Photo printing question

It does Board O. Try replacing the paper and give that a shot. Also what about the software that you use, it is possible that the settings were altered?
I can recall developing my own negatives and using paper that was old and sure enough the paper showed different dark colors.

Thanks, mareff. The software settings haven't been changed. I'll try some new paper.

the ink does dry out giving a darker appearnce

especially if you dont change ink cartridges often

When I did a lot of darkroom work (hobby) I would keep the paper in a refrigertor. If the printing paper is anything similar this should extend the life of the paper.

I agree with mareff. This is likely your problem.

I suspect it is more the settings of your printer that are not set for the right type of paper.
OR
Your screens is not "calibrated", meaning what you see on your screen is not what prints. Most screens that come with computers are of regular quality made for internet viewing etc... After a few year the screen goes out of wack. I have a spyder color calibrator that I succion cup onto the screen and follow the calibration process, I do it once a month. the calibration bring your screen inline with most photo printers profiles.

When you send out your print for a professional print, they will ajust the colors/tone of the print UNLESS you specify otherwise. They do it by defaut even the pro shops.

After a few years of fussing with my home printer, I've gone to dumping the files I want to print and taking them to the local camera store. They have a great kiosk that allows you to size, crop and otherwise edit your pics and then print on your choice of paper sizes and types. The fact that the manager there is super hot has nothing to do with this decision.

PH

Costco or some online photo site does a decent job with prints. At 32 cents per print or less, it sure beats fussing around with printers, special paper, and ink.

What Vinaigre said. If your monitor and printer are not calibrated, you are essentially just shotgunning what the finished print will look like. What you see is not what you will get.

You simply can't judge the outcome without calibration.

If you are going to do much serious printing at all, you need tools to do so. I also use the Spyder tools for both monitor and printer calibration but there are others.

Thanks. I can't find any calibration program for the printer, but it was working fine a couple of months ago and I didn't change anything. I'm going to have a friend print a photo on the paper I've been using and see if the paper is defective.