Getting prints to match what is on the screen is a complicated topic that is discussed at great lenth in many photo fora on the internet.

As well as the excellent suggestions outlined above, could you please describe what settings you are using in the printer driver, what printer profile you are using, what printer inks and papers are being used on your home printer, what applications you are using to view your pictures on the screen, do you know if those viewing applications are colour managed and if so what colour space they are set to, is the monitor calibrated, are you shooting jpeg and if so, is the camera set to sRGB or AdobeRGB, if you shoot in raw, what colour space is the raw convertor set to output in?

I hope you can see there's a lot more to it than just blaming the camera. Matching print to screen is a complex process that will take some effort to get right, but don't worry, once you've got it right, it won't really need touching again.

Duncan

Donnington Park 1990 British GP
Pentax SF7 (not the ideal sports camera by any stretch of the imagination), budget 75-300 Sigma, taken from the stands. Scanned from small 6x4 prints and lost a lot in the process.







In my experience, good panning technique is far more important than equipment for motorsport photos. Practice, practice and more practice..... Thankfully this is a lot cheaper with digital.

In the mean time, you could have a go with this photoshop tutorial of a technique to simulate an ND grad.
http://www.thedigitalphotographyconnection.com/pfdp_player.php?ID=58

The presentation style is a bit "dry" and the intro is a bit too jazzy for its own good, but the last 2/3rds are well worth learning.

Duncan

If you boil water for a minute first, then allow it to cool and freeze it, it will have very few small bubbles. I've been told that if you put cling film on the surface of the hot water just after boiling, you get no bubbles at all, but haven't tried the latter.

Duncan

Thanks for the feedback, your hard work and efforts are much appreciated. I'm a bit confused by your comment on the size of my picture. It is 800 pixels high, I reposted after I initially realised I was over the size limit (and sent John a PM accordingly). Perhaps your browser cache is pulling in the original?

Oh, and it is condensation on the glass that's given it a foggy look, I deliberately left it there as I thought it enhanced the coolness of the image. The point of focus is right on the very front face of the glass.

Thanks for the placing anyway, much appreciated. Congratulations to Gartmore.

Duncan

Chill Out and Get a Zest For Life




K10D, Sigma 105, Metz 58AF-1

Sounds like a colour management issue to me. What have you got Lightroom set to for it's output colour space? What application are you using to view the "flat" images with?

From the symptoms you describe, I'd take a guess that you have Lightroom set up to output images with an AdobeRGB colour space (or another relatively broad colour space), and you are viewing the results in a non colour managed application that is utilising the sRGB colour space.

Just my 2 penneth.

Duncan

The thing that would put me off the Samsung would be the reduced level of 3rd party software support for it. For example, Capture One does not directly support the Samsung models, and DNG isn't quite the universal format that Adobe would have you believe.

Duncan

Just like to say this is a brilliant thread and wholeheartedly agree with the comments and ideas about looking harder to see things. There is far too much discussion on "gear" on web fora, it's highly refreshing to see people discussing how you "see" pictures, rather than the pixel peeping so often seen elsewhere.

I have a good friend who often says "there's nothing to take pictures of" and when I suggest things pretty much along the lines of things that have already been said above, a light bulb goes on (briefly). He, and his wife, have rarely been exposed to anything beyond family snapshots and landscapes lacking a point of interest, so he has difficulty seeing the potential of what is all around. I'll take a picture and show him, and he'll say "I'd have never thought of that".

In order to learn what can be done, you have to look at the work of others, take on board the comments and ideas of others, When you look at books and magazines, don't just look at the "product", look at the photos, think about how they've been done. Take inspiration, say "I'll have a go at something like that".

Super thread, keep it up.

Duncan

Agree that the 'line up' is two-a-penny and think that of the three it's the one that certainly should have been rejected. I also agree with your comment that the pilot is out of focus on the '1st alternative' submission, though the tip of the prop spinner appears to be in focus. Of the three, I think you chose the right one. The picture with the pilots examining the aircraft has a much better feel of a job being done. The composition of the alternative entry is better, but the original entry has a more workman like feel that fits the them better.

Duncan