Laser Printer settings for Printing color images using Photoshop

[cara0D45]

Hello,  

I have a Brother Laser Printer and I am struggling to get it to print close to what my Imac screen looks like.  I have calibrated my screen with a Spyder tool.  

While I'm working in Photoshop my color settings are set to Adobe RGB (1998) 16bpc

I have played aroud with having my printer handle color as well as Photoshop handle color and so far I haven't found the correct settings. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Cara 

[Stephen Marsh]

Do you have a generic or custom ICC profile for the make/model/paper combo that you are using?

Can you provide a screenshot of the print window colour settings?

[cara0D45]

I have looked for an ICC for the paper I'm using. It seems the company does not have one. 
the paper I'm using is 

Hammermill Printer Paper, Premium Color 28 lb 102700C

also the model of Brother printer doesn't have drivers to download. 
The printer I'm using is a Brother laser printer model- MFCL8900CDW

when I go to the website they there aren't any to download. I've added a screen shot. 
I've been using printer manages color and automatic as my setting. I've embedded  Adobe RBG 1998 color space. 

Cara 

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

You are on Monterey? If so, you probably have installed it as an AirPrint printer, as no separate drivers exist for anything after OS 10.15.

For a test, I downloaded an older version to my older laptop, and it does install a set of ICC profiles, with options for Gloss or Plain Paper, but they seem to be identical in color response.

I don't know if installing using AirPrint installs these ICC profiles. To check, open ColorSync Utility on your Mac and look under Profiles for any item that says "Brother/L168...." (these are the ones the 8900 driver installed for me).

I supposed I can share them with you from the older driver. let me know.

Have you run the Color Calibration on your printer? You can run it from your front panel if it's not available in teh AirPrint driver.

After you have done this, as a test, save one of your images as a PhotoShop PDF (PDF X-4) and save it on a USB stick and load it directly into the printer (using Direct Print). This will give you an idea of what the printer can do by default.

You could also use Acrobat to print the same PDF, setting your Print Settings > Color Matching to ColorSync (your ICC profile should show here), then under Color Settings, set as Normal. If this gives you a similar or better result, this is how you should set your Photoshop, i.e "Printer Manages Color"... the active sliders under Color settings will allow you to tweak the printer's color balance (if you use "Photoshop Manages", these color "tweak" settings will be disabled, although you COULD do that from the printer panel.

[gener7]

One trick I use is to add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer to the image before printing to my local printer. Brightness set to 20, Contrast set to -20. 40/-40 is another idea. It's a way of compensating for the fact that your screen directs light at you and ink covers the white paper reducing brightness. For the record I use a Macbook Pro with a Brother inkjet using plain paper and I like how close it gets to the screen. Printer controls colors.

It's a non-destructive idea. If you don't like the results, delete the adjustment layer and work with other methods.