Inspiring

Answered

PhotoShop CC 2017 Printer Color Output Issue

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
September 28, 2017
6 replies
7294 views

I started using PS CC 2017 recently to process the total eclipse images I shot. They were all shot using Adobe RGB color spacing in RAW format. I used Bridge to bring in several images into PS layers to stack the images using processing techniques published by Russell Brown from Adobe. I'm also using the16-bit RGB color mode in PS.

I have an Epson XP 960 printer and only use Epson branded ink and paper (Ultra Premium Glossy Photo Paper). When printing directly from PS, I follow the suggested guidelines from Adobe concerning not using the printers color management. The results are very bad... the blacks are pure black, but the other colors (White/very light blue ) print out as flame orange/red. Although it looks cool, that's not the effect I'm after.

I've also tried using the printers color management system and the results are exactly the same. Oddly enough, I thought I would print in Black/White mode on the printer to see if I could get a true black/white print. It printed exactly as it was in color mode which really has me baffled.

A year back before I had the XP 960, I tried both Cannon and Epson. In a lot of cases, I had similar issues.

I really need some help with this as I prefer to print my own hard copies. I'm also pretty new to a lot of the color management 'theme'.

Thanks!

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Correct answer derekn38784682

Back from the North. My new system was waiting for me. I have most of it setup with Adobe software installed. I should be able to start the process once again in the next day or two. I will post my results/issues.

Thanks!

Well... it's been a long road, but I think everything is solved. It ends up that there was multiple issues going on... #1 all of the incorrect color profiling and document profiling that I can set incorrectly and JJMack and D Fosse so patiently stepped me though. #2 was an issue that I had never considered since I had very recently printed close to accurate photos on my XP-960. 2 of the 6 inkjet heads were totally clogged... both Cyans! That explained why I was getting such orange/red tones. All is good now. Thank you guys so much to helping me learning a lot along the way!

Rabel26.... you mentioned 8-bit. Everything that has been suggested was to stick with 16-bit because you lose too much information. Run a nozzle check on your printer too prior to printing just to made sure 1 or more of the heads aren't clogged like mine were.

JJMack

Community Expert

I like to keep things simple and I have use may windows display calibration but I think I went back to Microsoft defaults. I adjust my displays with their controls as much as possible using web test pages and a monitor text application. I think I may have made some changes also with the Nvidia Control Panel for my quadro 4000 adapter. Thought I see color quite well I am slightly color blind so I do not go overboard. As long as I satisfied with what I see and my wife judges my prints as good I'm a happy camper.

You did things wrong double profiling may have happened maybe triple profiling I do not remember seeing your Print driver settings it should set to no color management if you have Photoshop handle colors. There a warning about the in Photoshop print dialog.

JJMack

D

derekn38784682Author

Inspiring

Take a look back at the earlier post Sep 29, 2017 7:08 AM. The Setting2.jpg shows what my current print settings are. I can post again if you dont see it.

D Fosse

Community Expert

No, that's not what I mean. You have only posted the Photoshop print dialog.

You need to click "Print Settings" to open the printer driver. What you need to do here is turn off printer color management. If you don't do that you get double profiling. You also need to set the correct paper type here.

This isn't as complicated as it sounds. If Photoshop controls color management, you don't want the printer to do it a second time on top of that.

You also need to have the right paper type here, which controls total ink amount. The profile says nothing about that.

D Fosse

Community Expert

A couple of things about your color settings. This isn't the problem here, but while we're at it:

"Convert to working RGB" is not a good idea, except for specific workflows where you are aware of the implications and accept them. For all other situations the sensible policy is to "preserve embedded profiles". This will then override your working space, and no changes made to the file when opening. If you do need to convert, it will usually be for very specific reasons on a case by case basis.

The warning dialogs can be unchecked if you find them a godawful nuisance like I do. The one you should keep checked, however, is the one for missing profile. Otherwise your working space will be assigned, but without informing you or allowing you to make a choice.

Generally, color management just works out of the box as long as you don't do anything. The confusion starts when color management stops, in applications that don't do it. Most color management problems are caused by lack of color management (but guess what gets the blame).

But for print you do need to pick the right print profile, and also make sure the settings in the printer driver are correct. Printer color management must be turned off to avoid double profiling. Epson usually calls this "ICM off". You also need to set the correct paper type here. This controls the total amount of ink:

D Fosse

Community Expert

You don't "set it to" anything - you keep the document in its original RGB color space. Which could be Adobe RGB, sRGB or ProPhoto.

If you already converted it to the print profile you hopefully did that to a copy, because you will likely have lost some information in that conversion.

The conversion from the document profile into the print profile is done by Photoshop on the fly as you print. This is the basic principle of all color management. There's a source profile, and a destination profile. One is translated/remapped into the other, both are needed. One single profile can't do anything - that's like one hand clapping (yeah - that's a famous zen koan )

D

derekn38784682Author

Inspiring

Thanks for being so patient with me. Its still a heavy learning curve for me, but I am learning thanks to y'all.

My color profile is Adobe RGB to match what I shoot RAWs on my camera.

I did have it converted to the printer document profile as you pointed out earlier. That was definitely a mistake on my part from trying so many different options past midnight out of desparation. Lesson learned Side question: I 've always wondered why the Adobe RGB is specifcally "(1998)". Why 1998?

I opened up one of my .pdb files that I've been work on post-processing a stack of 20 images (which I have always kept the Adobe RGB color space without converting) and tried a print. Unfortunately, I'm still seeing very similar bad results using both 'Normal Printing' and 'Hard Proofing". The print preview looks normal though. No gamut warnings either.

Is there anything else I could be missing like maybe here:

Please don't give up on me yet This is frustrating, but I need to get over this hurtle.

Thanks Again!

JJMack

Community Expert

Why are you derekn38784682 specifcally 38784682 Why(38784682) as far as I know its a name perhaps coined in 1998.

https://www.google.com/search?q=soft+proofing+in+photoshop&oq=soft+proofinf+&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l5.9070j0j7&sourceid=ch…

https://www.google.com/search?num=50&newwindow=1&q=hard+proofing+in+photoshop&oq=hard+proofing+in+photoshop&gs_l=psy-a

How confused do you want to get the system is also much involved. Know how it works but don't try to get too involved with the actual inner workings. Display calibrations plays a part too it can creates display profiles and configure these into your system configuration. I don't go overboard there I'm not a pro that needs too.. I do not need to be close to perfect and perfect is not possible

JJMack

Community Expert

Because of the subject matter is the sun I feel it may be the colors in the image.

JJMack

D

derekn38784682Author

Inspiring

JJMack... I can check the color gamut tonight when I get home. I can also post a screen shot of the print dialog as D Fosse has suggested.

The colors of the Sun shouldn't be an issue because I know of other people printing hard copies of the same event without issue. I also used a white light solar filter which protected my telescope and camera during the shooting.

I will post the requests later this evening. Thanks for the help.

JJMack

Community Expert

Are they print your image or their images. Colors can be adjusred.

JJMack

D Fosse

Community Expert

Can you post a screenshot of the Photoshop Print dialog?

Then click on "Print Settings" to open the printer driver, and post a screenshot of the relevant sections there too.

JJMack

Community Expert

Did you check the color gamut were there areas outside of your printed abilities.

JJMack

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