Editing for Print: Why We Edit Photos with Print in Mind

In today’s digital world, it’s easy to assume that a photo should look perfect on every screen. But screens vary—your phone, laptop, or tablet all display brightness and colour differently based on ambient light and settings. That’s why we edit our photos with print in mind, ensuring they look their best in a tangible format.

The Difference Between Screen and Print

Screens use backlighting to display images, making colours appear vibrant and bright. And the whites really white and bright.

Printed photos, on the other hand, rely on reflected light. The type of paper used also affects the final look, influencing contrast, sharpness, and colour tones.

When editing for print, we work in a controlled environment with calibrated screens. This ensures the final image translates accurately onto paper, whether you print it yourself or use a professional service.  If a digital version of the file looks overly bright on your screen, it’s likely due to automatic brightness adjustments. Viewing the image in the evening, when your screen’s brightness is naturally lower, often resolves this perception.

Key Considerations for Print vs. Digital

• Colour Mode: We ensure we edit our images correctly to match our pro lab colour requirements.
• Resolution: High-quality prints require 300 pixels per inch (ppi), whereas digital images often display at 72 ppi.
• Brightness & Contrast: Prints can appear darker than digital files, so adjustments are made to maintain balance.

Achieving the Best Print Quality

At Unscripted Portraits we try our best to ensure consistency between what you see on screen and the final printed image:

• We calibrate our monitor to display true colours – we try our best to match our chosen pro lab.  So if you print via ourselves, our prints should match our screens.  If you print with your chosen printer (supermarkets or via online) we cannot guarantee their prints as their printers will be set up differently and they may use different paper stock, although, we hope they would still have good results as we really try to ensure our images are edited in such a way that they should work with multiple suppliers.**
• Compare digital and printed versions in good lighting.
• Choose the right paper, as different types absorb ink differently.
• We work closely with our pro lab and make adjustments to our screens and run test prints.

By prioritising print accuracy and editing for print, we ensure your photos stand the test of time—whether displayed on a wall, in an album, or as a framed memory.

The digital file may look different across various screens, but when printed, if you choose our pro-lab prints, it will look just as it was meant to be: beautifully captured and professionally preserved.

**should you like to print your own images, instead of ordering through us, we would recommend using: https://riverandcoast.co.uk/ – they are northeast based and lush!

READY TO JOIN THE REVOLUTION?

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