Laser Printer Settings for Color Photos using Photoshop

[John Ratard]

I realise laser printers have only 3 colours and black to print color photos.  Nevertheless, color printing from a photo scan is acceptable.  Unfortunately, I have not had good results printing a JPG photo using Photoshop.  My Laser printer is a Brother MFC-9340CDW.  My understanding is that laser printers are usually set at the factory for document printing and not for photos.  I also understand that the correct 16-43 lb glossy laser printer paper is necessary for good results and not inkjet paper.  I contacted Brother for help but the recommendation was to contact Photoshop support.

From my trials, copying colors to print works, but printing a jpeg color photo has so far not provided reasonable results.

Any help such as adjusting laser printer settings if required would be greatly appreciated.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Do colour laser printers work with glossy paper?  I've always assumed that they don't work so well with flat out glossy photo papers, but do OK with the semi gloss high quality photocopy papers. 

I have the Brother M277dw, that I bought used from a buddy who didn't want to spend NZ$400 on a new set of toner cartridges.  I use it for office and diagram type work, but wouldn't have thought to try and print a photograph with it.  So I'm interested in what other replies you get.  (BTW I use a Canon MB5360 for other work)

[John Ratard]

Laser printers do not work with inkjet glossy paper because of the heat process used to set the toner particles on the paper.  Laser paper must also be capable of being charged to attract an opposite charge from the drum and toner transfer processes.  The term glossy is used for the laser paper that is basically a semi gloss.  There are certain laser printers that print photos better than others.  The results can be quite acceptable.  None print the subtle shades of color provided by inkjets with multi colours.

I have a friend who gave me the Brother colour laser printer when it started missing prints without solving the problem, so he simply bought a new one.  After solving a toner problem, it works faster and less expensive per page than my HP C309a ink jet.  An 8x10 will no longer be an issue if I can get acceptable jpg colour photo prints with the 9340.

[Derek Cross]

It might be worth getting an inkjet printer for your photography printing, they are not that expensive nowadays and you’ll never get the same quality of colour printing from a laser printer.

For example this printer, Canon Pixma MG3650, has been given a high rating by Which and costs (in the UK) around £30

Buy CANON PIXMA MG3650 All-in-One Wireless Inkjet Printer - White | Free Delivery | Currys

[Bob_Hallam]

To improve the quality you will need a good ICC profile for the Laser printer.   The problem with that in your situation is that a laser printer uses heat to create its print.  In the case of inexpensive laser printers, the heating system will not keep it consistent so that will not provide a high-quality result, simply because the process is not stable and any profile made may or may not work well on the day you decide to use the printer. 

I echo Derek's recommendation to purchase an inkjet printer.  E's listed some good ones that won't hurt your wallet very much. 

[John Ratard]

As my reply 2 (last paragraph) explained, I have an HP C309a (Photosmart Premium) inkjet printer.  I also know that it can provide superior color photos than a laser printer.  I also searched the Internet for "how to print color photos on a laser printer".  I found an article on how to print color photos on several laser printers with print examples and recommendations.  Most of the results were quite acceptable.

The purpose of this post was an attempt to see if I could provide similar results on my Brother MFC-9340CDW color laser printer.  I do not know whether a previously around $500 laser printer (once owned privately used through 3 toners and given free to me) qualifies as an inexpensive one or the ICC profile.  After studying how laser printers work and reading Brother manuals, it does provide consistent prints. If I use good quality laser paper, reliable toner and drum, and feedback from someone who uses Brother printers, I shoud be able to see if the results I can get are acceptable.

[Bob_Hallam]

Hi John,

By comparison, a 500 dollar Laser printer is inexpensive.  Even the much more expensive laser copiers are inexpensive compared to something that can actually maintain working temperatures consistently.  Color copiers can be profiled, they are very expensive, but the color is not stable and the profile is soon worthless.  Where I work they have a new digital press, which is basically a very large 150k Laser printer.  That laser printer is quite stable and has its own internal calibration to baseline the press.  After that the profile it uses works properly.  The results are "acceptable."  and the work can be sold as commercial quality.   

Given that acceptable may be very different in your current situation.  I'd still suggest profiling the process after it is been printing 25 sheets.  Then it may be possible to have a profile for this device that can help improve the color on that device.   My experience with this type of device has not shown that it can produce very consistent results.  Give it a try though, you've got nothing to lose. 

B

[John Ratard]

Hi Bob,

I can appreciate the precise quality that is required for commercial laser printing.  As you say, device calibration is not simple be it a monitor or any printing device.  Even my HP inkjet printer when connected to my ASUS monitor does not display the exact tonal result of a print given the standards for reflective and transmissive color.  My main video editing monitor is a discontinued ASUS PA 249Q (Adobe RGB calibrated) I managed to get new at half price and made for this kind of work.

Thank you for your information that has advanced my knowledge in commercial laser printing.  Fortunately, private printing is not constrained by such accuracy where the original image and final print result do not need to match as close as possible.  I am presently focussed on electronics and video editing with all their terms, so I will need to investigate the term ICC profile and refresh my memory on color profile before replying to further posts.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

[PECourtejoie]

Could you provide a print screen of the print window in photoshop?

Which color profile is used, both for the doc and the printer?

[John Ratard]

I can provide a print screen and definitely need the doc (input) and printer (output) color profiles.  I will provide these after refreshing my memory on the profiles.

It will try to get a profile for a Brother laser printer primarily set for and used to print business documents.  It can, for private use, acceptably copy a color photo but not a Photoshop jpg print.  My request for information from Brother support directed me to Adobe Photoshop support so I may need to escalate it.

What do you mean by doc profile?

[Bob_Hallam · Accepted solution]

Hi John,

This ICC portion of the workflow is the part that makes good color.  The document profile can be found at the bottom left corner of the open image in Photoshop.  You can choose to show that each time the document or file is opened. 

The printer profile characterizes the color for the printer to the Color management system in your computer or RIP.  In the case of the Mac that system is called ColorSync, for Windows, it's WCS or Windows color system. 

These two profiles allow for a seamless color description of the workflow.  If both are correct and accurate the reproduction will be predictable. 

[John Ratard]

Thanks Bob for the information in Post 10.  I should have associated transmitted color with RGB as with data displayed in a monitor from Photoshop and reflected color with CMYK as with print on a page. So now I am on the right track.

I was not able to find the document profile as you explained "The document profile can be found at the bottom left corner of the open image in Photoshop.  You can choose to show that each time the document or file is opened."

In any case, I need to determine how I set up Photoshop to transmit CMYK to the Brother laser printer from a Photoshop jpg RGB file.  Otherwise, as I found from an RGB to CMYK converter the result can be black.

[Bob_Hallam]

Hi John,

In my Jul 7, 2019 post above is the explanation on how to view the document profile.  Click the arrow and choose to view the document profile from the list.  Make sure that the profile is saved with the document (Embed). 

[John Ratard]

Hi Bob,

I looked at your July 7 post and I tried to find an arrow to click with no success.  Perhaps an arrow as is found in the centre of video presentations did not pass through to me.

[Bob_Hallam]

Look in the Lower left corner of the PS document window frame, John.  See the image posted to verify the area and menu. 

[John Ratard]

I have directly copied the received screen shot you posted below.   Unless my eyes are deceiving me, I cannot see an image in the lower left corner of the PS document window frame  When I click anything in the lower left corner in your July 7 post, the result is a larger image of the same screen shot.

[Bob_Hallam]

Yes, John, that screenshot displays what happens when the > is clicked at the bottom left corner of an image.  It shows "Document Profile" is selected. 

Here's a view of the full PS window so you might notice where I'm clicking. 

[John Ratard]

Apologies, I misunderstood what you meant by PS document.  I was looking at the bottom left corner of the image itself as the document. and not on the bottom of the Photoshop frame.  I opened an image of my own near the center of photoshop window.  I clicked the Photoshop frame arrow to find the dialog box display with the selected Document Profile.

From what you recommended next I "Make sure that the profile is saved with the document (Embed)". So I get a saved profile with the document.  What does this now do for me?

To be able to print to the Brother printer, I did some further study myself to find that I needed to save a jpg photo as Photoshop EPS and check the "Use Proof Setup: Working CMYK" box.  I also checked the Save "As a Copy" box and unchecked the "ICC Profile: sRGB IE61966-2.1" box.  When I printed the resulting eps file the Brother print was partly successful except for what may be a problem with the C and M toners and perhaps drums.  The top 10% of an 8x10 test print displayed acceptable color then faded away to Y (yellow).  I am taking the printer to have it checked out.

[Bob_Hallam]

Very good question John!

Embedding the profile in the image provides the color description and intent for each pixel in the image.  The embedded profile tells the color management system in any computer how to render the pixel values in the image to any other device.  Whether it be a monitor or a printer.  

Any RGB image can only have values in each channel of 0 to 255, but what flavor of RGB?  sRGB has a small gamut, and suitable for internet use, but probably not for a deeply saturated custom inkjet print.  ProPhotoRGB is very saturated and suitable for large gamut color printing.  

So without the embedded profile, you have no actual "intent" for what the image is supposed to look like. That embedded profile also is used by the color management system on a computer to render the pixels into color values of the printer.   To the degree the printer profile is an accurate representation of the printer's abilities to reproduce color, the results of sending a profiled document to a profiled device should be what you see is what you get.  

[John Ratard]

Thank loads Bob.  Great stuff.  I am also learning a great deal from a local supplier of toners and drums.  Apart from the accuracy of heat during the laser printing process, not all toner and drum suppliers provide the same color and reliability as Brother.  The richness of colors for CMYK vary from lighter to darker for the toners.  Colors for printed photographs may not be as accurate as you explained for professional printing but darker and more accurate toners may make all the difference between acceptable laser printed photos or not.

I shall test further to see which of three, sRGB, RGB, and ProPhotoRGB makes a difference for the quality given the tools I am using.  First of course I need to become more familiar with all three.  I may have incorrectly interpreted in the selection of EPS in the Photoshop CC save process to create a saved CMYK embedded photo that the detail in the photo is reduced to 8 bits. If correct, this would limit what I can expect unless I am missing something or I have an alternate conversion process using Photoshop.

If there is more than one correct answer to a complex series of answers to a question, how do I select all the correct ones or is one enough?

[Bob_Hallam]

Glad to hear you learned a few things here John.   You can only select one correct answer, but you can mark the others as helpful. 

[John Ratard]

Here is my Photoshop screen shot and color profiles

Color Profile Photoshop: I have not worked with other color profiles in Photoshop apart from Adobe RGB so I am a novice for the rest.   I looked at various menus to find in "View\Proof Setup" a number of profiles.  Perhaps I can set various profiles from here e.g. CMYK working with Brother.

Color Profile Brother printers: CMYK from Brother contact.

I use a video editor quad core support PC with a standard ASUS monitor for emails, Internet, video trials, and regular work.

My main video editor hex core PC with an ASUS P249Q (Adobe RGB custom monitor for design work) is dedicated to video editing and photography.

Please advise if you need more information.