Like Leetas (see post June 16/09) I too am concerned that the images I am applying to my products will turn out too dark. The photo images look much darker than I intended once I have applied them to the products. Some products are not as dark as others, example, the paper products (greeting and note cards, calendars,etc)seem to turn out better. So I went back to my original images and lightened them up and reapplied these to my products and the images appeared much brighter in the Cafe Press Store.
So now I am not sure what to do. Even though the original photo downloads appeared too dark in Cafe Press does that mean that customers will find the images too dark on my products after they have ordered them too? Or will the images that I lightened up appear too light on my actual products?
Hopefully someone can provide some advice on this before I go throught a lot of photo editing for nothing.

Usually it's just the shadows on the photo of the item. For example take the tile coaster and the keepsake box. The photos were taken at different times and under different lighting conditions, and if you look at the blank thumbnails side by side the coaster almost looks grey in comparison. But both items really use the exact same kind of tile. (also on some people's computer monitors the amount of contrast is more noticeable than others).

If the item is not white but is one of the "light" colors... like the natural tote bag, or the pink, yellow, ash grey etc. t-shirts it actually is tinted with the shirt color because of how they print, like if you printed on pink, grey etc. paper on your home printer. It prints out pretty much like the preview shows. (Which to be honest is often more shocking to the eyes of the artist than to the customers )

Ultimately the best way to judge is order a sample., though as a general rule of thumb, if it prints out OK on your home printer it'll usually be fine.

During the last shopkeeper sale, i ordered a dark shirt, rec magnet, tile coaster, and postcards with the same design. they all ended with a different amount of "darkness" to them.