Karen, I hear you on the lightening ... I have a phobia about washed out images so maybe I do go too far in the other direction.  I do push the color envelope, I admit!!!
 
Doreen, I'm converting to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 in final step along with making sure we're at 300dpi ... after I've finished tweaking in Photoshop and just prior to upload.  So the editing process is probably accomplished in Camera RGB.  
 
Bottom line, I'd really like to stay here ... it's a different perspective for the old creativity side of the noggin' ... but I can't see it happening if everything I'm producing winds up looking like mud.  I'd be willing to put the time and effort into re-doing everything I've already uploaded as long as I could be satisfied that my final product would be acceptable ... and only then going forward and creating new work.  Doreen, I think your idea of getting help from GCU to ensure that new versions, with the work you suggested in curves, etc., is worthwhile, is an excellent suggestion.  
 
Mary, when I talked to Shaun I told him I was uploading in sRGB (RedBubble likes that one) ... and he didn't blink an eye ... or ... ear ... and the conversation flowed on from that point so my understanding was that was what they were looking for.  So, are we sure it's supposed to be RGB???  If I go and re do all these puppies ... heaven help me ... I want to do it right, lol!!!!
 
Thank you all again!!!
 
I reeeeeealy appreciate it!!!

Hi again Lois, I'm just going by the requirements as GCU posted under "Create A Card" and thought I would post it just in case. I don't have any idea if uploading in sRGB would result in the problem you are having. Have you tried printing out one of your cards yourself? A lot of suggestions have been made so I hope one of them will help you. Best Wishes, Mary
 
"Image Requirements
File Format: RGB JPEG (.jpg)
File Size: up to 3.85MB
Dimension: 5x7 inches or 7x5 inches  
 
 
 
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Mary, when I talked to Shaun I told him I was uploading in sRGB (RedBubble likes that one) ... and he didn't blink an eye ... or ... ear ... and the conversation flowed on from that point so my understanding was that was what they were looking for.  So, are we sure it's supposed to be RGB???  If I go and re do all these puppies ... heaven help me ... I want to do it right, lol!!!!
 
Thank you all again!!!
 
I reeeeeealy appreciate it!!! [/quote]

Have you checked the histograms for the dark images? That should really be the first stop. Then print them yourself.
Some do look dark on my monitor (which is correctly calibrated using a Spyder). The thanksgiving pumpkins picture in particular is very dark, with the pumpkins being the lightest part,but no details in the shadows. The dogwood blossom is also very dark, with the blossom being a shade of brown.

thanks, Norma and Neva ... yes I admit the colors are rich ... there's nothing I like better than jewel tones ... and most especially strong color on a black background.  But it's always great to get other eyes on my work, especially eyes of people like yourselves who are artists and who have had work published here.  I really appreciate your input.  
 
I did try Doreen's idea with curves and liked the results very much.  
 
Have made the decision to take the computer into the Apple store and have someone there work on the monitor calibration with me.  As long as my photoshop settings are what GCU is looking for, if I get the monitor exactly right (although I re calibrated yet again yesterday ... three times actually, lol) and go in and change all the ones that seem dark a bit ... I'll guess I'll be good.
 
Thank you all again so much for your thoughts!!!!!
 
Best,
Lois

Hello Loi
 
Okay, my Christmas Card, which unfortunately isn't on my site anymore:  
 
www.greetingcarduniverse.com/grandmadearcards
 
also printed out darkly.   My cards also start out as photographs.  And come to think of it, it was a bit dark like your pumkins.  Lately I have been messing around a lot more with Adobe Photoshop and I will be sure to lighten it.  Thanks for your posting because all these suggestions should help me too.
 
I would also like it to be what you see is what you get.  I love your site.  Your cards are fantastic!
 
Teri