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Color management is a topic that fills books. However, by understanding a few basic concepts, you can solve a lot of color issues. The basic goal is predictability. You want to be as sure as possible that what you see on your screen will actually appear on the printed media.
Step 1 - Monitor Calibration: This is by far the most important step. Every monitor changes over time and needs to be periodically calibrated. In most instances weekly calibration is sufficient. If a monitor is not calibrated and you make an adjustment to the color to make it look "good", the actual color you are seeing is not what will necessarily be printed.
Many monitors or operating systems have built in tools that allow you to "eye ball" your calibration. Unfortunately this is not a reliable way to calibrate your monitor. It is often sufficient for web based and other purposes but unfortunately you will not be able to rely on this for accurate printing.
The most reliable way to calibrate a monitor is with an external device that hangs over the screen calibrates the color values to standard values. Good devices can be purchased for under $150. If you will be doing regular printing this is a very worthwhile investment.
Step 2 - Embedding Output Profiles: The next thing to do is get the profile of the output device you are using. When printing at Photopia you can download our current profile. This is a CMYK profile. We recommend that you create a copy of your digital images and then convert those copies to this profile. Do not convert your original files to this profile because the CMYK profile is a smaller color space than your RGB profile that is likely embedded in your files. It is also best not to make multiple conversions.
Step 3 - Image Adjustment: Now you have a monitor that is showing "standard" color, and your images have the color space of the printer embedded in them. At this point you can reasonably adjust your images for color correction and be more confident that what you see on the screen is what will print on the output device.