Printing brightness mismatch

[RickOpiekun]

<p>Here is an odd dilemma that I am experiencing with PS CS5 and my Epson R1800 printer. If I take an image and print it to my printer, allowing Photoshop to manage the colors, the image comes out 2-3 shades darker than what is displayed on my monitor. I have the correct paper profile selected and I turn off ICM in the print driver to make sure that the printer and Photoshop are not conflicting. However, if I tell Photoshop to allow the printer to manage colors and select color enhancement from the print driver, either Epson standard or Epson vivid enhancement with +3 brightness, prints are perfect and spot on to what is displayed on the monitor. Now I know the adage that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" usually applies to computers. However, this workaround seems a bit awkward. Are there a few settings that I should check in Photoshop to make sure they are correct? Colorspace? Etc.? Any insights would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.<br>

Rick</p>

[howard_m]

<p>http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml</p>

[emil_ems5]

<p>Unless you render the luminosity, you are looking at the print with, completely in line with the luminosity of your screen you will be unable, even with the right print profile in use in Photoshop, to get the print luminosity in line with what you see on screen.<br>

It is rather cumbersome to arrange the light source for the print in this standardized manner. Only professionals like Andrew Rodney tend to use this approach.<br>

For us ordinary mortals, you have to satisfy yourself with the following procedure:<br>

(1) Optimize the print for the monitor<br>

(2) Preview the print with the right print profile. When setting up the print profile, use the command "View/Proof Set-up/Custom/SIMULATE PAPER COLOR".<br>

The last subcommand is very important. If you quickly toggle between proofing on and off you will notice that the picture viewed under the profile will appear darker and less contrasty than the "pure" monitor picture. I have found that the following adjustment is useful as a starting point to bring the picture viewed with the profile closer to the "pure" picture:<br>

"Curve/Lighter/Opacity 25%" + "Curve/Linear Contrast". Adding those two adjustment layers to the picture will many time be sufficient, but you should use them only as a starting point to get the printed picture as close to the picture on the monitor as possible. The ultimate test is of course to print the picture and view it under your standard light.</p>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Does the print look dark as shown in the print on the bottom from my Epson NX400 compared to the original digital file on top shown in the image below? If so, I don't have an answer for you on how to correct it because there are others having the same issue.</p>

<p>I would suggest you do what works or call Epson/Adobe tech support.</p>

<p>If however, you aren't viewing the print under a bright enough light that makes the white of your paper look as bright as white on your display, then you have to follow the linked LuLa article.</p>

<p>Also you should see every 21 gray steps in the grayramp included in the image below. If not, then your display isn't properly calibrated.</p><div></div>

[RickOpiekun]

<p>Thank you for the insights and the link to the article. I checked all of the settings in PS and in the camera itself to also make sure that I am working in the same colorspace and I am. I will check the monitor this evening to make sure that I see all 21 gray steps as indicated above. A few months ago I did a similar check and the monitor was spot on. I'll let you know of my findings. We've all found workarounds to getting our prints to look good despite these issues, but we should not have to work around routinely.</p>

[chris_letts]

<p>I've said in a previous posting that I had such problems with an Epson printer, but when I replaced it with a Canon 9000 the problems went away. other people will tell you the opposite. my conclusion is that there are just some printers that won't properly calibrate.</p>

[RickOpiekun]

<p>Well, I had a moment this evening to look at the gradations of gray scale and I have perfect discrimination of all 21 shades of gray. So, at least from a luminance standpoint, I think my display can be considered calibrated. Thus, this is not a monitor, monitor card, monitor driver or color workspace issue in my understanding of things. Unless I'm wrong, I should next contact Epson to see what they suggest.<br>

Rick</p>