Recommendations for Color Management

[zeb_lisik]

<p>I'm going to start doing some printing (mostly colour I believe) for myself soon and I lacking in the colour management department.<br /> <br /> I was wondering if anyone could recommend any up to date books on the subject. <br /><br>

I recently ordered <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Color-Confidence-Digital-Photographers-Management/dp/0471786160/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1244688793&sr=1-6">Color Confidence: The Digital Photographer's Guide to Color Management (Tim Grey Guides) </a></p>

<p>I do have an i1 monitor calibrator, photoshop cs3, lightroom, gimp, epson r1800, various papers and have been reading the Color Management Primer by Jay Kinghorn on photo.net.<br>

I am hoping to use 3rd party inks and am wondering how this will effect my colour management; can anyone give me advice?</p>

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[godfrey]

<p>Unless you have the printer calibration package and can create quality profiles specific to the printer/ink, all bets are off. If you use the manufacturer supplied printing profiles with third party inks it's hard to know how they act. I wouldn't go near them. </p>

<p>Color management has to be approached as a system. Every piece matters. </p>

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[Carl Stone]

<p>Stick with the printer manufacturer's inks. </p>

[pbarnes]

<p>the one time I tried 3rd party inks my print head clogged up and I had to pay for it to be repaired. And Godfrey is right - you won't be able to use profiles provided by the Epson or by other paper makers for the R1800. So unless you want to pay for a custom profile for each ink & paper combination, or buy the gear to make your own, stick to Epson inks. </p>

<p>Apart from that, you seem to be on the right track. The big break-through for me was learning to use the soft proofing functions in Photoshop (View>Proof Set up, View>Proof Colors). Gets me very close to what comes out of my R800.</p>

[pbarnes]

<p>And I meant to recommend this site to you: <a href="http://www.imagescience.com.au/pages/The-Digital-Fine-Print-Book.html">http://www.imagescience.com.au/pages/The-Digital-Fine-Print-Book.html</a></p>

[teeuwen]

<p>See books and other resources listed on '<a href="http://www.outbackphoto.com/myforum/showthread.php?tid=8">Color Management Links Exchange</a>' thread on Digital Outback Photo.</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>genuine epson ink + genuine epson paper = a life with no color amnagement problem.</p>

<p>3rd party inks always, always ALWAYS mean..problem somewhere in the chain...stick with epson ink.</p>

[roger_smith4]

<p>I have used MIS (Image Specialist) inks with the R1800 and advise you to avoid them. You need custom profiles for reasonable quality (I use Spyder3Print). Ink quality is variable (a new batch of inks wouldn't flow at all) but the kicker for me is that they are not archival at all- I have seen significant color shifts for a print placed in the window over a four month winter in the US northeast. That's pathetic.</p>

<p>I haven't used them but have heard better things about Jon Cone's color inks.</p>

<p>Personally I'm back to Epson for color and still using MIS ink for black and white with a different printer.</p>

[philfx]

<p>There are likely brands that are ok to use, as some OEM's rebadge for mfg's. I don't know them, and can care less. The savings vs the trouble and inconsistancy will onoly get you frustrated at best(besides pouring money out). It sounds like you want good color, and I have tried a few, a long years back on a couple epsons, and the headache is not worth the hurdle, as you will have a new hurdle as soon as 1 is resolved. Good luck</p>

[zeb_lisik]

<p>thanks for everyones input, advice and resources.</p>

<p>If everyone recommends staying with the printer's manufactuers ink then I guess its pointless to ask for paper recommendations.. haha</p>

<p>Though I'm not off the idea of using a high quality 3rd party ink and 1 or 2 types of paper for general photo printing.</p>

[roger_smith4]

<p>I recommend Harman FB Al glossy paper and Innova SW cotton 315 matte in addition to basic Epson papers like Epson premium semigloss.</p>

[pbarnes]

<p>Not at all pointless to ask for paper recommendations. There are many papers that work well with Epson inks using the ICC profiles created by the paper maker for the paper & printer combination (they assume no third party inks). </p>

<p>Experimenting with paper is cheap and low (no) risk compared to experimenting with inks. Some places sell sample packs of papers from various manufacturers and you can download ICC profiles for free. Most paper makers have profiles for all their papers with the R800/R1800 printers.</p>

<p>Someone I respect in this area told me that Epson make very good inks but average paper. I love the Harman FB Matte for matt finish, and also Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl in rolls so I can make photos as wide as i want. Both work really well on my R800 which has the same print engine and inks as your R1800. I have not been able to get good results with Ilford Galerie Smooth Heavy Weight Matte.</p>

[zeb_lisik]

<p>Roger Smith,<br /> With regards to the photo that faded after 4 months what kind of paper was it on? Was it under UV protected glass? And when was the ink purchased (I believe that the Image Specialist ink has changed over time)?</p>

<p>I assume that the paper recommendations are for commercial and gallery printing? What do you use for more casual printing or commercial work where the highest quality is not needed?</p>

<p>I took a gamble and bought an epson 2200 (instead of the 1800) with a clogged nozzle for 30$, a CIS and Precision Color (Image Specialists) ink.... And I believe that the guy I got the ink from can do a few profiles as a bonus.</p>

<p>So basically I've not followed anyones advice.. haha But if things don't go well I'll go to epson ink and paper with profiles for epson ink. However I am also planning to buy a few sets of epson ink just in case.</p>