Printing and colour problems

[barry_kleinberg]

Hi and thanks in advance for any tips,

 

I have a Canon 300D and Epson R300. I usually shoot in RAW and then work on my photos

in Photoshop CS.

 

Many of my photos tend to print with very unsatisfactory colours. Faces are quite grey and

colours are not vvibrant. I am using Adobe RGB 1998 (I think that is what it is called) in

Photoshop.

 

Any ideas....please help.

 

Thanks again

 

Barry

[alan_chan4]

You have to calibrate your monitor and then use sRGB all the way.

[david_densen]

You can convert your RAW files in Photoshop OR with the Canon software that came with your 300D.

Make your first corrections (sharpening, color temperature, contrast).

When the picture looks good on your (calibrated!) monitor, then choose carefully your paper and printer profile that came with your Epson printer.

From time to time you have to clean the printer heads (see: procedure in Extra menu).

Finally: do you use the good photo paper?

Make final corrections using the printer program.

I understand your problem, but it is not easy to say where the problem lays. Sorry!

[eric_perlberg]

I'm not sure why Alan suggests you use sRGB "all the way", perhaps he could explain his

thinking. I'd suggest sticking with Adobe RGB, its a larger colour space and better make

use of your cameras abilities.

 

Your problem probably is occuring because you need to have a hardware device to profile

your monitor and you'd be wise to get custom printer profiles for each paper type that you

use with your printer. When an image contains a lot of out of gamut colours (you can tell

by using Soft-Proof in photoshop set up to softproof using your printer profile and then

turning on Gamut Warning) you might find that using perceptual intent in Print With

Preview rather than Relative Colorometric will maintain the out of gamut colours better. I'd

suggest starting by getting your system profiled correctly.

[alan_chan4]

The only reason I prefer sRGB is that either inkjet or lab printers are using it as reference. Just one less step to worry. I have been doing so for a year and have had good luck Noritsu and Fuji printers. Even my local pro lab recommends sRGB work flow.

[marshall]

sRGB is a simplifying assumption you can make if your goal is strictly simplifying your workflow or if you are working with a lab that can't do anything else. But you are throwing out detail that even many current output devices can create unnecessarily. If you shoot raw, you can always go back and re-convert into a larger space, but you'll have to re-do any editing you've done. Personally, I'd much rather process once and then convert a final print file to the profile for my printer, the lab's printer, or any other output.

 

In answer to the original question: not enough information. Do you have a calibrated monitor? Have you read up on the correct settings in PS and the Epson printer driver for converting to the right profile for your printer/paper combo? This stuff isn't actually that complicated, but there are several steps to ensuring consistent color reproduction.

[marshall]

p.s. As Andrew Rodney commonly points out, no existing printer has an output space that matches sRGB. Most, including Epson inkjets, are capable of producing colors that are outside of it and that you won't be taking advantage of if you only use sRGB. Whether the transitions are as smooth between colors, whether you prefer the output of laser enlargers, or whatever kind of output you prefer, just know that there are colors out there that you can get at by using a larger space.

[barry_kleinberg]

Thanks everyone for your advice. Just a thought...could it be that I am using 3rd party ink? It

is sooooo much cheaper?

 

Thanks again

 

Barry