Printed illustrations not as expected.

[adabeeart]

I am printing my scanned in illustrations on an Epson Stylus Photo R2000 from Photoshop. 

I am finding that the images I am getting in hand are both much softer (not sharp enough) as well as faded in colour compared to the image I see on my photoshop screen.  I have tried adjusting levels, brightness, hues, contrast and applying smart sharpening filters with very little success.

Can anybody help me improve my outcome or guide me somewhere so I can learn?

Thank you,

Adrianna

[Mylenium]

Long and short answer: Read up on how Photoshop handles color management. Start by resetting all relevant settings, un-mistweaking any monitor customizations like excessively dialled up saturation and brightness and then some...

Mylenium

[adabeeart]

where do I read up more on this?  I've already made sure my monitor settings are appropriate for photoshop/print use without any significant improvement in print results.  Could you be more specific please?

Thank you

[c.pfaffenbichler]

You may also have to give some thought to the color management related print settings you utilise. 

[adabeeart]

I'm not sure I know what you mean.  When I print I make sure that I've selected Photoshop Manages Color in both the photoshop print menu and the printer settings menu.  Or is it more than this?

Thank you

[Per Berntsen · Accepted solution]

I am finding that the images I am getting in hand are both much softer (not sharp enough)

First of all, when applying and evaluating sharpness (on screen), you have to view the image at 100%, where one image pixel is represented by one screen pixel. Any other view will be inaccurate and misleading because the image has been scaled.

If you have viewed the whole image (fit on screen), it may well have given you the wrong impression of how sharp it is.

What are the pixel dimensions of the files you are printing?

When scanning, it is best to turn off sharpening in the scanning software, it usually does more harm than good.

The camera raw plugin for Photoshop (ACR) offers excellent sharpening – capture sharpening, which compensates for loss of sharpness in the scanning process, and output sharpening, which compensates for loss of sharpening in the printing process.

ACR is primarily designed for raw files, but you can open tiffs and jpgs in ACR by right clicking the thumbnail in Bridge and choosing Open in Camera Raw. If you're familiar with Lightroom, use that instead - it has all the features of ACR, but with a much better interface.

as well as faded in colour compared to the image I see on my photoshop screen.

Are you using the correct printer profile for the paper-printer combination?

Do the images have a color profile embedded? Click the little arrow bottom left in the taskbar to find out.

Photoshop is color managed, and uses the monitor profile to display colors correctly.

The best way to obtain an accurate monitor profile is by calibrating the monitor with a hardware calibrator.

Profiles delivered by monitor manufacturers are notoriously bad, and sometimes defective.

What make and model is your monitor?

What operating system do you use?

[adabeeart]

Thank you very much for your reply.

The size is: 9968 x13524, I scanned it in at 1200 pix because I was told the more the better.  It's a jpeg of a watercolour illustration not a photograph. I'm printing at 9x12in.

I'm using a macbook pro using macOS High Sierra version 10.13.6.

Im not sure how I would know if I am using the correct printer profile.  I'm not using Epson paper.  But the correct paper type is selected in photoshop and printer settings when printing.  When I click on the arrow at the bottom of the screen it is set to document sizes, not document profile.

Should I be processing this in CYMK or RGB?  I've read in the past that using RGB sends fewer mixed messages to the printer but then I just heard a blogger saying it should be done in CYMK.  As you can obviously tell I am just a home user with no training in the arts or graphic design so I am sorry for what I'm sure is a lot of ignorance on this topic. 

[Per Berntsen]

The size is: 9968 x13524, I scanned it in at 1200 pix because I was told the more the better

When scanning film, it's best to scan at the max resolution of the scanner. because film contains a lot more information than you can see with the naked eye.

That does not apply to reflective material, like watercolors – what you see in front of you is what you have. So if your original watercolors are much smaller than 9 x 12, the end result may not look good. And scanning at a very high resolution will not improve the image, and you will also get unnecessarily large files.

What are the dimensions (in inches) of the originals?

And what kind of scanner do you use?

the correct paper type is selected in photoshop and printer settings when printing.

So what kind of paper is this? If you go to the paper manufacturers website, you may be able to find a printer profile for your printer.

Install the profile, and then choose Photoshop manages colors under Color management in the print settings, and choose the profile directly below. Make sure to turn off color management in the Epson driver. (I think it's called No color management)

When I click on the arrow at the bottom of the screen it is set to document sizes, not document profile.

When you click the arrow, a menu will pop up, from which you can choose Document profile. (sse screenshot)

Should I be processing this in CYMK or RGB?

Definitely RGB. CMYK is normally only used for offset printing on a press.

Although inkjet printers have CMYK inks (plus some more), they expect to be fed RGB files, and using CMYK can result in wrong colors.

[adabeeart]

Thank you so much.  Your answers are so clear and helpful!

1.  The original image dimensions are just over 8x11.  The canvas size in the original and print are the same.  So it's not getting enlarged at all.

I have only a printer/scanner all in one.  HP LaserJet Pro MFP M127fw, it seems to be working fine for my needs at the moment.  I hope to upgrade to something nicer once I start making more money off my art.

2.  I am printing on Canson Bristol Recycled, 96 lb/260g.  So regular art paper.  I only see ICC profiles for the paper sold specifically as printer paper....

3.  Thank you I will select document profile.

4. Ok thank you! I will stick to RGB.

[Per Berntsen]

The original image dimensions are just over 8x11.  The canvas size in the original and print are the same.  So it's not getting enlarged at all.

In that case, I would scan just a little bit bigger than actual size (in inches or %, whatever settings you have available in the scanning software), and at 360 ppi. Then resize it to the exact size you want in Photoshop, keeping the ppi at 360.

Epson scanners​ printers will produce the sharpest prints when image ppi is dividable with 1440 - like 180, 360 or 720. I use 180 for prints larger than 16 x 20, and 360 for anything smaller. 720 might produce slightly better results, but for scanned watercolors it's probably overkill.

Before starting to resize in Photoshop, make sure that you understand how digital images work. If you don't, take a look at this article: What is a digital image?

I am printing on Canson Bristol Recycled, 96 lb/260g.  So regular art paper.  I only see ICC profiles for the paper sold specifically as printer paper

This could explain, at least partly, why your prints aren't sharp, and why the colors are wrong. Using paper designed for inkjet printing will probably give you much better results, especially if you use the correct ICC profile.

Lack of sharpness could also be due to the quality of the scanner – I have never used an all-in-one unit, but I would have thought that it doesn't produce high quality scans.

If you want to buy a new scanner, the high-end Epsons are very good for scanning reflective material. You can buy the 800 series new, but an older model, like 700/750, 4990, 4880, or even the quite old 3200 should provide good quality scans.

It's possible that your current scanner only will save jpg files, but the Epsons will let you save tiffs, which is a much better choice, especially if you scan in 16-bit. Jpg uses lossy (destructive) compression, which means that the image has already suffered some quality loss when it comes from the scanner. Every time you save a jpg, the quality will be reduced, and the it can be significantly reduced if you save multiple times. So jpg is a final format, not suited for editing. (the exception is if you do all the editing in Camera Raw or Lightroom, which do non-destructive editing) For more information, see File formats

[adabeeart]

1.  Thank you.This is super interesting.  I had no idea about the 1440 thing!

2.  Yeah I am concerned that the scanner is not the greatest... however my images when I scan them in look super sharp on the computer, just not when I print them... It does allow me to save in tiff and other formats as well.  I'll definitely start saving in this format!

The main reason why I am using this canson bristol paper is because my clients want recycled paper.  You know, environmental awareness and all that.  I don't know of any heavier matte/watercolor type printer ready papers that are recycled.  It's a concern of mine as well.  However if I can't get my prints to look right on this paper of course I will have to move to specific made for inkjet papers...

Thank you so much! I am learning so much!

[adabeeart]

So after running roughly 12 different proofs with only minimal improvement, I got the brilliant idea to try to print it on a piece of semi-gloss epson photo paper made for the printer.  The colours came out SO much more vibrant and sharp.  Definitely will be purchasing some Epson paper.

Thank you very much for all of your assistance.  I have really learned a lot!