Pixma Pro 100 Photographs too Dark

[devbarnes]

I'm running Windows 10, Elements 14, and printing with a Pro 100. The prints come out much darker than the screen. It seems the only way I can get decent prints (compared to my computer screen) is a sort of trial and error exercise of increasing the brightness in Elements and hoping for the best. I don't think its my computer screen, although I could recalibrate. I downloaded the most recent driver but that doesn't seem to help. Suggestions?

[Waddizzle]

What you see on your monitor can be very misleading.  It sounds like you need to use a calibrated screen, both for brightness and color balance and temperature.  They make systems that can help you calibrate your monitor like the ColorChecker  System from X-Rite and the X-Rite ColorMunki Smile Color Calibration Solution.

Personally, i do not use it.  My photo prints are not so critical that I need a monitor calibration.  But, I do not rely on my eyeballs to tell me what is correct, and what is not.  Most post processing software provides histogram displays of your images.  I use histograms to check for brightness.  I might use a custom white balance target when taking the shots, but usually not.  Canon's DPP software provides you with a histogram as you make edits.

Sophisticated image processing software, like Adobe Lightroom, provide even more sophisticated indicators than histograms.

[jrhoffman75]

See this article:

http://www.outbackphoto.com/printinginsights/pi049/essay.html