Pete said:
Having read this thread, my question is:
What is the best online resource for explaining in plain English how to do
color profiling for an Epson printer? Without buying special hardware.
The following is based on many hours of googling, reading printer
manuals, and printing test prints.
Google on "color calibration monitor". It's the monitor that's the
problem, not the printer. If it doesn't print what you see on the
monitor, that's the monitor's fault, not the printer's. Printers come
factory calibrated to produce certain colour tones with certain colour
profiles, which are included in the printer driver software. There are
also sources for other colour profiles. Be warned: the few I've found
are all for professionals, and cost loadsadough.
I haven't found any way of calibrating a monitor accurately that doesn't
use special hardware. The reason is that the hardware is reliable, but
your eyes aren't. If you're serious about high quality, repeatable
colour printing, you will need special hardware to calibrate the
monitor, and expensive software, too. There is no easy or cheap way to
get professional results. The few artists I've spoken with who print
their own work all told me that it took them a while to figure out how
to print their artworks (with archival ink on archival paper, etc.). But
most artists use professional printers to reproduce their work. Less
hassle, and more reliable in the long run. (BTW, most of them prefer
colour laser output - much more resistant to fading etc than inkjet.
Some use dye-sublimation, which gives stunning colours, but is very
expensive.)
For reasonably good calibration, google "colour chart" or "color
calibration chart". You will find a few that are free. Use them to set
your monitor to something that looks right, then print them, and
compare. You will find differences, so you can either set your monitor
to look more like the printout, or fiddle with the colour profiles in
your printer software. It's best to set your monitor. When satisfied,
print a sample page, and write settings data etc on it. Repeat for
different papers and different software. This is tedious, as you will
find that different papers and different applications will give
different results.
Don't use a photograph - your impression of its colours will be coloured
(pun intended) by your atttudes to the subject.
That's just for colour. If you're concerned with resolution and
photo-like colour gradation, try printing the same images at different
sizes. My Canon i960 offers pixel, resolution, and fit to page; that
seems to be pretty well standard. Printing the same image in all three
modes, and in different fit-to-paper sizes is an eye opener. One thing
it taught me is to use the highest optical resolution that your camera
(and scanner) offers. Setting the camera to take small pictures so that
you can get more on the card is false economy IMO.
Once you have found papers that work well with your printer, that is,
meet your standards for quality, stick with them. Do not shop for price
- cheaper papers generally use bases to buffer or neutralise the acids
in them, which will cause unpredictable colour shifts when you print. In
particular, avoid house brands. The big box stores buy paper in batches
from whoever supplies it at the lowest price, so there is no guarantee
of consistency.
If you want the best possible printing, take a disk or CDs with your
images on them to a professional printer, and pay accordingly. But shop
around - quality varies, as does price.
Good luck!
