Photo prints are darker than on screen

[ab3]

I recently went on a trip to India and on screen, most all of my pictures appear bright and brilliant. Upon having them printed at the Kodak kiosk at Wal-Mart ( I did the one hour option ), they have come back all slightly dark, as if I had shot them through a tinted window. What should be brown in some cases is almost black, and the colourful dresses, what should be bright red look maroon!

Aside from brightening each image (which is already quite bright onscreen), has anyone else had this problem? I have not had this problem before so I wonder if it is the store's settings?

[emalvick]

I recently went on a trip to India and on screen, most all of my pictures appear bright and brilliant. Upon having them printed at the Kodak kiosk at Wal-Mart ( I did the one hour option ), they have come back all slightly dark, as if I had shot them through a tinted window. What should be brown in some cases is almost black, and the colourful dresses, what should be bright red look maroon!

Aside from brightening each image (which is already quite bright onscreen), has anyone else had this problem? I have not had this problem before so I wonder if it is the store's settings?

I would guess that coming from Walmart, it is probably the store's settings. You may want to check things out from an online retailer if you can afford to compare results. I've never used Walmart, but my girlfriend has sneaked photos off my computer and used Yahoo Photos with nice looking results (and $0.19 / print). I know there are many better online printers too.

Erik

[Ray Schnoor]

I recently went on a trip to India and on screen, most all of my pictures appear bright and brilliant. Upon having them printed at the Kodak kiosk at Wal-Mart ( I did the one hour option ), they have come back all slightly dark, as if I had shot them through a tinted window. What should be brown in some cases is almost black, and the colourful dresses, what should be bright red look maroon!

Aside from brightening each image (which is already quite bright onscreen), has anyone else had this problem? I have not had this problem before so I wonder if it is the store's settings?
I wouldn't be so quick to say that it is the print settings at WalMart. It could just as easily be the settings of your computer monitor. It could be set too bright.

You don't say whether or not you have had photos printed at WalMart before. Have you had your photos printed elsewhere or at home in the past?

If your camera has a histogram feature, check to see if the histogram is bunched up on the left side of the scale. If so, then the photos are underexposed and you computer monitor is set too bright. If the histogram is spread out over the center of the scale, then it is probably the settings at WalMart.