Digital prints too dark

[kmaultsby]

Hey everyone I really need some help here. I have an Epson R800 printer and I use I Photo to organize my prints. My images our JPEG 1600 x 1200 from my old 2 mega pix camera and 3072 x 2076 from my 7.1 mega pix camera. My pictures looks great on the monitor but went I print them out, they our much darker. What do I need to do to correct this? These are gloss prints.

 

[mkrishnan]

Obvious first question...have you calibrated your screen?

 

[peterj1967]

Another thing that is often over looked is the light you look at the print under.

Look at it in real sunlight if you can if you can't buy a lamp with a color temperature of about 5000k. You can get a compact florescent from any home center, look at the back of the package and pick one with a color temperature of about 5000k. Should cost about 6 bucks.

Also, make sure you printer settings are correct for the paper you are using, that will make a huge difference.