Soft Proofing

Why Your Prints Look Nothing Like Your Screen (And How to Fix It Before the Client Sees It First)
Photography Business

Why Your Prints Look Nothing Like Your Screen (And How to Fix It Before the Client Sees It First)

I had a client call me in 2019, confused and a little embarrassed, holding a 24x36 canvas print she’d ordered through my fulfillment lab. The image on screen had been a warm, golden-hour portrait. What arrived looked like it had been shot through a green tinted window on an overcast Tuesday. She wasn’t angry. That almost made it worse. She just asked, quietly, if maybe the file had been corrupted somehow.

Why Your Prints Look Nothing Like Your Screen (And How to Fix It Before You Ruin a Client Order)
Workflow & Business

Why Your Prints Look Nothing Like Your Screen (And How to Fix It Before You Ruin a Client Order)

I once handed a client a 24x36 canvas of her family portrait and watched her face fall. The image on her wall looked like it had been shot through a brown paper bag. The deep blues in the background had gone muddy. The skin tones were orange in a way that no living human being has ever actually been orange. She was gracious about it. I was mortified. That print had to be redone at my expense, and the lesson cost me about $180 and a week of anxiety.