Horrid Printing Problem

[GLSmyth]

I have been having a terrible printing problem for the past couple of days and just cannot figure out what is going on.


http://glsmyth.com/temp/GLS_0855.jpg


This is the image that I am trying to print, however, the results are this:


http://glsmyth.com/temp/img022.jpg


(Don't bother looking at the blown out areas, as this is cheap paper - I have used enough of my good paper on this.)

Basically, wherever I have deep black, this B&W print offers a blue color.

I have cleaned the cartridges (they have plenty of ink) and tried changing every option I can think of.

Does anyone have any idea as to what I can try next? This is kind of making me crazy.


Thanks -

george

[Leigh]

Hi, and welcome aboard.

There's a name for that problem, but I don't remember it.

I had a very similar issue with a good photo printer that I bought.
I took the prints back to the store where I got it, and they said "Yep, that's ... (whatever)".

The problem is that it's very difficult to print a true black. Color printers try to print color.
This is true for the entire gray scale, i.e. all truly neutral "colors" as would be found on a b&w print.

Even if you have a true "photo black" cartridge, that doesn't mean the photo software is going to use it.
It's much more likely to use a combination of the other colors, which results in a hue in the dark areas.

What printer are you using? Mine is a very good Canon.

- Leigh

[Jac@stafford.net]

It looks like an out-of-gamut indicator.

[Leigh]

How can black be "out of gamut"?

- Leigh

[Regular Rod]

George have you calibrated your monitor?

If your monitor is out and you make your images look as you want them on the monitor that is out, the printer will print your images as you have set them up and so on the paper they will look different from how you managed to get them on the monitor...

I use Spyder3 to calibrate my monitor and the printer gives me what I get on the screen. Prior to using the Spyder3 tool my images looked fine on the monitor but printed out dark and with a nasty colour cast.

RR

[djdister]

George,

A few of questions and one suggestion:
1) is the image a true grayscale image, or an RGB file with a B&W or grayscale layer?
2) are you using Epson Advanced Black and White mode printing?
3) what is your color management setting in the photoshop print dialog?

It looks to me like your color management profiles may have gotten sideways (or are in conflict), so I would suggest resetting them and starting over.

[Jac@stafford.net]

How can black be "out of gamut"?

- Leigh

When it is not really black, and when ink mismatches occur. OP - is your image in CMYK mode?

[Lenny Eiger]

Is the nozzle check perfect?

Lenny

[GLSmyth]

After several cleanings I got a good print. There may be something wrong with the cartridge because I started with problems, cleaned the cartridges, got a good print, then returned to the problems.



Cheers -



george