Color profiling help

[siboards]

What is a good way to determine which color profile to use with an
Epson Stylus Photo 890 printer?

I'm currently using the default sRGB Color Space Profile, but this
causes the magenta to be a bit too strong so all prints have a
*slightly* pink hue.

I seem to have a load of colour profiles in my selection list for the
printer and don't really feel like trying them all, so is there an
easy way to set the profile up, maybe with an external program that
allows you to match images on screen to an actual printout?


Thanks

 

[John Houghton]

The profile you select for printing should match the paper and ink you are
using. Epson supplies icc profiles for its own papers and ink. They may
well be present on your system and will have names like "EPSON Stylus Photo
890 Photo Quality Glossy Film". If you don't have the profiles, you can
download them from this page:
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/media_profiles/media_print_1.htm
On WinXP, put them in \windows\system32\spool\drivers\color.

In Photoshop, your working colour space can be whatever you like - srgb or
AdobeRGB, say. In Print with Preview, select your Source Space as
"Document" and Print Space as the appropriate paper media profile. Then in
the Epson printer driver settings, choose "No color adjustment" in the
advanced custom options. You should also run Adobe Gamma from the control
panel to calibrate your monitor. You should then get a reasonable match
between printer and monitor.

John