Printing with Photoshop and Epson

Sorry, I forgot to mention above that my operating system is a Mac OS X 10.3.9

Nino wrote:

I just started working with Photoshop CS. I’m using a new Epson 1800 printer. I’m running into a problem with Photoshop and print setting. Even thou I’m following all the directions, the image on the monitor is brilliant with good colors and saturation but when I go to print preview the preview picture on the monitor is flat with poor details and colors. The two images side-by-side on the same monitor don’t even look like the same picture. Any suggestion of what I’m doing wrong?

Ignore it. Print preview is not color managed. It’s not to preview the colors, only the position. Use ‘soft proofing’ the preview the colors.

—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/

Nino wrote:

I just started working with Photoshop CS. I’m using a new Epson 1800 printer. I’m running into a problem with Photoshop and print setting. Even thou I’m following all the directions, the image on the monitor is brilliant with good colors and saturation but when I go to print preview the preview picture on the monitor is flat with poor details and colors. The two images side-by-side on the same monitor don’t even look like the same picture. Any suggestion of what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks

It certainly sounds like a misconfiguration of the color management. It could be a bad profile for your paper too. What paper are you using and what profile?

When you go into the print preview of CS, how is the Color Space setup at the bottom? Very much related to this setting, how do you have the Color Management setup in the printer driver Properties?

There are two ways to print using color management. The Adobe recommended way is to select a profile in the preview Color Space that matches your paper. You then have to turn off the Color Management in the printer driver. By doing this you have Photoshop controlling the color management using the paper’s profile. About the only advantage I can see for this method is that the colors in that small preview of your page are correct.

The other way is to let the printer driver control the color. You do this by selecting "Printer Color Management" in the preview Color Space instead of a paper profile. Then in the printer driver Properties you turn on ICM and select the paper profile there.

I have the R800 (older, but smaller sister) and this works great for me. I get the same results with either method. Epson’s profiles aren’t exact, but they should be getting much closer than you described. I use Ilford paper and their spot on profiles for almost all of my Photoshop printing.

BTW, I get great prints from my R800. You should be able to get great prints from the R1800.

Let us know how you have color management setup and we’ll go from there.

Clyde

"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote:

Nino wrote:

I just started working with Photoshop CS. I’m using a new Epson 1800 printer. I’m running into a problem with Photoshop and print setting. Even thou I’m following all the directions, the image on the monitor is brilliant with good colors and saturation but when I go to print preview the preview picture on the monitor is flat with poor details and colors. The two images side-by-side on the same monitor don’t even look like the same picture. Any suggestion of what I’m doing wrong?

Ignore it. Print preview is not color managed. It’s not to preview the colors, only the position. Use ‘soft proofing’ the preview the colors.

Agreed. I only use Print Preview to verify that the print area and borders are accurate. Soft Proof with the intended media profile gives you a much more accurate projection of what a print will look like.

Clyde wrote:

Nino wrote:

I just started working with Photoshop CS. I’m using a new Epson 1800 printer. I’m running into a problem with Photoshop and print setting. Even thou I’m following all the directions, the image on the monitor is brilliant with good colors and saturation but when I go to print preview the preview picture on the monitor is flat with poor details and colors. The two images side-by-side on the same monitor don’t even look like the same picture. Any suggestion of what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks

It certainly sounds like a misconfiguration of the color management. It could be a bad profile for your paper too. What paper are you using and what profile?

When you go into the print preview of CS, how is the Color Space setup at the bottom? Very much related to this setting, how do you have the Color Management setup in the printer driver Properties?
There are two ways to print using color management. The Adobe recommended way is to select a profile in the preview Color Space that matches your paper. You then have to turn off the Color Management in the printer driver. By doing this you have Photoshop controlling the color management using the paper’s profile. About the only advantage I can see for this method is that the colors in that small preview of your page are correct.

The other way is to let the printer driver control the color. You do this by selecting "Printer Color Management" in the preview Color Space instead of a paper profile. Then in the printer driver Properties you turn on ICM and select the paper profile there.

In the Epson printer driver, you can only select a paper type, but not a paper profile.

I have the R800 (older, but smaller sister) and this works great for me. I get the same results with either method. Epson’s profiles aren’t exact, but they should be getting much closer than you described. I use Ilford paper and their spot on profiles for almost all of my Photoshop printing.

BTW, I get great prints from my R800. You should be able to get great prints from the R1800.

Let us know how you have color management setup and we’ll go from there.
Clyde

wrote:

Clyde wrote:

Nino wrote:

I just started working with Photoshop CS. I’m using a new Epson 1800 printer. I’m running into a problem with Photoshop and print setting. Even thou I’m following all the directions, the image on the monitor is brilliant with good colors and saturation but when I go to print preview the preview picture on the monitor is flat with poor details and colors. The two images side-by-side on the same monitor don’t even look like the same picture. Any suggestion of what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks

It certainly sounds like a misconfiguration of the color management. It could be a bad profile for your paper too. What paper are you using and what profile?

When you go into the print preview of CS, how is the Color Space setup at the bottom? Very much related to this setting, how do you have the Color Management setup in the printer driver Properties?
There are two ways to print using color management. The Adobe recommended way is to select a profile in the preview Color Space that matches your paper. You then have to turn off the Color Management in the printer driver. By doing this you have Photoshop controlling the color management using the paper’s profile. About the only advantage I can see for this method is that the colors in that small preview of your page are correct.

The other way is to let the printer driver control the color. You do this by selecting "Printer Color Management" in the preview Color Space instead of a paper profile. Then in the printer driver Properties you turn on ICM and select the paper profile there.

In the Epson printer driver, you can only select a paper type, but not a paper profile.

I have my Ilford profile in \windows\system32\spool\drivers\color I can see it in Photoshop in the preview box. I can also see it under the "ICC/ICM Profile" in the driver Properties. In the first pull down field the default is "Epson Standard". The next one down is my Ilford profile.

Clyde

"Nino" wrote in message

I just started working with Photoshop CS. I’m using a new Epson 1800 printer. I’m running into a problem with Photoshop and print setting. Even thou I’m following all the directions, the image on the monitor is brilliant with good colors and saturation but when I go to print preview the preview picture on the monitor is flat with poor details and colors. The two images side-by-side on the same monitor don’t even look like the same picture. Any suggestion of what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks

NINO
Do the actual prints look bad? or only the preview??
I use Epson and my prints look good, the preview is very low quality and as mentioned not color matched. My prints always look better than the preview and match my monitor colors in PS.

Thanks guys for all the suggestions. The prints also looked really bad, they actually matched the preview. I discovered that there’s also a color setting in Photoshop that in Working Spaces and it has set-ups for the Epson printer, thanks Clyde for suggesting that, something that wasn’t in the Epson manual. The prints look much better after making the change but still not as good as the image in the monitor, maybe the monitor is too good. I’m waiting for Epson to e-mail me back . Can anyone suggest what the other settings, "Color Management Policies" and "Conversion Options" in "Color Settings" should be?

Thank you all

Clyde wrote:

wrote:

Clyde wrote:

Nino wrote:

I just started working with Photoshop CS. I’m using a new Epson 1800 printer. I’m running into a problem with Photoshop and print setting. Even thou I’m following all the directions, the image on the monitor is brilliant with good colors and saturation but when I go to print preview the preview picture on the monitor is flat with poor details and colors. The two images side-by-side on the same monitor don’t even look like the same picture. Any suggestion of what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks

It certainly sounds like a misconfiguration of the color management. It could be a bad profile for your paper too. What paper are you using and what profile?

When you go into the print preview of CS, how is the Color Space setup at the bottom? Very much related to this setting, how do you have the Color Management setup in the printer driver Properties?
There are two ways to print using color management. The Adobe recommended way is to select a profile in the preview Color Space that matches your paper. You then have to turn off the Color Management in the printer driver. By doing this you have Photoshop controlling the color management using the paper’s profile. About the only advantage I can see for this method is that the colors in that small preview of your page are correct.

The other way is to let the printer driver control the color. You do this by selecting "Printer Color Management" in the preview Color Space instead of a paper profile. Then in the printer driver Properties you turn on ICM and select the paper profile there.

In the Epson printer driver, you can only select a paper type, but not a paper profile.

I have my Ilford profile in \windows\system32\spool\drivers\color I can see it in Photoshop in the preview box.

Agreed, profiles can be selected in PS.

I can also see it under the
"ICC/ICM Profile" in the driver Properties. In the first pull down field the default is "Epson Standard". The next one down is my Ilford profile.

Are these in the Epson driver window and NOT in PS? If yes, which printer?

Nino wrote:

Thanks guys for all the suggestions. The prints also looked really bad, they actually matched the preview. I discovered that there’s also a color setting in Photoshop that in Working Spaces and it has set-ups for the Epson printer, thanks Clyde for suggesting that, something that wasn’t in the Epson manual. The prints look much better after making the change but still not as good as the image in the monitor, maybe the monitor is too good. I’m waiting for Epson to e-mail me back . Can anyone suggest what the other settings, "Color Management Policies" and "Conversion Options" in "Color Settings" should be?
Thank you all

You’ve just scratched the surface of color management. It’s not that hard, but you’ve seen you get all kinds of advice that can be confusing, esp. when it doesn’t address your specific situation.

The trick is to turn off color management in the Printer driver dialogue, and to set up custom settings in that very dialogue to match each specific paper you print on. I’d suggest using just one or two until you get the hang of it.

If you use Ilford, they have Profiles for a few of their papers, and excellent instructions how to set up PS for it. That alone is worth buying a box of, say, Ilford Classic Pearl.

—

John McWilliams

wrote:

In the Epson printer driver, you can only select a paper type, but not a paper profile.

I have my Ilford profile in \windows\system32\spool\drivers\color I can see it in Photoshop in the preview box.

Agreed, profiles can be selected in PS.

I can also see it under the
"ICC/ICM Profile" in the driver Properties. In the first pull down field the default is "Epson Standard". The next one down is my Ilford profile.

Are these in the Epson driver window and NOT in PS? If yes, which printer?

Once you get to the printer dialog box, you have a button for Properties. That leads you into the printer driver’s options. That is where you have the option of turning on the ICC/ICM Profile. If it’s on, you have the pull down box.

I’m using a Epson R800 with Epson’s printer driver in Windows XP Pro with SP2. It may look slightly different in OS X, but the same stuff should be there.

Clyde

In article ,
says…

Thanks guys for all the suggestions. The prints also looked really bad, they actually matched the preview. I discovered that there’s also a color setting in Photoshop that in Working Spaces and it has set-ups for the Epson printer, thanks Clyde for suggesting that, something that wasn’t in the Epson manual. The prints look much better after making the change but still not as good as the image in the monitor, maybe the monitor is too good. I’m waiting for Epson to e-mail me back . Can anyone suggest what the other settings, "Color Management Policies" and "Conversion Options" in "Color Settings" should be?
Thank you all

Buy one of the MANY books that deal with Photoshop and study the color management sections. It will pay back greatly in terms of reduced stress… Also, monitors glow, paper reflects, so for many images the print will never look as vibrant as the monitor image. I don’t know if Real World Photoshop (Blatner/Fraser) has been updated for recent PS versions – mine is for v7 – but they’re real color-management experts.

Have you profiled your monitor? It’s more difficult to do with LCD’s than with CRT’s, but well worth the time. If you don’t have one, consider investing in profiling hardware and software – it usually produces better results than using Adobe Gamma to adjust things.

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reverse my name in email address