Scanned image looks great in monitor,but lab print shows pronounced blue cast

Digital Camera Scanning
1

I have just bought Negative Lab Pro for Lightroom (v2), and am in the process of experimentation. I wonder whether anyone has faced this problem: the scanned image looks great in my HP monitor, but lab prints show a pronounced blue cast. I’m using a Sony A7RM3 with Sony FE 90mm macro. The in-camera colour profile is set to sRGB. Would appreciate any help I can get.

2

Are you using a calibrated monitor? I have done some printing from NLP conversions and they are fine, lovely prints I would say.

3

Hi,

Good question. The in-camera colour profile will not matter if you are shooting RAW (because the sRGB in-camera setting is just for JPEGs made by the camera).

If your prints look different than what you are setting on screen, it’s possible that either your screen needs calibrating, or that you need to change the color profile you are using with the printer.

For calibrating your screen, there are various hardware options available on Amazon - search for “monitor calibration.” Personally, I use a MacBook and just follow Apple’s display calibration process (Go to “system preferences > displays > colors > calibrate” and just follow the guided steps).

If you are printing using Lightroom’s print module, make sure you are using the appropriate profile for your printer / paper in the color management section, which you would probably need to load separately from your printer manufacturer.

If you are using a third party lab for your prints, I would talk to them to see what kind of profile they prefer to work with, and you should be able to use Lightroom’s export function to export into that profile.

Hope that helps!

-Nate

4

Hi Carmen, hi Nate, thank you for responding. Since both of you are in agreement the blue cast seen in the prints has nothing to do with the in-camera profile,the finger of suspicion points at the lab. I calibrate my monitor variously with Xrite’s Colormunki smile and Display Pro. The lab I use has been giving satisfactory results so far, but this is the first time they have printed images copied from negatives using Negative Lab Pro. Will keep you updated. Thanks again.