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Photoshop Color Management no longer Color Matching

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
June 13, 2021
5 replies
9390 views

I am in the middle of printing for an exhibition using an iMac with an Epson 7900 printer. I have been using this printer for years in conjuntion with photoshop. Color management is and has been set for Photoshop to manage color. It is set for the paper I am using Moab Exhibition Luster. Halfway through printing this group of prints the prints turned dark, too much black ink. I went through cleaning and resetting everything on the printer. I was even told that the print heads were shot. Then I tried having the printer manage the color. It is a much better print, but not an exact match, so I downloaded and tried printing with the Epson Print Layout App. It prints all the colors correctly, but needed a litle tweaking to get a match. Realizing at that point the problem was not my printer, it had something to do with Photoshop, I contacted Adobe support. They were very little help, but I did discover that the latest Photoshop 2021 would not work in OSX 10 or earlier, which is what they recommended for a fix. Even though everything was fine printing with Photoshop 2020, then suddenly not. I upgraded, rather reluctantly, to Mac OSX 11, Big Sur. Then installed the latest Photoshop, uninstalled the print driver, reinstalled the recent print driver for OSX 11, and even deleted the Moab ICC file and copied a newly download ICC file. Color Managehent still does not match the image on the screen. I am a professional photograph and have been printing with color management for decades. I keep my monitor calibration up to date. These are photographs I have printed before and they have always matched what I see on screen. Why should the prints suddenly not match using Photoshop color management, but are fine using another App?

Correct answer TheDigitalDog

Well, that corrected it. I must ask, why did you suggest turning 16-bit off? I have had that checked for years now and no problems. The reason it was checked is that I have noticed a slight difference in the highlights and shadows of 16-bit images. Why would this suddenly have caused the color to be off?

@rick3403 wrote:

Well, that corrected it. I must ask, why did you suggest turning 16-bit off? I have had that checked for years now and no problems. The reason it was checked is that I have noticed a slight difference in the highlights and shadows of 16-bit images. Why would this suddenly have caused the color to be off?

You turn it off because it doesn't do a darn thing for the output for one. And I've output 16-bit targets and then the same as 8-bits per color, measured them with a Spectrophotometer and the colorimetric differences are invisible. The option, which is now gone from more modern Epson printers, and was never an option outside the Mac drivers doesn't do anything.

The 2nd reason to turn it off is it fixes a BUG in the driver that made your prints look wrong.

R

rick3403Author

Participating Frequently

I am sorry to only now be replying to your question. I have been on an extended trip without any technology, except my camera. Yes, unchecking the16- bit box fixed the problem. There must have been a change in Photoshop 2020, because I never had a color match problem with the 16-bit box checked before the upgrade. There was a difference, prior to this upgrade, with the detail in a large print, no difference now. A frustrating issue to confront.

M

Mike Haverkate

Participant

I'm just reading this thread of info concerning your dark printing. I have just experienced the same thing. Everything printing really well, and then NOT. Muddy dark prints.

I too use Photoshop to control the color and print settings.

Did you find it was JUST the 16 bit box checked? or do you thing installing the lates Mac OS and reinstalling the drivers made a difference too?

I'm about to go out to the studio to see if I've inadvertantly checked any boxes. I don't remember seeing the 16 bit box in the print settings, but I'll look for it.

Are things still printing ok for you?

Kelly

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

Hi Rick

If Amdrew (DigitalDog) can't reproduce your issue then it's perhaps it's a unique issue at your end.

Andrew is highly expert when it comes to this subject.

I couldn’t get those 4 screenshots of yours to open [or download] unfortunately.

I wonder if this may help:

You'll be aware, I'm sure, that the selected media name in the driver must match the selection made when profiling.

Is the media name you selected previously actually there in the list? Are you positive that you're selecting the exact same media name?

IF the media names listed differ (and have been simplified) then you are perhaps inadvertently usign the Gimp/ Gutenprint driver rather than Epson's own. It's not just a matter of installing Epson's software, you have to select it too. [in installed printers] I'm not running Big Sur here (I too am reluctant) but I do know it's very important to use Epson's own driver software.

I tripped over this myself on a client site, the driver looked different and I put it down to an OSX update imposed style.

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
[please only use the blue reply button at the top of the page, this maintains the original thread title and chronological order of posts]

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rick3403Author

Participating Frequently

There have been several people posting problems they are having with Photoshop under this issue I have posted. They have received answers to their questions from the Adobe Professional Community, and I hope their issues have been solved. Would someone from the Adobe Professional Community please address the original issue that I posted. Thank you.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

There is absolutely no difference in Big Sur and Photoshop printing using color management in terms of some 'bug' in either.

What you can and should do is examine if there is an issue with the Epson print driver by doing this and install both drivers (from Epson) again:

1.Delete all instances of Epson printers from System Preferences>Print & Fax. 

2.Then go to /Library/Printers and toss the whole Epson folder. 

3.Toss LFP Remote Panel (IF you are using this utility for your printer). 

4.Then reinstall drivers from Epson and never Apple. 

When you go back to Print & Fax to add the printer, on 10.X I had to wait almost a minute before the IP version of the printer showed up, whereas the Bonjour one shows up right away. Then add the IP instance of the printer. This is for printers on a network.

Then re-install LFP Remote Panel if you use it with this printer.

NOTE: IF you have more than one Epson printer, you need to install the driver in the order of their release! Older then newer or you run into issues (eg, install 4800 before you’d install 3880).

@rick3403 wrote:

These are photographs I have printed before and they have always matched what I see on screen

Forget the screen for now. Does the OLD print and the NEW print match?

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

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rick3403Author

Participating Frequently

The new prints do not match the old prints.

I removed all Epson software and the the printer driver. Tthen deleted the Epson folder. All of which, I did this before. Then I reinstalled the driver and the software. The prints using Photoshop are still too black and do not match the previous prints. However, I printed again from the Epson Print Layout software and that print matches.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

Display and print don't match, despite calibration, it's the calibration settings. See:

Why are my prints too dark or don't match the display?
A video update to a written piece on subject from 2013
In this 24 minute video, I'll cover:

Are your prints really too dark?
Display calibration and WYSIWYG
Proper print viewing conditions
Trouble shooting to get a match
Avoiding kludges that don't solve the problem

High resolution: http://digitaldog.net/files/Why_are_my_prints_too_dark.mp4
Low resolution: https://youtu.be/iS6sjZmxjY4

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

R

rick3403Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you. This is not a calibration issue. I have been using color management and my prints were matching the screen. The suddenly the prints changed using Photoshop to manage the color. They will print with a different App.

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