Print proofing issue?

[alexnail]

I've posted this question on a different site but without any responses and I wondered if I might find some help here!

I've just applied some print profiles to my images and the colours have lost their punch and contrast. There are also slight colour shifts in the shadows of certain images.

I am applying a Hahnemuhle Photorag profile the was produced by theprintspace. I understand that as a matte paper I can expect a lower contrast and lower saturation.

You can see a side by side of one of the worst affected images below:

I have 3 questions:
Assuming the print profile is correct and my monitor is calibrated, should what I see on screen closely resemble the final output?
Can I subsequently edit the image to bring back that colour and contrast?
Would this approach be advisable or is it standard practice to leave the image unedited?

Thanks for your help!

Alex

 

[Chappers]

When you profile your printer, the profile takes into account what the printer can produce using the paper and ink you have. It doesn't modify the output to match the screen. It "characterises" the print environment. To see the effect of the printer profile ( and hence the how the image will print ),you need to use "Soft Proofing" This enable you to see on the screen the what the final print will look like . Several applications support Soft Proofing, one of them being Photoshop.

Soft proofing isn't difficult to set up. Rather than go through it all here, Google " Soft Proofing in Photoshop" and you'll get several hits giving a step by step procedure. It really isn't that difficult .

The idea of soft prooofing is to give you the ability to adjust the the image so that it prints as you want it to. The problem is, that if media you are using cannot reproduce the dynamic range you want then making adjustments in soft proofing wont get you back to the original colour and saturation, the system simply can't reproduce those colours or contrast.

I'd try using soft proofing with your existing set up and see if you can get to the results you are aiming for.

If you like Hahnemuhle paper but need something with more dynamic range, I'd opt for Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl. Alternatively you could try Ilford Gallerie Fine Art Pearl , which I personally prefer. ( And the Ilford canned profiles are very good, well at least for the Epson 2880 they are)

If you have gone to the trouble and expense of having you printer profiled then I'd opt for the soft proof option. This way you get close to what you see on the screen rather than printing and hoping

 

[brianw]

I use Photospeed Platinum Gloss (which isn't glossy, more a good satin!) and profiled it myself using my ColorMunki which also profiled my monitor.

What software do you print with? If Photoshop, make sure to set photoshop (or any other software) to print using the correct paper profile and not let the printer manage it. Also ensure the driver is set to no colour management or to ICM as you might be applying a profile ontop of the printer driver also trying to colour manage the print.