Printing Issues

[carolynm18045944]

I am having issues with extremely poor colour reproduction when printing from eithe Lightroom or Photoshop. Prints have poor contrast, colour casts and are very different to the colour on screen (I do use softproofing which looks great). My suspicion is this is to do with the way that ICC profiles are being handled by Lr/Ps but I cannot seem to rectify the issue. Photos print perfectly if I bring the photo into a PowerPoint document (for example) and print from there so definately an issue with Adobe software. Set up is as follows:

2017 iMac 27inch 5K 3.5Ghz, 32gb RAM, Fusion Drive, Radeon pro 575 graphics 4Gb

Current version of OS High Sierra

Screen calibrated

Adobe CC latest versions

Canon IP8750 printer with latest drivers

Print from lightroom / PS with software controlling colour, using paper specific ICC profiles

Printer directly connected via USB

I’m at my wits end with this. I have the same issue regardless of whether I use the above Mac, my previous iMac (2013 version) or my MacBook Pro laptop.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks

[lrl117]

The puzzle is why when I print the identical image from photoshop and lightroom, the photoshop image prints fine and and lightroom image prints has a green caste and looks duller.  Again, both prints are from the same file.  If the heads were clogged, both prints should show the problem.

Could there be some corruption in the lightroom software on my computer?  If so, should I uninstall and reinstall?  Is there some cache that needs to be purged from lightroom?  Very puzzling.

[TheDigitalDog]

LR and PS print identically on this end ( MacOS Mojave/ two different Epsons). Again, recreate a new print template with identical settings as you use in Photoshop.

[lrl117]

I printed the test image from Lightroom and from Photoshop.  Both prints were identical.  They both had a slightly greenish caste and were a little darker than the monitor display.  Not sure what I did that now has them printing identically.

Nevertheless, that is what happened with your test image.  I'm thinking that the monitor profile may be out of whack.  The dark/ brightness issue can be corrected by reducing the brightness of the monitor.  Not sure how I can deal with the greenish caste issue. Would that be a monitor issue (the monitor looks good) or a printer issue.  If a printer issue, is there an adjustment to tweak colors on the printer?  I'm hoping that this doesn't get beyond my pay grade.

[TheDigitalDog]

lrl117  wrote

I printed the test image from Lightroom and from Photoshop.  Both prints were identical.  They both had a slightly greenish caste and were a little darker than the monitor display.  Not sure what I did that now has them printing identically.

Well that's good in terms of both prints matching from each application. As for a mismatch to the display, that's your display calibration. See below.

No, it's not the monitor profile in terms of the output. That plays NO role in the print but does in the match between print and display WHEN soft proofing.

Why are my prints too dark?

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

[lrl117]

Regarding my greenish caste printing issue, In photoshop, if I select PS Manages colors, the epson driver with basic selected will show the print mode 'accuphoto hdr' greyed out and the color mode shows 'no color mgt' greyed out. I assume that is correct. If I select 'Printer Manages Colors' in photoshop, the epson driver shows exactly the same thing. When I switch to the 'advanced color setting' it shows 'epson color management is off'. Is that correct?  I would think that when I am setting to 'Printer manages colors' in photoshop, the epson driver settings should be different than 'PS manages colors'  What am I missing?  Thanks.

Lance

[TheDigitalDog]

There is a major difference between Printer Manages Color and Application (Photoshop) Manages Color and the driver settings on Mac, in the ColorSync area are automatically configured in both LR and PS in the Epson driver. With AMC (Application Manages Color), you should see "No Color Management" OFF.

This PDF is very old, a very old Mac OS but the settings still apply today (and yes, I should update it):

http://digitaldog.net/files/Epson_Driver_Leopard.pdf

[lrl117]

Finally, after at least 100 hours of work, lots of toner and paper and some very good help and tips from you, the problem has been solved.  It had to do with the epson driver settings.  There is some very confusing wording that is being used.  I've documented everything that I did, including screen shots and could probably put it in a pdf file to help others.  Thanks again for your help.

[lrl117]

where do I mark this 'correct'?

[lrl117]

The profile going away was solved by creating a new catalog. The print issue in Lightroom still remains.

[GoldingD]

This might be a bit dated, but.....

How to Use ICC Printer Color Profiles in Lightroom Epson printers Mac

[GoldingD]

Oh, by the way, not familiar with your printer, but what about the black ink, just one cartridge? Alternate cartridge for photo black, etc?

[lrl117]

I don’t think it is a printer issue. My printer uses different black ink for matte and glossy paper. I was using the correct ink for the paper as per the icc profile.

[GoldingD]

I appear to be a bit Action/edit challenged, so for Canon at RedRiver:

How to Use ICC Printer Color Profiles in Lightroom Canon printers Mac

[GoldingD]

And this one, but for Epson

https://www.colourphil.co.uk/printing-epson-mac.shtml

[GoldingD]

And for Canon

https://www.colourphil.co.uk/printing-canon-mac.shtml

[GoldingD]

Also, complaints to Adobe at:Lightroom Classic CC | Photoshop Family Customer Community