Color management

DW
Posted By
Dan_Western
Jan 12, 2007
Views
238
Replies
3
Status
Closed
The problem: The color coming out of the printer is much darker than my monitor.

I have a Dell computer, Windows XP, 20in. flat monitor, 2mb of ram, Photoshop CS2, Epson RX 500 printer with current driver software, Gretagmacbeth Eye-One calibration devise and the essay by Ian Lyons on color management.

I have set up CS2 using the Ian Lyons recomendations, have calibrated my monitor with Eye One, have installed the latest printer driver in my printer and still get the same results. A darker image than my monitor displays.

I believe the problem may lie in the drop-down window in CS2, in the print-with-preview box, and the "printer profile" dropdown selections.
In the Lyons essay, he selects a paper profile ie glossy. I see nothing like he describes in the drop-down menue. I have tried all of the selections under Epson and see very little difference.

Can someone help me on this problem.

Dan
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B
babaloo
Jan 12, 2007
One explanation:
Flat panels often show an image that is perceived as brighter than it actually is because they are back lit. Therefore a print viewed by reflected light will appear darker.
When a problem such as yours occurs one recommendation is to tune the monitor to the printer. Turn down the brightness, and usually contrast also, on the monitor until a representative image on the monitor matches the printed output.
DP
Daryl_Pritchard
Jan 12, 2007
Hi Dan,

I’ve yet to do very much work in PS CS2 with a new PC I’ve built, but I did print a few images on my Epson R1800 after editing them on my BenQ LCD monitor, it too calibrated using a colorimeter. Two prints on Epson Premium Lustre paper looked great but those on Ultrasmooth Matte and Velvet did seem perhaps darker. The Lustre may have been darker somewhat, but not as noticeably so. Regardless, if your "flat monitor" means an LCD, I wonder if we both might be having a problem of editing on a monitor that tends toward being too bright. It seems to me that would yield an image that prints darker than it should. When I calibrated my monitor using an OptixXR with Monaco EasyColor, the brightness could not be calibrated; every time I adjusted it down to achieve the centered calibration point, that calibration point would jump high again. Reading at the Monaco site about LCD calibration, they say it is often best to just profile the monitor using a comfortable brightness/contrast setting, rather than doing a full calibration which takes the b/c into consideration. I don’t understand how that would yield a well-managed color workflow that is predictable, but I’m hoping to do some photo edits this weekend and may find out. The prior prints were edited using b/c values of around 50/80 on my monitor, but those are now down to 30/30. This BenQ is indeed a bright monitor, so the lower settings may do the trick although I’m still a bit skeptical.

Just food for thought, as a possible factor.

Regards,

Daryl
MD
Michael_D_Sullivan
Jan 12, 2007
If you do not have the profiles for the various Epson papers installed, you will need to download them from the Epson website. They may be available separately, but they are also included in the PIM plugin package. You don’t need to use the PIM plugin; just the profiles.

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