Sync printout on Epson 3880 with image in LR 13.3.1 on monitor

[Linda38437154jzpn]

I use Lightroom Classic 13.3.1 on my new Powerbook Pro and have an Epson 3880. How do I get prints to look the same as my photograph on the computer screen?

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

That is called 'color management' (https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/help/print-job-options-settings.html). Be aware that you can never have an exact match between a monitor and a print. A monitor emits light, so the darker the room, the more a picture of a sunset really makes the sun shine. A print reflects light, so the darker the room the less you can even see the print.

[Linda38437154jzpn]

Thank you so much, Johan!

[Conrad_C · Accepted solution]

I have used an Epson 3880 for many years, and before that, an Epson 3800.

First, adjust expectations: A 14"/16" MacBook Pro display is capable of reproducing a much wider color range (gamut), at a much higher brightness, than any combination of ink and paper can ever reproduce. It’s not even close, and it’s worse if you enabled HDR editing mode in Lightroom Classic. What that means is that even though the Epson 3880 is one of the best color printers available, it is very easy to edit a photo too far so that its most saturated colors and brightest tones are impossible to fully reproduce using Epson 3880 ink and paper, or any printer for that matter.

Therefore, the real goal is edit the photo as best you can within the limits of what the Epson 3880 can achieve. In other words, the real goal is not to make the print the same as the screen, but the opposite: Make the screen accurately preview the limits of the printer.

In Lightroom Classic and other print-friendly Adobe apps, this can be done by soft-proofing in the Develop module. Soft-proofing means making the screen simulate the colors and tones that are achievable with a specific combination of printer, ink, and paper.

1. In the Develop module, if the toolbar is visible, enable Soft Proofing. This is a shortcut for choosing the menu command View > Soft Proofing > Show Proof.

2. In the Soft Proofing section that appears under the histogram, click the Profile menu and select the printer/paper/ink profile you intend to select later in the Print module. If that profile is not in the list, in the menu choose Other, and add the profile. In my example below, I selected a profile to simulate what the image might look like on an Epson 3880 using Epson Ultrasmooth paper, which uses the printer’s matte ink set. 

3. Set the options Intent and Simulate Paper & Ink as needed. It’s typical to select the Relative (Colorimetric) intent and enable Simulate Paper & Ink.

The image will probably dull down a little, but that’s because it’s telling the truth about how the capabilities of that particular combination of printer+ink+paper. For example, a cheap matte paper will reproduce less color and contrast than a higher-priced glossy paper, and soft-proofing simulations will show that to you before you print.

If you make any edits at this point, you’ll be asked if you want to make a proof copy, or you can do it yourself by clicking Create Proof Copy. This makes a virtual copy of the image that saves any edits specific to this printer/ink/paper combination, without limiting the original. So you can save separate proof copies of the same image, tailored to different media types.

On the printer side, be sure you set the Media Type properly in the Epson-specific print settings in the macOS Print dialog box.

If this seems like a lot, it’s been standard procedure for around a quarter of a century. For background, and to understand some of the principles about simluating a print on a display, you can read one of the first articles about this written in 2000, although it’s from a Photoshop point of view:

Out of Gamut: Soft Proofing in Photoshop 6.0

Because you have a 14"/16" MacBook Pro, you can take this one step further if you want, because it has the Apple Liquid Retina XDR Display. This is an excellent display that is well calibrated out of the factory (one of the best available for a laptop), but as I said, the default display preset of Apple XDR Display (P3-1600 nits) color and tone capabilities far exceed what any printer can reproduce. So you may want to try choosing a more print-relevant calibration preset. In macOS System Settings > Displays, you can pick a display Reference Mode Preset such as Photography (P3-D65) or Design & Print (P3-D50). This sets the white point to a graphic arts standard, and also limits luminance to a more paper-like 160 nits instead of (unachievable on paper) 1600 nits.

The yellow area highlights presets that I made, so they don’t come with your Mac. I customized them for the printing conditions that I wanted to account for, such as certain white points and maximum luminance limits (many print pros like to calibrate their display to between 90-120 nits). If you want to read more about the Reference Mode Presets, here are the Apple articles about it:

Use the Preset menu in Displays settings on your Mac

Create custom reference modes on Mac

[Linda38437154jzpn]

Incredible! Thank you, Conrad, for very comprehensive instructions! There is way more to it than I imagined!