Printing is messed up real bad

G
Posted By
gplracer
Sep 6, 2003
Views
466
Replies
14
Status
Closed
I am having a problem printing things in photoshop 7. I scaned a reciept for a rebate and it prints out with blue text and images instead of black. I reset photoshop using cntrl-shit-alt and the images were blue and black mixed together. I then changed something in the color profile and now the print quality is real bad. It looks like there is not enough ink. I tried to reinstall photoshop and that did not work. What is the best way for me to fix everything. Printing in word is perfect so it is not an ink problem. Thanks so much for your time.
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GH
Gary Hummell
Sep 6, 2003
Does every image print out badly in PS? Can you send the scan to another program to confirm that the scanner is outputing correctly? If the scanner are working correctly, then setting up color management would be the next place to check.
<http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps7-colour/ps7_1.htm>

Gary
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gplracer
Sep 6, 2003
Well now it is to the point that everything that is printed is messed up. Older documents do not print correctly either. The colors are way off. I think I have changed so many settings that it is really messed up. Is there a way to uninstall photoshop and get rid of the old settings so that I can start over. When I have installed photoshop in the past I never had to change anything. I tried to uninstall this morning but I get the same printing results. Thanks!
Y
YrbkMgr
Sep 6, 2003
Is there a way to uninstall photoshop and get rid of the old settings so that I can start over.

Follow the link that Gary provided and spend 15 minutes there. It’s a color management issue and most likely you need to calibrate your monitor. That link will have you on your way in no time. Even though you may not have had to deal with color management in the past because "everything worked fine", get it straing now, and you won’t have to worry about getting what you expect from a print.

Peace,
Tony
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gplracer
Sep 6, 2003
Thanks so much! I feel like a real idiot. My color ink cartridge was low. Why does photoshop use the color cartridge to print black things when other programs like ms word does not?
Y
YrbkMgr
Sep 6, 2003

A) it may not be "real" black (which still may indicate a color management issue)
B) If you want Black only, specify that in the printer driver just before printing.
L
LenHewitt
Sep 6, 2003
Why does photoshop use the color cartridge to print black<<

In RGB mode, Photoshop creates black from R,G and B channels. The printer firmware converts that into a ‘rich black’ for the printer heads. In CMYK mode, Photoshop uses a ‘rich black’ by default because that is what images need in order to print with good solid shadow areas. The printer driver converts that to RGB and then the same applies.
Y
YrbkMgr
Sep 6, 2003
Len,

That’s interesting but I’m not tracking 100% here. Could you go into a little more detail about

The printer firmware converts that into a ‘rich black’ for the printer heads.

does that mean that it is then supposed to use the black cart?
G
gplracer
Sep 7, 2003
How exactly would one specify just the black cartridge? I assume I would do that from photoshop.
GH
Gary Hummell
Sep 7, 2003
On the Epson printer interface one can specify black or color ink. I don’t think one can access that ability from Photoshop, at least with respect to Epson composite printers.

Gary
L
LenHewitt
Sep 7, 2003
Tony,

does that mean that it is then supposed to use the black cart?<<

No, it means it uses all 4 cartridges…
Y
YrbkMgr
Sep 7, 2003
Thanks Len. I’m intrigued now. I have to see where I can read more about it.

When "jet" printers first hit the market they came with one cartridge slot. If you wanted b/w, you put in a black, and if you wanted color, you used the color cart. Creating black with the color cart was generally unacceptable resulting in a muddy brown or purple black.

Then they came out with the two-slot printers; I never paid attention again figuring that they resolved that issue, as well as the inconvenience of having to switch carts.

Based on observation of my prints and cart monitoring, it seems as though you’re right, they’re using all 4 colors. So my assumption was that it was more akin to the "press" environment in that your carts were CYM and K, and when black was called for it used the black cart.

If you’ve followed so far, then I would think that it isn’t a great leap of imagination to think that when you print a red box with a black border that the color card is laying down ink for the red (along with some black I would presume depending on the exact color) and the black is laying down ink for the black border.

Thus if you are printing black only text from photoshop it would seem that only the black cart is laying down ink – which is what the original poster seems to have been presuming as well.

After all of that are you saying that no, even when you print black text, all four colors are used?

Peace,
Tony
G
gplracer
Sep 7, 2003
That was my finding. I could not print black when the color cartridge was real low. Anyone else want to comment on this? Does this mean that photoshop would only work with a printer that is a color printer?
BL
Bob Levine
Sep 7, 2003
Sorry to jump in so late, but keep in mind that when you are using a non-postscript device, it will only accept RGB data. Obviously, there has to be a conversion from RGB to CMYK to get the file to print and that’s where the problem comes in. Because there’s no easy way to assure that your RGB black will print as CMYK black.

On the surface it would seem the easy way around this would be to send CMYK data and with just the black channel active, you’d only get black ink. But that’s not going to happen either, because as previously mentioned, the printer only accepts RGB data. So it will then convert the CMYK into RGB and then back to CMYK again. The 100% black therefore gets converted back to rich black.

Anyway, I hope I haven’t confused this issue any more than it already is. But there have been several heated debates regarding RGB devices vs CMYK devices. Just because a printer outputs using CMYK inks doesn’t make it a CMYK device. Non-postscript inkjet printers are RGB devices and actually give better results when fed RGB data.

Bob
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LenHewitt
Sep 7, 2003
GPL,

Does this mean that photoshop would only work with a printer that is a
color printer?<<

No. If you were using a B&W printer then the printer driver would ‘ask’ Photoshop to convert the RGB data to greyscale, just as a non-PostScript colour printer driver asks Photoshop to convert CMYK data to RGB

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