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Thread: Help with printing

  1. #1

    Help with printing

    I'm sure this is another pretty obvious question, but it's vexed me for several prints and a couple days, so...

    I'm printing a photo on an Epson 4880, and the color is way off. I'm not talking an artistic nuance, this is like I've saturated things to the point of cartoonishness.
    I've tried having the printer manage color, photoshop manage color, color management off. I've made sure the paper type is correct, and it's printing on the correct side, but it looks terrible. It looks great on the screen (iMac OS X for what it's worth). Suggestions?

  2. #2

    Re: Help with printing

    Uh, ok, nevermind. Print head cleaning seems to have fixed it.
    See? I knew it was something dumb.

  3. #3
    A.K.A Lucky Bloke ;-)
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Miami Beach, FL, USA
    Posts
    660

    Re: Help with printing

    Greg, allow me to suggest to always do a "Nozzle Check" before you start the printing session.
    It will save you a lot of time and paper.

  4. #4

    Re: Help with printing

    I have a new problem, but similar, so I'm posting in the same thread:

    My prints look much darker on the printer than on the screen.
    I've done a nozzle check - it's fine. I've gone through the simple calibrations on the monitor. I've tried printing with the printer managing color, and with photoshop managing the color, and they all come out the same. Again, this isn't a subtle taste thing (I know it's never exact) - it's really dark and muddy. I can correct (mostly) by making the screen version really really bright, but that's a bad solution.

    I'm just positive if someone who knew what they were doing saw this, they'd know exactly what I'm doing wrong, but I can't find it for the life of me.

    Help?

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    The Desert * Phoenix AZ
    Posts
    133

    Re: Help with printing

    Hey,
    Inkjetart.com will do a profile for like $25 bucks. It is the bast money you will ever spend. OF SHo!

  6. #6
    Alex Timmermans
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Holland
    Posts
    589

    Re: Help with printing

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Gibbons View Post
    I have a new problem, but similar, so I'm posting in the same thread:

    My prints look much darker on the printer than on the screen.
    I've done a nozzle check - it's fine. I've gone through the simple calibrations on the monitor. I've tried printing with the printer managing color, and with photoshop managing the color, and they all come out the same. Again, this isn't a subtle taste thing (I know it's never exact) - it's really dark and muddy. I can correct (mostly) by making the screen version really really bright, but that's a bad solution.

    I'm just positive if someone who knew what they were doing saw this, they'd know exactly what I'm doing wrong, but I can't find it for the life of me.

    Help?
    Mostly this is caused by 2 things.

    your screen is way of

    or you are using a wrong setup in your driver.

    do you have any ICC profiles ?
    Did this happened before or is this the first time using your printer

    alex

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Hudson Valley, NY
    Posts
    1,692

    Re: Help with printing

    First things first, is your monitor calibrated and profiled? If not then you can do everything else correctly and still end up with a print that looks very different than what you see on your monitor.

    If it is, use Photoshop Manages Color and Color Management Off. Assuming you do not have a custom printer profile for the paper you are using, point to the printer profile provided by the paper manufacturer for your printer/paper combination, and set the paper type based on what the paper manufacturer indicated for the printer profile. Rendering intent will usually be Relative Colorimetric or Perceptual.
    If you do all this your print should be pretty close to what you see on your monitor, although it isn't uncommon for people to perceive that their print is slightly darker than the image on the monitor.

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    17

    Re: Help with printing

    I agree with Greg Miller's advice. Also, what kind of monitor are you using?

    You can also do a soft proof in Photoshop which will at least give you an idea of how the image is going to look when printed on the specific paper you are using. To do this go to View>Proof Setup>Custom. In the dialog box select the paper profile for the specific paper you will be using. If you do not have a custom profile use the profile from the paper manufacturer, usually downloaded from their site. Select "Perceptual" or "Relative" for the rendering intent; Black point compensation; And Simulate paper color. Save this so that you can easily select it in the future.

    Go to View>Proof Setup and select the saved profile you just made. To toggle the soft proof on and off, press command+Y. The resulting view is how the monitor is interpreting how the image will look on that specific paper. Of course it is not exact, after all, you are viewing an illuminated monitor which is very different from a photographic print, but it can certainly help in your print workflow, and help to identify problems you are having with print accuracy.

    Best,
    Patrick Allen
    www.KenAllenDigital.com

  9. #9

    Re: Help with printing

    Great help everyone, I can't thank you all enough. I really couldn't solve it without you.

    Following Greg Miller's advice, I re-calibrated my monitor, and that did the trick. I don't know how it got un-calibrated, but my son plays WoW on my computer so who knows?

    I have an iMac, and I just used the Mac calibration routine. It seems to have done a pretty good job. Anyone think I should pop for calibration hardware?

    Also, thanks Patrick! I'd have saved a lot of printing if I'd known about soft proofs before.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Dec 1997
    Location
    Baraboo, Wisconsin
    Posts
    7,697

    Re: Help with printing

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Gibbons View Post
    I have a new problem, but similar, so I'm posting in the same thread:

    My prints look much darker on the printer than on the screen.
    I've done a nozzle check - it's fine. I've gone through the simple calibrations on the monitor. I've tried printing with the printer managing color, and with photoshop managing the color, and they all come out the same. Again, this isn't a subtle taste thing (I know it's never exact) - it's really dark and muddy. I can correct (mostly) by making the screen version really really bright, but that's a bad solution.

    I'm just positive if someone who knew what they were doing saw this, they'd know exactly what I'm doing wrong, but I can't find it for the life of me.

    Help?
    What paper/printer profile are you using? What does "simple" calibration mean?

    When prints are off it's often because your monitor isn't properly calibrated using a good calibration system such as Spyder III Pro or EyeOne or because you aren't using a color profile that's matched to your paper and printer. The manufacturer of your paper may have a profile for your printer on its web site that you can download.

    If your monitor is properly calibrated and you're using the paper manufacturer's profile (or have had a custom profile made) then you probably have some setting wrong in your color software or in Photoshop. You should let Photoshop manage color and turn color management off in the printer.

    You do need tor realize that your monitor is back-lit and your prints are lit by reflective light. So there's never going to be a 100% exact match between monitor and printer. But it should be very very close, like maybe 95%, certainly close enough so that by viewing the monitor you know what the print will look like.
    Brian Ellis
    Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
    a mile away and you'll have their shoes.

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