Pictures print out too dark

[imgod2u]

Ok, I use to think it was a problem with my Lexmark printer, so I switched to a Canon printer. Then I thought it was a problem with the photo paper i used, so I used Canon's deluxe photo paper. But my pictures still come out too dark. I was on a Lexmark Z51, then a Z52, and now a Canon S600 and the pictures all come out too dark. I've even went into the drivers and specifically selected light, taken the intensity and brightness down and yet it still doesn't come out the way it looks on my monitor (I think it looks better on my monitor). Things that I can see perfectly on my monitor are too dark on the printout. Anyone have any ideas? My monitor is an LCD with 250 cd/cm^2 brightness and I have it at full brightness with 9700k color temp. I'm printing in Adobe Photoshop and these pictures were from my Kodak DC280 digital camera (although this problem isn't specific to photos from my digital camera.). Can anyone help?

 

[sechs]

Have you adjusted Photoshop's colour matching for your printer instead of your monitor?

 

[imgod2u]

You mean in color settings? Yes.

 

[sechs]

I presume that the printers are CMYK and the pictures RGB.

Are you converting the pictures before printing? If so, what are your conversion options?

 

[Peter]

Unless you use some color matching software to calibrate all your devices against each other, things will always look different - and even then, they still will, because monitors glow and paper doesn't.

Good software can do a scan-print-scan-compare cycle of some reference image card provided with the software, so that the software learns about the scanner's and printer's colorspace.

It's an art. Don't believe the ads - proper photo printing is NOT a matter of pushing a button.

 

[imgod2u]

Ya, I'm learning that more and more. What type of software would I need? Which have you used and which have you had the best experience with?