Photoshop Tip: Lighten images before printing

Lots of printers, including color labs tend to print a bit darker than what we see on screen.
There's a quick and easy way to compensate for darker prints.
Printing as Costco, for example, seems to work best by brightening images 15-30% before printing.

When your final image is ready:

• Create a Curves adjustment layer, don't make any changes, just click 'Ok'.
• Set the layer blending mode to 'Screen'.
• Adjust the layer opacity as desired. The opacity amount represents the equivalent brightness in exposure. 25% = 1/4 stop, 50% = 1/2 stop, etc.
• Recommended opacity: 10-30%, depending on your image. Darker images may need a higher opacity percentage.

Note: Keep this new curves layer above all other layers, so the entire image is brightened evenly.