photo editing - How to edit pictures that have turned out to be too dark on print?

After a print review, all my pictures turned out to be too dark and dull. How should such a picture be edited, say on a picture editing software like Lightroom?

These are images that have been already edited to look almost right atleast on screen. I'm not sure but do I need to further increase the blacks, shadows and vibrance so that the pictures look better on print (this is what I think)?

Answer

All you need to do to preview your photos correctly on your screen is use a print profile.

I have always done this in Photoshop (and if you have Lightroom, you probably have Photoshop too).

You need to know exactly what paper you're going to be printing on (brand, style, thickness....everything).

Here's the paper I use to print my photos.

Usually, the manufacturer's website will have ICC downloads available for each of their products.

Here's what that looks like for the Ilford paper that I selected.

Note: You need to know what exact printer your photos are going to be printed on.

With your photo open, go to edit > assign profile.

Now from the dropdown, choose the ICC profile that you downloaded.

Note: You need to install the ICC profile on your computer before you will see it in the dropdown. If you have installed the ICC and still don't see it, restart your Adobe Application.

Here's my image before the profile is applied.

And here's the same image after my profile is applied.

As you can see, with my profile applied, my image has become very dark and the coloring looks odd. When you apply your profile to your images, you'll probably notice the same thing.

Once you have this preview on, you'll be able to make the adjustments you need to get the print that you want. :)