Topic awaiting preservation: Printing stuff

Hi, just wondering why, even after i f*ck with the print settings for days, I still can't get the colors to print like their displayed on my computer in Photoshop? Tnx.

"People who think they know everything are really just an annoyance to those of us who really do"

-counterfeitbacon

Probably because you're f*cking with the wrong things, or more likely the right things in the wrong way. I'm not impressed with how many days you f*cked with 'em. If you think you can lick it in a matter of days, get real -- real fast.

"People who think they know everything are really just an annoyance to those of us who really do"

Little less 'tude dude, maybe you'll have the sense to write something we can help with.

Ok, sorry about the "tude," but heres my problem, I have my monitor set to it's highest brightness setting because I like it that way, but my printer is set to a relativally low brighness, and it prints in CKMY color ( I don't know why ) and I always to my pictures in RGB. When I set my printer (an Epson 640) to RGB, it prints everything out in flat shades of Red, Green and Blue. Just wondering if any of you people out there have had the same problems and could suggest a solution. (Espon tech suppot is $h!t)

"People who think they know everything are really just an annoyance to those of us who really do"

-counterfeitbacon

You are saying you are getting 3 separate sheets of paper one for each primary when you print to your Epson?

What are your Source Space and Print Space settings in the PhotoShop print dialog?

jstuartj

"it prints in CKMY color ( I don't know why )" <--- precisely your problem.

Welcome to the world of reflective media and subtractive primaries. I didn't know you even could set the printer to RGB. By all means, return it to it's default . Keep your image in RGB if you wish - my understanding is that the Epson print driver converts an RGB file on the fly internally. The Epson driver has a bunch of color management choices of its own - in addition to jstuartj's question about the Photoshop color space settings, what is the Epson set to?

If you have your monitor set to max brightness because you like it that way that's fine, but don't expect a printer to be as adaptable as your eyes. Part of successful printing is reconciling all the hardware with each other, and you may need to accept that if good printing is a goal, and if the printer can only be adjusted so far, then part of the solution might be adjusting your monitor somewhat.

Will these images be printed anywhere else other than your personal printer? If no, it's a little easier to calibrate to a closed loop. If yes ...., it's a little more complicated.

Steve - I think your initial answer needs a little further exploration, as it is obvious that counterfeitbacon hasn't really grasped the basic concept of colour, much less colour adjustment of the monitor/printer. So I will dive in.

counterfeitbacon:

The way your monitor displays colour and your printer prints colour are entirely different, and never the twain shall meet (though they can sometimes come close).

Inside a computer monitor are three 'guns' that shoot red, green and blue light to the phosphors on the screen. The three light beams can be blended in varying proportions to produce the enormous range of colours possible on screen (16.7 million) - but all the colours you see are made from some combination of R, G and B, which are known as the additive primary colours. 0% of all three - the absence of light - gives black. 100% of all three colours gives white. (The same system is used for TV screens). This range of colours - 'gamut' - that it is possible to reproduce electronically is LESS than the number of colours we can see in the real world.

A printer makes colour by adding different inks (cyan, magenta, yellow - the subtractive primary colours) and black in varying proportions to the paper. The colour gamut possible with combinations of CMYK inks is a subset of the monitor gamut i.e. is LESS than what you can see on screen.

There is no direct relationship between the RGB you see on screen and the CMYK of printing inks. Which is why you can never get a perfect colour match between what you see and what you get. Even on superduper commercial printers.

Photoshop will tell you which colours you can view on screen that simply CANNOT be printed by a CMYK printer, by displaying an 'out of gamut' warning. If you try and print that colour, it will look dramatically different. PS will let you click on the alert symbol to switch to the closest 'legal' colour i.e. one that will print with CMYK inks.

The best you can get for faithful colour printing is by the use of spot colours, which are made from specific inks of that colour - NOT a mix of CMYK. Even so, a spot colour (for example, one specified by the Pantone colour matching system) still won't match what you see on your computer screen, although the printed version will be true to the printed product swatch. Of course, spot colours are usually only possible with commercial printers.

No matter how good the various colour management systems available for scanners, monitors and printers, there will always be variation, simply because of the totally different physics involved in producing colour on a screen compared to on a page. We see the former as projected light, the latter as reflected light.

So your lovely bright RGB images will not be printed as RGB images - the computer or printer will translate these into CMYK as these are the ink colours available. And unless you print on very white bright paper, the colours will invariably be duller. Note you cannot send RGB images to a commercial printer - they must first be converted to CMYK, but on a home printer, the software will be doing the conversion without you even being aware of it.

I hope this helps.

Good background survey Eggles, but not a lot for the one named for a forged porcine byproduct to grab onto.

I do believe we still need a sense of the perplexed one's current settings before we're able to offer much in the way of useful advice.

Thank you a lot everybody...I downloaded new print drivers for my epson and set its brightness and my monitors brightness to the same thing, the problem was tons of settings that (evidently) everyone who has my printer was with the Windnows 2000 Service Pack 2...Thanks.

{<<-<< >>->>}

I love a happy ending

This is off topic but Eggles I just wanted you to know that I find your background info *very* informative. Compelling teaching...good stuff!
Thanks.

--
Arcane
"Insanity is my vanity"
-Arcane Lifeforce Mysteria

Counterfeit,
You obviously did not read very clearly the illustrious commentary that Eggles gave us. Your printer drivers and monitor settings have NOTHING TO DO with how you are working with colors in photoshop or any other programs that print things. If you are going to take the easy way out, just convert all of your images to CMYK before you print. If it changes your image's appearance so much that it is unappealing, then you have to start over! It's best to deal strictly under CMYK (Gamut warnings will appear as stated by Eggles). Printers cannot possibly reproduce the saturation and intensity of all colors displayed on a monitor. Only those within its gamut. If you are working with images for the web...RGB. Printing?...CMYK. New drivers and monitor settings are not going to change the unavoidable m'man!

Aw gee, Arcane, thanks. I used to be a teacher in a previous life and I think it has carried over to this one. Now if i could just get my scanner working with my computer, i'd be a happy gal.