Bay Print black level

Dreamspinner

It appears to me that any areas of the JPG that I send to Bay that have a brightness lower than 4.5% show as black on the print. I first noticed on my huey calibrated monitor that there were details in the darkest part of my images that weren't showing on the lustre print. I do understand the difference in perceived brightness of a monitor that emits light and a print that reflects light. So to rule out monitor calibration I looked at a print under very bright light and searched for absolutely black areas.Then in CS4 I moused over over them on the submitted JPG while looking at the info panel. That's how I came up with 4.5%. I'm not looking to have anything reprinted, as it's mostly in the background of the last batches. Nor am I saying that Bay is doing anything wrong - I'd just like to be more in tune with their process

My work flow is sRGB in camera, RAW > DPP convert to exif TIFF > PS > JPG with sRGB embedded. I then have Bay adjust the prints.

How can I make the near-black levels more accurate next time? - I can bump up black in PS 'curves' or in DPP but that seems arbitrary.

Andy

Email, attention SteveM at our help desk with links to photos and order# from past order with issue. We'll help.