OT: Color Management in Digital Photography
 

Argh! I'm going to pull my hair out! I'm a compete noob to digital photography and I'm doing a self-taught crash course. This is not working out so well. :)

Here's my problem:

I want my pictures to print the way it looks on the screen.

I know I need to get my monitor calibrated...but how does that relate to the vendor I will use to print my photographs? Do I need to use a specific profile to match the printer the vendor uses? How does this work? I'm so confused. I'm not a photographer. I don't know where to start with all of this technical crap.

And I don't have Photoshop. I have some basic editing software at the moment. I may be able to get Photoshop Elements (if that's what it's called), but I cannot afford the real deal at the moment. I want to learn this before I invest some big bucks. Can anyone help me?

For free or low cost software recommendations Bleeping Computer forum is very good. In the Software section try Graphics Design and Photo Editing. They may be able to help on your other issues as well. It is not a photography forum but is top notch on computer hardware and software.

Hope this helps!

Try out this website for answers: Digital camera reviews, photography techniques, photography gallery and photography forums
They have absolutely LOADS of techniques on there!!!
Hope you find the help you're looking for.
Oh by the way..it's called ephotozine. When I posted the link it didn't show that!.

Probably the best photo site for all types of photo info is photo.net. They have forums where you can get all your questions asked.

Adobe Lightroom is a good program to batch edit photos especially corrections like color, etc. I am pretty sure they have a free trial for 30 or so days. If you have an apple, Aperture 2 is a comparable program. I prefer it. They too have a trial. A free program for editing photos that is comparable to Photoshop is called Gimp. I think it is available for both Mac and Windows. It is at GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program. In terms of getting software cheaper companies usually give big discounts to students. Even if you take one class at a community college you qualify.

Here is a site that gives printer profiles for professional digital labs Using Printer Profiles with Digital Labs. Otherwise for how to calibrate your monitor for your own personal printer and stuff like this you should check google and photo.net. They are prob your best bet. If you really want photos printed well the best way to go is find a good lab that consistently works with professionals. Here in SF that lab is Photoworks (Digital Photo Printing Bay Area Photography Services | Photoworks San Francisco). I know they take online orders. There is probably one closer to you. I am sure there are people in the photo.net forums with recommendation for print shops that ship.

Oh yeah, I print my photos at Costco because it is so cheap and here in SF they do a really good job actually. However, I have printed at other Costcos and the photos have a blue cast and come out dark. So you might have to check a couple in the area. I also prefer printing lustre (matte) to glossy— I think at Costco (maybe in general) they come out better. The other pro about Costco is you can return anything. So if they do have a blue cast just return them.