Colour Variation

Please note that PhotobookShop cannot be held responsible for images that have been taken on a camera that has not been set up by us, and used in conditions we have no control over.

When a photobook is produced it is printed with many other books in the same print cycle using the same colour profile and print procedure. Our printers are calibrated twice and sometimes even three times a day depending on the number of orders we are printing.

This means is that if there is a printing error, every book in that print cycle will be affected and every page of the book will be affected. It is not possible to print some pages in your book correctly and some with printing errors.

There will always be a difference between what you see on your screen and what is printed.

If you have never calibrated your screen, haven’t calibrated it recently or if the contrast and brightness controls have been boosted (as is the case with all laptops and most computers), once your photos are printed, the colours may appear different than what you see on your screen.

Computers and laptops always display colours in RGB which stands for Red, Green and Blue. RGB is the industry default for digital cameras and computers as it allows you to view colours true to life on your screen. The software converts all image files to RGB by default.

All printers operate on a different colour system, called CMYK which stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK. Therefore, an image displayed on your computer monitor (in RGB) will not completely match the print (in CMYK).

Due to these reasons, photos will also print out darker than you see on your screen. The photo on your screen is illuminated by the brightness settings on your computer, whereas there is no light behind the printed photo.

There is no way for our printers to know what the display on your screen is like, or your viewing conditions are; whether you will view your prints under bright lights, or in a darker room. We always recommend turning the brightness down on your computer or laptop for a more realistic representation of how the photos will print. If you have any photos which were taken at night, have shadows in them or are just generally dark the best thing to do is lighten them in our software. You can also lighten them in an external picture editor program if you have one, before you upload them to your photobook.

To lighten your photos in our software, simply click on the picture, click on the rectangle shape at the top of the right hand inspector, then click ‘Auto-Enhance’. If this doesn’t lighten it enough you can brighten it even more by increasing the brightness slider below the Auto-Enhance feature.