Cannot match color when printing

[Roving Pictures Company]

Printing out of Photoshop. I've tried 2 different printers. Epson WF-7620 and HP Officejet 8600. I've tried to let Photoshop Manage Color and Printer Manage color. The document profile is sRGB ICE61966-2.1 as well as the printer profile for both printers. Under print settings, there is no option for color handling, only Media and Quality. I'm printing on 5x7 glossy photo paper. I've looked at both websites, Epson and HP, to see if there are ICC profiles that I need and I haven't found any. When I first started using these printers, I installed the drivers through the system preferences in mac 'printers and scanners' (the + button). 

Using OS 10.15.7, MacBook Pro Color LCD profile. The screen is relatively calibrated and the prints are far from what I see on the screen. 

For both printers, the default profiles is sRGB ICE61966-2.1. The HP printers an overly dark and saturated photo compared to what I have on screen, and the Epson is magenta and muddy. 

What am I missing here? 

[Roving Pictures Company]

Also, I did clean printer heads on both printers.

[NB, colourmanagement · Accepted solution]

1: sRGB is NOT the icc paper profile for your printer/s. 

In Photoshop maneges color" you need to select an ICC profile with the name of both the printer and paper. 

2: You can't see any color handling options in the driver software?

Can you see the manufacturer's papers by name under 'media type', or perhaops tyou just see generic just terms such as 'gloss', 'semigloss' etc.?

If so, I think you are looking at the Gutenprint / Gimp print driver. This driver misses a lot of options you need for accurate printing with the manufactuer's original ICC profiles. 

In OSX system preferences / print and fax you will need to select the printer name AND the manufacturer's driver under "print with" NOT "Secure Airprint" or "Airprint".  

THEN you should see the right options in the driver software

Epson example below, this is what the Epson driver looks like:

Have a read through this other thread where the manufacturer's printer driver -v- the Gutenprint / Gimp print driver is discussed at length.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop/colorsync-won-t-shut-off-for-printing/m-p/11679982?page=1#M...

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
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[Roving Pictures Company]

Thank you for your reply. You are correct, I see how the airprinting is the wrong way. I downloaded the printer driver, but it stuck me with a printer profile called Epson IJ Printer 07 that does not work, at least it doesn't work with the nice HP Premium Plus Photo Paper that I loaded (I looked at HP website and they don't have ICC profiles for their paper). 

Pretty frustrating not knowing how to find the ICC profiles for a printer... 

[NB, colourmanagement]

Hi

HP are pretty unlikley to produce ICC profiles for Epson printers. Just for HP printers.

As you have discovered, an ICC profile needs to be for the specific paper and printer (and ink of course).

If you want to use a manufacturer's profile on the Epson printer, you'll need to use an Epson paper - one that’s listed in your ICC profiles list (under Photoshop Manages Color"). You should see a long list of paper profiles there, all beginning with the name of your printer. 

You wrote "the screen is relatively calibrated" I dont know what you mean by that but you're going to need an accurate screeen calibration and profile [made with a sensor such as i1Display Pro, to get a good screen match to accurately printed work.  

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management
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[Roving Pictures Company]

Thanks again. I think now I'm fighting the fact that this is just not a great printer to print from 🙂 Missing a lot of nuances. But the family loves them. Sometimes my critical eyes are a curse 🙂

[NB, colourmanagement]

Hi, yes you may be right as the Epson WF-7620 seems to be essentially an office printer.

Epson's SC-P are good photo printers if that’s what you are after. Paper choice is important too, many users like Epson's Photo papers such Premium Semi Matte or their Premium Luster. There's also their "Traditional Darkroom" paper that’s popular.

Maybe a good shop would show you samples [or ask Epson?] so you can tell if the shift to a photo specific machine is worthwhile.

Your own eyes must be the judge.

Here's a good test image often used for this purpose. 

https://www.colourmanagement.net/downloads/CMnet_Pixl_AdobeRGB_testimage05.zip

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]