Blurb Forums

Very, very disappointing print !!!

I started this thread over in the "general"-section, but then I realised that it actually fits here. I don’t hope people think I’m spamming the forum.

Anyway …

A couple of weeks ago I made a "testbook" for the sole purpose of seeing what the Blurb-printers were capable of (click on my profile to see it, it’s the only book I have). I got my book today … and I am VERY disappointed !!!
The colors in the photos are much darker, and looks dirty, and it feels like the jpg’s have been shrunk in resolution, from a quality 12 (highest in PS CS3) to a 4 (?).  I made some tests with pure colors, and the clear cyan was just horrible. I would like to know if this is what is to be expected from Blurb, or if this is one of those "dutch-printer problems"?

Here are some scans…

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/01-8.jpg

Here is the sam epicture in 3 different ways. First the original from the camera, then Blurbs print, and lastly a print I made on my personal printer. I think Blurbs print is very dark, too much contrast, and just plain too dirtylooking.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/02-3.jpg

Same problem here:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/03-3.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/04-3.jpg

And here are a couple of letters … this is Verdana at size 60 and 72 point. Pay attention to the zagged edge on the Y.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/05-2.jpg

And here we have Time New Romans at 72 points … same problem:
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/06-1.jpg

And finally, a scan of the cover, with a problem that I have absolutly no idea what is … the stroke on the letters are not always printed!!! What the heck?!!
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/07-1.jpg

Yes, I have contacted support, but they havn’t answered me yet – my main goal with this is to find out if this is a freak print, or what is to be expected!

Comments?

Well, they HAVE gotten back to me know, and I have gotten a "refund" (not really a refund, but I don’t remember what they call it), so that I can use the money I spend on this book, on another. I’m going to try and make the same book, just in a fomat slightly bigger. Some say that COULD solve the problem.

From MY personal experience, I say AVOID the 7×7 inch book. The produck sucks!!!

udgang99,

I was wondering if you have done this venue such as having your monitor calibrated? Did (or do) you have calibrated device (and software that comes with device)? If no, I suggest that you ought to get one for your monitor. It is very important tool. It is ideally tool for professional designers or photographers’ toolbox. I don’t know if you are doing this in your work as professional photographer or that you are doing this as hobby. So I’ll just leave at that.

But the idea of having calibrated device and use it reguarly, this itself will save you lot of time, money and all troubles down the road.

Part of it, along with color management, it is kinda tough topic to understand this and that, and all other related to the topic all together. Like calibrated device, it is part of color management. Not all to that, but there are lot more to it.

If you want to learn more about color management, perhaps it is a good time for you to run an errands to bookstore such as Barnes Noble Bookseller in your town or nearby large metro city near you… or your local public library might have some book on the topic related to color management. Color management IS very important subject.

I am wondering if you have converted all of your photos TO sRGB profile? Did you soft-proofed, no? If you didn’t do soft proof as yet, you are encouraged to run a search query on “soft proof”, where you will find many discussion on the topic fairly often here at Blurb forum. They are all over the place!

Hope that helps and let us know if you need some more help.

Hey guys – thanks for the replies!

No, I havn’t calibrated my monitor, but the problems I’m experiencing won’t be solved by a calibrations.

Exampel 1:  http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/01-8.jpg
If you take a good look at the top color, the cyan, you can see it’s "dirty and gritty", where it’s suppose to be a pure cyan color.

Exampel 2: http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/04-3.jpg
Look at the sky – same problem. It’s dirty, where the origianl photo is a clear color.

Exampel 3: http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/06-1.jpg
Look at the lines … they are suppose to be smooth, and not ragged.
Here is a link to the original image that I used for the book: http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/04b.jpg

Exampel 4:  http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/07-1.jpg
The problem here is that the text has a thin black stroke around it, but SOMETIMES the stroke dissapears.

I’m confident that these problems won’t dissapear if I get my monitor calibrated. It’s a problem with the printer… am I right???

All these pictures are made in Photoshop CS3 at 2063×2067 pxl (as suggested by BookSmart to be the ideal size for the 7×7 inch book) – all saved in 300 dpi, of course, and saved as jpgs in the highest quality (12).
I’m pretty sure all images are saved as sRGB … here is the setting in Photoshop: http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/udgang99/colorsettings.jpg

If you guys have ANY solutions to my problems, I would be VERY happy!!! I just don’t think a calibration of my monitor will take care of the above stated problems.  

Hate to say this but I just got my book today and it looks very close to how it looked in booksmart. As I mentioned in one of the other postings, I was a little paranoid because of some of the forum posts that I’d read.

The printed book looks tons better than I’d ever imagined.