Newbie Needs Help. Blues Print Out Purple

In article , says…

Hello
I’m a newbie to the wonderful world of digital photo taking. I’m also a senior citizen, so please talk in layman’s terms if you are so kind as to reply to my question.

I took some pictures, but the beautiful blue sky printed out purple.
I downloaded the digital photos from my Kodak camera to Photoshop 5.5 in my PC with Win XP Pro. I have a KDS XF-7P (extreme flat) monitor. I use a Canon S-600 printer, with their original ink cartridges (not refills), and their Photo Paper Pro, which, I understand, is their highest quality paper for photos.

The pictures are great, except the colours I see on the monitor are NOT what I get on paper.

Can anyone instuct me as to how to match the colours so what I see is what I get?

Thank you

The short answer is the colors are NOT the same. The PS manual is a good starting point for the calibration of your system from (in your case) camera > PS > printer. In the old days, Adobe even offered an addendum to the manual concerning printing and system calibration, though it was more for the commercial application of ink on paper, before the proliferation of desktop, inkjet printing. Adobe’s Help files are a good place to go to, after you’ve read over color calibration in the manual.

There are many Web sites that can take you through the process and it is worthwhile doing, especially since you are already seeing problems. There are also a ton of books which cover this process.

I don’t have a ton of color management URL’s handy, but a search on Google for terms like "color management," "color calibration," etc. should yield a bunch. Look over them and find those with tutorials that speak in terms with which you are comfortable. Some are for very advanced users with specialized equipment designed just for this task – they are also either professionals, or advanced hobbiests. Some will be more basic and should yield results. You should also search for your specific camera, monitor and printer to try and get their profiles (or close) to make this calibration much easier. It takes some time, but is well worth doing to get the results you want.

Some others will probably be able to respond with some beginning tutorials, and I’d urge you to look at them.

Good luck, and know that you are not alone,
Hunt

Mr Noone

Thank you so much for your advice. I’ll do the search as you suggested. Most of the information that I have found so far is just SO technical, that it loses me on the first page.

Glad to know that others have similar problems…It’s not just me.

Taking the time to respnd to my query is VERY much appreciated. You are a gentleman.

If anyone else reads this and can suggest a web site that might help me, I will appreciate it. Thanks.

Jim

On 19 Jul 2004 19:42:57 GMT, (Hunt) wrote:

In article , says…

Hello
I’m a newbie to the wonderful world of digital photo taking. I’m also a senior citizen, so please talk in layman’s terms if you are so kind as to reply to my question.

I took some pictures, but the beautiful blue sky printed out purple.
I downloaded the digital photos from my Kodak camera to Photoshop 5.5 in my PC with Win XP Pro. I have a KDS XF-7P (extreme flat) monitor. I use a Canon S-600 printer, with their original ink cartridges (not refills), and their Photo Paper Pro, which, I understand, is their highest quality paper for photos.

The pictures are great, except the colours I see on the monitor are NOT what I get on paper.

Can anyone instuct me as to how to match the colours so what I see is what I get?

Thank you

The short answer is the colors are NOT the same. The PS manual is a good starting point for the calibration of your system from (in your case) camera > PS > printer. In the old days, Adobe even offered an addendum to the manual concerning printing and system calibration, though it was more for the commercial application of ink on paper, before the proliferation of desktop, inkjet printing. Adobe’s Help files are a good place to go to, after you’ve read over color calibration in the manual.

There are many Web sites that can take you through the process and it is worthwhile doing, especially since you are already seeing problems. There are also a ton of books which cover this process.

I don’t have a ton of color management URL’s handy, but a search on Google for terms like "color management," "color calibration," etc. should yield a bunch. Look over them and find those with tutorials that speak in terms with which you are comfortable. Some are for very advanced users with specialized equipment designed just for this task – they are also either professionals, or advanced hobbiests. Some will be more basic and should yield results. You should also search for your specific camera, monitor and printer to try and get their profiles (or close) to make this calibration much easier. It takes some time, but is well worth doing to get the results you want.
Some others will probably be able to respond with some beginning tutorials, and I’d urge you to look at them.

Good luck, and know that you are not alone,
Hunt

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In article , says…

Mr Noone

Thank you so much for your advice. I’ll do the search as you suggested. Most of the information that I have found so far is just SO technical, that it loses me on the first page.

Glad to know that others have similar problems…It’s not just me.
Taking the time to respnd to my query is VERY much appreciated. You are a gentleman.

If anyone else reads this and can suggest a web site that might help me, I will appreciate it. Thanks.

Jim

[SNIP]

Jim,
Since I posted, I thought of Ben Wilmore’s site as a possibility – www. digitalmastery.com. His books are aimed at the working pro photographer, and finding his older works for v5.5 (?) might be difficult. One aside, the color calibration methods do not change much from ver to ver, unless Adobe adds something really neat, though the high-end hardware is always being upgraded, but I think you can get what you want without all of that.

Also sure that others have EXACTLY the sites and tutorials you might need, before you start your journey.

Hunt

wrote:

Hello
I’m a newbie to the wonderful world of digital photo taking. I’m also a senior citizen, so please talk in layman’s terms if you are so kind as to reply to my question.

I took some pictures, but the beautiful blue sky printed out purple.
I downloaded the digital photos from my Kodak camera to Photoshop 5.5 in my PC with Win XP Pro. I have a KDS XF-7P (extreme flat) monitor. I use a Canon S-600 printer, with their original ink cartridges (not refills), and their Photo Paper Pro, which, I understand, is their highest quality paper for photos.

The pictures are great, except the colours I see on the monitor are NOT what I get on paper.

Can anyone instuct me as to how to match the colours so what I see is what I get?

Color matching is a common problem, and is no more nor less than what we used to do with our color TV’s way back when. There is no need to buy extra calibration equipment.

Start by running your printer’s nozzle check utility, and verify that all your colors are printing correctly. Sometimes a jet will be clogged even though you have new cartridges. Then try opening and printing your image in Internet Explorer or Netscape. This will eliminate any Photoshop color management issues.

If your skys are no longer purple, the problem is with your Photoshop color setup, and more than likely you are picking the wrong option in the print dialog. Tell Photoshop to print using color management and you should be alright. If that does not do it, go here and follow the instructions for your version of PhotoShop:
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/photoshop_6/ps6_1.htm
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps7-colour/ps7_1.htm
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps8-colour/ps8_4.htm

On the other hand, if your sky printed purple in Explorer or Netscape, the problem is not with Photoshop, but with your printer driver color settings. Try printing an image consisting of only shades of gray. You can make such an image using Photoshop’s gradient command, followed by posterize, or Curvemeister has such a test image designed to save paper by allowing you to cut off a strip each time it is printed. It is free at: http://www.curvemeister.com/downloads/TestStrip/digital_test _strip.htm

If you see a reddish cast to the test strip, go into your printer setup and play with the cyan slider – bump it up a few points until you minimize the color cast of the test strip. Experiment, you may get better results by knocking down the magenta adjustment.

Now you should be ready to go into Photoshop and print with clear blue skies!
—

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

In article <ex8Lc.24220$>,
says…

wrote:

Hello
I’m a newbie to the wonderful world of digital photo taking. I’m also a senior citizen, so please talk in layman’s terms if you are so kind as to reply to my question.

I took some pictures, but the beautiful blue sky printed out purple.
I downloaded the digital photos from my Kodak camera to Photoshop 5.5 in my PC with Win XP Pro. I have a KDS XF-7P (extreme flat) monitor. I use a Canon S-600 printer, with their original ink cartridges (not refills), and their Photo Paper Pro, which, I understand, is their highest quality paper for photos.

The pictures are great, except the colours I see on the monitor are NOT what I get on paper.

Can anyone instuct me as to how to match the colours so what I see is what I get?

Color matching is a common problem, and is no more nor less than what we used to do with our color TV’s way back when. There is no need to buy extra calibration equipment.

Start by running your printer’s nozzle check utility, and verify that all your colors are printing correctly. Sometimes a jet will be clogged even though you have new cartridges. Then try opening and printing your image in Internet Explorer or Netscape. This will eliminate any Photoshop color management issues.

If your skys are no longer purple, the problem is with your Photoshop color setup, and more than likely you are picking the wrong option in the print dialog. Tell Photoshop to print using color management and you should be alright. If that does not do it, go here and follow the instructions for your version of PhotoShop:
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/photoshop_6/ps6_1.htm
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps7-colour/ps7_1.htm
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps8-colour/ps8_4.htm

On the other hand, if your sky printed purple in Explorer or Netscape, the problem is not with Photoshop, but with your printer driver color settings. Try printing an image consisting of only shades of gray. You can make such an image using Photoshop’s gradient command, followed by posterize, or Curvemeister has such a test image designed to save paper by allowing you to cut off a strip each time it is printed. It is free at: http://www.curvemeister.com/downloads/TestStrip/digital_test _strip.htm
If you see a reddish cast to the test strip, go into your printer setup and play with the cyan slider – bump it up a few points until you minimize the color cast of the test strip. Experiment, you may get better results by knocking down the magenta adjustment.

Now you should be ready to go into Photoshop and print with clear blue skies!
—

Mike Russell
www.curvemeister.com
www.geigy.2y.net

See John, I told you someone would step forward with some very useful URL’s and a very nice step-by-step process to boot. I had not even thought about a clogged nozzle!

Thanks Mike,
Hunt

(Hunt) wrote in message news:…

In article <ex8Lc.24220$>,
says…

wrote:

Hello
I’m a newbie to the wonderful world of digital photo taking. I’m also a senior citizen, so please talk in layman’s terms if you are so kind as to reply to my question.

I took some pictures, but the beautiful blue sky printed out purple.
The pictures are great, except the colours I see on the monitor are NOT what I get on paper.

Can anyone instuct me as to how to match the colours so what I see is what I get?

One of the best ways to test your printer output, especially since you don’t really know where the problem is(camera, printer or post processing)is to eliminate one of the variables. Take a batch of un-processed Jpg. images straight to a place like Wal Mart (or equivalent) that will do digital printing. Completely eliminate your printer from the loop. If the pictures print ok, then you will know that your camera is OK and the problem is in your printer or, more likely, your post processing.
Make sure the technician at the printers knows this a test run, so if they do any color correction, they will tell you. If you get the right place, they are usually pretty good at helping you.
If your pictures print OK, do the same printing with your printer. Print the same images without changing anything to do with color(color profiles, levels, etc..)
**Note– You may have to change the DPI/Image size settings. 5 x 7 are good test images @300 dpi(2 tests per page).
If they print out on your printer ok, then the problem is with your color balance of your monitor. If the images print with a color cast, you should be able to tweek the printer(or use PS at this point) to remove global color casts(too much magenta etc..).
Color management is a complex issue, but if you eliminate variables in a controlled manner, you should be able to isolate the problem. good luck.
nikki

Nikki, Mike, Noone

Thank you so much for your information.

You have been extremely helpful.

Still haven’t got it resolved, but will be working on it this weekend, when I can shake some time free to experiment.

Thanks again.

Jim

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I’m by no means an expert in PS, but could it be as simple as double color management (PS color managing AND Epson color managing)? It seems to me that the typical Epson magenta cast on blue skies might just look a bit purple.

Hope this helps,
Dave
wrote in message

Nikki, Mike, Noone

Thank you so much for your information.

You have been extremely helpful.

Still haven’t got it resolved, but will be working on it this weekend, when I can shake some time free to experiment.

Thanks again.

Jim

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