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Book coming back with color images way too dark


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Morgaan23

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We just sent our first book to be published. The 532-page interior, with 147 images (mostly color), looked great. The sample books (six of them) all came back with the naturally darker images VERY DARK, including maybe 50 of them on the interior and both on the cover. The gold type on the cover is also darkened up, so I think there may be a black setting I am thoroughly screwing up. Even the lighter images seem to be grayed a bit.

I am very, very new to working with Photoshop, and I would be so grateful if you would help through this problem. We are playing beat the clock on this book as our author died last February, and we mus have published the book and have it out there within a year to keep him eligible for rewards.

Can you help me, please?
 
Did you see a pre-press proof of the images? How did they look compared to the final printed images?

Was this printed offset (conventionally) or digitally?
 
JeffK said:
Did you see a pre-press proof of the images? How did they look compared to the final printed images?

Was this printed offset (conventionally) or digitally?
Click to expand...

Printed digitally. The digital proof was drop dead gorgeous. The book looks like somebody dropped it into a puddle containing a large oil slick.
 
Morgaan23 said:
Printed digitally. The digital proof was drop dead gorgeous. The book looks like somebody dropped it into a puddle containing a large oil slick.
Click to expand...
If the proof was good, then the printed book should match, especially if it was digitally printed.

This sounds to me like a printing problem. I would go back to the vendor, show him your samples, and ask for a reprint based upon the quality and approval of the pre-press proofs. You're going to get some resistance but the approved pre-press proofs show what they should have produced.

BTW - the proofs belong to you and they should return them to you in any case.
 
Morgaan23 said:
We just sent our first book to be published. The 532-page interior, with 147 images (mostly color), looked great. The sample books (six of them) all came back with the naturally darker images VERY DARK, including maybe 50 of them on the interior and both on the cover. The gold type on the cover is also darkened up, so I think there may be a black setting I am thoroughly screwing up. Even the lighter images seem to be grayed a bit.

I am very, very new to working with Photoshop, and I would be so grateful if you would help through this problem. We are playing beat the clock on this book as our author died last February, and we mus have published the book and have it out there within a year to keep him eligible for rewards.

Can you help me, please?
Click to expand...
Hi @Morgaan23
Is it possible for you to share one of the original file photos that you sent for printing.
There are several possibilities
1) A printing issue thought I think it is unlikely as most businesses are pretty careful to process them exactly how they are received
2) Your file image was not sent in the correct RGB space. Many book printers want them to be in sRGB space
3) The images were processed with a display set to bright. When this is done, it will be edited on your local monitor so it looks correct on your screen yet the color numbers had to be made much smaller (low in value) to make it look right on the bright monitor. With low color numbers, it will print dark on standard-calibrated printers.
Here are some guidelines for what luminosity to set the monitor too:
Set your monitor luminance to:
  1. 80–100 cd/m² → Best for most home & studio print workflows
  2. 100–120 cd/m² → Acceptable if your room is brighter or prints are viewed in normal indoor light
  3. Never 200–300+ cd/m² → This is why prints look dark
One can also tell if the color numbers are too dark. Open up the histogram panel and if a lot of the part of the image is below the mide point it will be dark.

Upload of the exact file that was sent to the publisher then some of this could be viewed and further advise you
Just some quick suggestions
John Wheeler

ADDED EDIT - When they send back digital proofs, and you view them on the same bright monitor, they will look correct even with low color numbers in the file. So a digital proof on the same monitor will not help you see the problem if it is a bright monitor.
 
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