Printer Profiles

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jontucker

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Jon
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I am trying to print some photos from CS3 (Mac) and I'm struggling to get the colours to match the screen. Now, my monitor isn't calibrated so I realise it's not going to be perfect but I think it should be better than it is.

I have searched this forum and followed the advice given to others that previously asked the question but now I have a different question (which I will get to in a sec)....

When I print I am making CS3 handle the colour matching and selecting what appears to be the correct profile for my printer/ink/paper. Also, I have changed the Proofing to 'custom' and selected the same profile as I am printing with. Great, now I can get the screen to match the printer and I can see the same dark/milky/orangey colours that my printer is going to produce.

But I don't want that. I want the printer to match the screen, so my question is... Now what? Do I use the proof setting and mess around with the image until it looks like it does in normal viewing (not in proof mode)? I would have thought that the whole point of using a printer profile is that it did that automatically for you. Am I missing something here? Help?? :(
 
Hi,

I think you've pretty much answered your own question...

you need to start with a calibrated monitor otherwise you've no idea how your shots looked out of the camera - changing your images to match your printer is only any good until you decide you want to get something printed elsewhere, then you'll have the same issues all over again

You have £1800 of DSLR - do it a favour by buying calibration software !!

Simon
 
simonkit said:
Hi,

I think you've pretty much answered your own question...

you need to start with a calibrated monitor otherwise you've no idea how your shots looked out of the camera - changing your images to match your printer is only any good until you decide you want to get something printed elsewhere, then you'll have the same issues all over again

You have £1800 of DSLR - do it a favour by buying calibration software !!

Simon
Click to expand...

I think you're right, I'll do that I think.

But, once it's done, that's not going to suddenly make my printer start producing the right colours... so, once the monitor is calibrated, what would I do to the image I have now to make the printer match the monitor?

I realise that any new work will be different because I will be working on it from scratch with a calibrated monitor.
 
Adobe do a tool that will give you some sort of calibration this it’s called Adobe Gamma
BUT not the same as the right tool But it will go some way to it.
Are you turning OFF your printer management as this is the one thing most forget or do not know about?
What printer is it and what paper?
 
my usual procedure is calibrated the monitor, then tweak the printer settings ie: colour intensity to match the monitor.
But really a calibrated monitor is a must to get somewhere to start from
 
Chaz Photos said:
Adobe do a tool that will give you some sort of calibration this it’s called Adobe Gamma
BUT not the same as the right tool But it will go some way to it.
Are you turning OFF your printer management as this is the one thing most forget or do not know about?
What printer is it and what paper?
Click to expand...

There is no option to turn off the printer management specifically but when I select 'Photoshop Manages Colours' in the print dialog, all the printer colour controls are greyed out (when I select 'Printer Manages Colours' they are not greyed out).

It's a Brother MFC-5890CN and the paper I'm using is HP Premium Photo Paper.

The profile for the printer does not include a paper option for this type of paper but when I 'Match Print Colours' in the print dialog, the white of the (on screen) paper changes to something very similar to the actual paper. If that makes any sense, or difference, I don't know :shrug:
 
jontucker said:
There is no option to turn off the printer management specifically but when I select 'Photoshop Manages Colours' in the print dialog, all the printer colour controls are greyed out (when I select 'Printer Manages Colours' they are not greyed out).

It's a Brother MFC-5890CN and the paper I'm using is HP Premium Photo Paper.

The profile for the printer does not include a paper option for this type of paper but when I 'Match Print Colours' in the print dialog, the white of the (on screen) paper changes to something very similar to the actual paper. If that makes any sense, or difference, I don't know :shrug:
Click to expand...
I think your in the wrong BOX to turn it of its in your printer controls Also I see you are uesing HP paper with a Brother printer WEll you willnot have the Paper profiles for the HP paper.
So you have not calibrated your monitor you got HP paper on a Brother printer and are not manging the printer, I think you start to see why your prints donot match your screen
 
Just had a lok at this printer as I do not know it and this is what I have found
Brother aims at the ambitious small office with its Brother MFC-5890CN colour inkjet multifunction printer, whose wide-format capability and cheap inks increase your in-house publishing potential without breaking the bank. Unfortunately, it's slow, and its design has a few drawbacks.

So not realy a photo printer might be your problem as well
 
Chaz Photos said:
I think your in the wrong BOX to turn it of its in your printer controls Also I see you are uesing HP paper with a Brother printer WEll you willnot have the Paper profiles for the HP paper.
So you have not calibrated your monitor you got HP paper on a Brother printer and are not manging the printer, I think you start to see why your prints donot match your screen
Click to expand...

Chaz Photos said:
Just had a lok at this printer as I do not know it and this is what I have found
Brother aims at the ambitious small office with its Brother MFC-5890CN colour inkjet multifunction printer, whose wide-format capability and cheap inks increase your in-house publishing potential without breaking the bank. Unfortunately, it's slow, and its design has a few drawbacks.

So not realy a photo printer might be your problem as well
Click to expand...

All good points Chaz, thanks for the replies.

I'm aware that I could spend some money and get perfect results but for the amount of printing I do (I mean photo printing, not office printing, which I use the printer for mainly) it's not really worth it. What i want to know is how I can get reasonable results from the kit I have because what I'm getting at the moment I dont think is reasonable.

So, back to my original question, once I have used the 'Proof'' mode in CS3 to view how the image will be printed (which is quite close to how the printer reproduces it) do I have to bugger around with the image to get it close to how it looked before I went in to proof mode. Or, is there a better way to do it to get the printer to print what I see when I'm not in proof mode?
 
Looking at your setup etc you have a fair few variables to contend with at the moment. Once you've sorted monitor calibration out I'd suggest using an online print company instead of your home printer...DSCL for example supply their printer profile so that you can "proof" the results on your calibrated monitor.

I don't think your home printer setup is helping much..take it out of the equation, using a decent online print service will prove more accurate/much higher quality and probably cheaper

Sorry to repeat myself but you've invested in a high quality DSLR and to get the best from it you really do need to look at everything else too...this seems to be the cause of many peoples disappointment in DSLR ownership

Simon
 
Yes, if I am to spend any money that seems the most sensible thing to spend it on so I am able to get good results if I use a printing service rather than my own printer.
 
There are too many variables to 'play' with. You must first calibrate your screen - the Mac screen profiler in the colour option shows a 'calibrate' button and works quite well, but a screen calibrator doesn't need to cost too much; I have used the Pantone "Huey" for some time. Others cost between £70 and £140
Then you must calibrate your printer, with your ink of choice to your screen; each ink/paper combination needs a specific profile. These can be produced with hardware like the Spyderprint, (cost around £230) which quickly pays for itself if you have several types of paper to use, and perhaps 2 (or more) printers. It takes about 5 minutes to produce a profile, once you get the method sorted.

I recalibrate my screen once a month, and the paper/ink combination whenever I change my cartridges: I have no problem in getting a print which looks like the screen now. When you are so confident of the result you will get, you will be printing all your masterpieces!

I must have wasted much more than the cost of the equipment before I bought it, just trying to find the answer by "Playing"!
 
I appreciate all the replies so thanks guys! But still no answer to my actual question...

Let's imagine for a minute that I HAVE calibrated my monitor and that the printer profile I'm using is the EXACT right one for my printer/ink/paper combination.

Now, when I press the 'Proof' button in CS3 I see a big difference in the colour/brightness/contrast to what I was seeing in 'normal mode' (I keep calling it normal mode... is it referred to as the colourspace? Like AdobeRGB maybe? :shrug:), what do I do about it? Or, would that not be the case with everything calibrated/profiled properly?
 
Don't worry about that "Proof" button. It relates to the professional uses of Photoshop CS; when something is sent out to be compiled elsewhere, that is what is used (I don't know exactly how). Most other software with which you can print doesn't have that function. To print on your own printer, you ignore it.
 
well well, I spent yesterday afternoon/evening trying to get our office Brother MFC-5890CN to print photos anything like the screen (Canon DPP), or at least without the black bleeding out everywhere!
I failed to get a really good print, so I'm really interested in this thread as I don't have a clue about profiles and got thoroughly confused as to what needs setting where.

but to make it more complicated I'm on a vista PC so you've probably got it easy !
 
But I am worried about it! Both Aperture and CS3 (which are the two apps I use) have onscreen proofing which shows you what the image will look like when printed with a particular profile.

When I use the on-screen proofing in CS3, it shows me an image that is fairly similar to what I get out of my printer. By 'fairly similar' I mean acceptably close, which surely means that the printer profile isn't all that far out!?

So, again, what do I have to do to get the printer to print what I see in normal viewing mode (as apposed to onscreen proofing mode). Or, to put it another way, what do I have to do to get the onscreen proofing and normal modes to look the same?
 
I am re-writing this because I have myself learnt something today.

Having for some months been diverted from printing by other pressures, I only recently went back to my photographic activities. Since last I printed, my G4 Mac died and has been replaced by a new 27" iMac. I have also started 'playing' with HDR.

That provides background to my realising that the proofing facility does have some value, IF YOUR PROFILES ARE NOT CORRECT. I omitted to re-calibrate my set-up, and used profiles from my old G4. HDR prints using these profiles showed areas of overload when printed, and these are visible in the "preview" function of Aperture; their general colour balance is good and photos which do not have the high gamma range of HDR output print perfectly.

I should have known better than to use those old profiles, and have wasted several more sheets of paper and millilitres of expensive ink!
 
So are you telling me that if the monitor is calibrated and the printer/ink/paper profile is correct, there will be no difference between the working colour space and the onscreen proofing?
 
jontucker said:
So are you telling me that if the monitor is calibrated and the printer/ink/paper profile is correct, there will be no difference between the working colour space and the onscreen proofing?
Click to expand...

I have a calibrated monitor and the correct printer profiles for the ink/paper I use and yes, the screen and printer output are as close as can be expected.

NEC spectraview 2690
Epson Stylus photo 1400
Fotospeed papers and inks.


Anthony.
 
One thing you have to bare in mind is what you see on screen is light, what you see on a print is light reflected which will change depending on what light you have hitting your print.
You will never get the same but if you proof it and you do not like what you see change it to suit.
Can’t say much more with your mix of components.
 
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