Photoshop expert, I need your help !!!

[MP Guy]

All,

I have spent all weekend trying to figure color management without any luck. Here is waht I have done.

I have calibrated my monitor with spyderpro.

I select the proper paper profiles for my epson 4000.

i disable color mngmty at the printer end.

I print and the prints are too dark. color is close but way too dark.

My questions are as follow. And by the way, you will probably confuse me with your answers.

If I edit my color seetings, should my workspace be set to the profile I save with my calibration?

What should my settings be in that edit-->color settings winodw be?

when I open a file, shoukld I discard any profiles embeded or use a specific one?

I need help

Thanks,

JT

 

[hjfischer]

No xpert here, but what I recommend is: Recheck your spyder process but just for the heck of it, try manual monitor calibration using Adobe Gama in your control panel. I use Adobe RGB as my master color setting for Photoshop editing, but for printing, set the profile as you have to the paper used, ie, discard the embedded profile upon opening Photoshop and select the one for your paper.
It sounds as if you're probably doing everything right but If you're still getting prints too dark, try adjusting the output settings for your printer's properties to compensate.

 

[JohnL]

I don't claim to be an expert on this but the following reflects what I have read.
The whole purpose of calibrating screens and printer color management is to get your printer and screen to produce reasonably compatible results, as I'm sure you know. Mostly, this is necessary when you are using multiple printers from a single computer or a single printer on a network from multiple computers. If your results are OK without calibration, stick with them, and forget calibration. If not, you need either to adjust one or the other. If you can't get compatibility between printer and screen by adjusting the screen, the advice to adjust the printer is probably the only way to go.
I wonder what sort of screen you have - CRT or LCD. I once tried to calibrate my LCD screen and gave up. The screen is already a little darker than my printer and calibration was making it worse. I learned to live with it.
HTH

 

[Gordon Coale]

Calibrating monitors and printers helps get what you see close to what you print. The biggest thing, though, is to establish a consistent environment for printing. Monitors drift and calibrating regularly keeps thinks the same.

This book is the bible for digital printing:

Mastering Digital Printing: The Photographer's and Artist's Guide to High-Quality Digital Output

 

[JohnL]

Monitors do indeed drift. I have read that CRTs drift faster than LCDs. I have had my current LCD (on a big laptop) for three years now, and the change seems only slight. In that time, I've been through two printers and I'm on my third.