R
RJK
(my last post on the subject!)
For those of you out there that have briefly wondered why photos don't seem
match what you were looking at on screen e.g. the printed photo is always
too dark, or the colours are never quite right. It's because you haven't
spent AGES reading up on, and getting to grips with, "Colour Management,"
and establishing a "colour workflow."
This sounds exotic, complicated, and time consuming, and there are countless
thousands of web pages that deal with the subject,
http://www.normankoren.com/ is HEAVEN in the form of a web site IMHO.
....and will save you VAST amounts of time !
It explains:-
How to profile your monitor, and make a new *.icc monitor profile, (that
becomes the default Windows monitor profile).
How to make the necessary few settings in graphics applications that support
colour profiles such as Paintshop Pro, and Adobe Photoshop,
and how to avoid having a colour profile applied twice before printing
(which really mucks things up).
How to set your printer driver, e.g. select ICM etc. to switch off
"automatic" printer handling of colour balance etc.
Apparently you can buy a "spyder" and special software to set up colour
management for you PC, printer, scanner etc. but, this is quite expensive,
and for the home photographer, the "visual" method works, so long as you
take your time and "squint" a bit, or use a mouse extension lead when
viewing those gamma / brightness setting screens
...using the free
WIZIWYG / Praxisoft monitor *.icc profiling software mentioned on the above
site.
....anyway, after many years, printers ....and rather a lot of wasted ink and
paper, I can now get a "predictable" , and often amazing photo first time !
The output from my Epson R300 5colour+black photo (dye based inks) printer
is now VERY good, and when printing photos from my Epson C82 3colour+black
(pigment based inks), which had only ever printed out mediocre prints
despite MUCH fiddling and tweaking in graphics apps, and printer driver
settings etc. I was VERY SURPRISED to find that it too, produces STUNNING
and BRIGHT photos.
I've had the C82 for months. and though that the "dull" photos it produced
was something to do with the "pigment based" inks and/or because it was only
a three colour+black printer.
Conclusion - do your colour management setup as outlined in the above
website - IT'S WELL WORTH THE EFFORT.
regards, Richard
For those of you out there that have briefly wondered why photos don't seem
match what you were looking at on screen e.g. the printed photo is always
too dark, or the colours are never quite right. It's because you haven't
spent AGES reading up on, and getting to grips with, "Colour Management,"
and establishing a "colour workflow."
This sounds exotic, complicated, and time consuming, and there are countless
thousands of web pages that deal with the subject,
http://www.normankoren.com/ is HEAVEN in the form of a web site IMHO.
....and will save you VAST amounts of time !
It explains:-
How to profile your monitor, and make a new *.icc monitor profile, (that
becomes the default Windows monitor profile).
How to make the necessary few settings in graphics applications that support
colour profiles such as Paintshop Pro, and Adobe Photoshop,
and how to avoid having a colour profile applied twice before printing
(which really mucks things up).
How to set your printer driver, e.g. select ICM etc. to switch off
"automatic" printer handling of colour balance etc.
Apparently you can buy a "spyder" and special software to set up colour
management for you PC, printer, scanner etc. but, this is quite expensive,
and for the home photographer, the "visual" method works, so long as you
take your time and "squint" a bit, or use a mouse extension lead when
viewing those gamma / brightness setting screens
...using the freeWIZIWYG / Praxisoft monitor *.icc profiling software mentioned on the above
site.
....anyway, after many years, printers ....and rather a lot of wasted ink and
paper, I can now get a "predictable" , and often amazing photo first time !
The output from my Epson R300 5colour+black photo (dye based inks) printer
is now VERY good, and when printing photos from my Epson C82 3colour+black
(pigment based inks), which had only ever printed out mediocre prints
despite MUCH fiddling and tweaking in graphics apps, and printer driver
settings etc. I was VERY SURPRISED to find that it too, produces STUNNING
and BRIGHT photos.
I've had the C82 for months. and though that the "dull" photos it produced
was something to do with the "pigment based" inks and/or because it was only
a three colour+black printer.
Conclusion - do your colour management setup as outlined in the above
website - IT'S WELL WORTH THE EFFORT.
regards, Richard