I took a photo from my DSLR, brought it into photoshop, made some fixes, added some text and saved it in a few different formats (TIFF, JPEG). Then I uploaded it to an online photo printer. When I got the photo back, the contrast was totally off. It looked completely different than how it looked on the screen. I expected there to be some differences, but it looks more like I did something wrong. However, when I printed the photo on my inkjet printer, it looked very close to how it looks on the screen. Is there something wrong in the way that I created/saved the photoshop document/TIFF/JPEG? Or was there something wrong with the printer I chose?
Update: When I created the Photoshop document, I said it was CMYK (since I knew I was going to print it), but I have a feeling that might have been the problem. Also, when I saved the PSD as a TIFF, I left the checkbox that said "embed color profile" checked. When I unchecked that checkbox it made a significant different when I tried printing it again. Could this have been the problem? Should I not embed the color profile? Should I have chosen RGB instead of CMYK?
Also, I think calibrating your monitor is a great idea, but I don't think that's my problem in this case. I have already calibrated my monitor, plus I'm using an Apple Cinema Display, so the colors are already very accurate.