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dark prints (1 Viewer)

mike from ebbw

Well-known member
i had an epson stylus photo RX420 printer off santa and have recently started printing some of the photos i have in my BF gallery.i must say that i am very happy with the sharpness and colours but they seem to be coming out a fair bit darker than they look on my computer screen.is there any way of lightening them other than putting them through photoshop again.perhaps there is some way of adjusting the settings on the printer.i have looked but i cant find anything.thanks,mike.

edit:forgot to add that i am using epson original ink cartridges and ilford gallerie photo paper.
 
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mike from ebbw said:
i had an epson stylus photo RX420 printer off santa and have recently started printing some of the photos i have in my BF gallery.i must say that i am very happy with the sharpness and colours but they seem to be coming out a fair bit darker than they look on my computer screen.is there any way of lightening them other than putting them through photoshop again.perhaps there is some way of adjusting the settings on the printer.i have looked but i cant find anything.thanks,mike.

edit:forgot to add that i am using epson original ink cartridges and ilford gallerie photo paper.

Hi Mike,

This could be a bit of a minefield so it may be worth starting with a few questions.

Are you looking at the prints in indoor lighting because they will look dark viewed this way? Check them under a halogen desk lamp or better still bright daylight.

Is the monitor displaying the image correctly, ie has it been calibrated? I've regularly read that most LCD's are run way to high on brightness and contrast in which case even a print from a profiled printer will appear dark.

Is the printer profiled for the paper you are using and are you using this printer profile or the printers own colour management? I must admit that I use an R800 printer not yours but I'd imagine the colour management settings are basically the same.

Is the colour space being used the same from camera through to the printer?

Ploughing through this lot should hopefully provide a few answers.

Paul
 
Hi Mike,

Paul is right, it is a minefield but a good place to start is the calibration routine in Photoshop. If you haven't used it before, open Windows Explorer, open your C drive, open Programme Files, open Common Files, open Adobe, open Calibration and then double click Adobe Gamma (described as Type - Control Panel Extension). Then follow the calibration wizard and this should help you to produce prints closer to the images you see on the screen. Also, stick with Epson Inks and perhaps consider their paper too although this may not be as significant as sticking with the ink, but it's worth bearing in mind that they were made for one another. In case the price of these puts you off, have a look at 7 day shop's prices at www.7dayshop.com - good luck.

Adrian

PS I use an Epson 1290 and practice what I preach. My prints aren't an exact match but a lot closer than when I started.
 
Another way to do it would be via the print driver. When you print something, the Epson driver comes up and you can pick the type of paper, quality, etc. There should be some button there that says something like "Advanced". When you pick that, you should get a dialog that allows you to change brightness, contrast, and even individual colors for the printer. I don't have the printer you have, but I've had several other Epson printers and their drivers always have such a feature, although sometimes it is hard to find.
 
Forgive me if I’m telling you how to suck eggs, but my printing improved immensely when I read somewhere that the printer must use the same colour profile as the monitor (as Paul states).

To check:

Right-click on your desktop and select Properties > Settings > Advanced > Color Management. There should be a list of colour profiles shown. The profile being used is highlighted.

Now select Start > Settings > Printers. Right-click on your printer and select Properties > Color Management. If the monitor profile is not shown, select Add, find the same profile used by your monitor (extension .icm), and set this as the default for your printer.

This worked for me, but I only did this after calibrating my monitor.
 
bpw said:
Forgive me if I’m telling you how to suck eggs, but my printing improved immensely when I read somewhere that the printer must use the same colour profile as the monitor (as Paul states).

To check:

Right-click on your desktop and select Properties > Settings > Advanced > Color Management. There should be a list of colour profiles shown. The profile being used is highlighted.

Now select Start > Settings > Printers. Right-click on your printer and select Properties > Color Management. If the monitor profile is not shown, select Add, find the same profile used by your monitor (extension .icm), and set this as the default for your printer.

This worked for me, but I only did this after calibrating my monitor.


Thats interesting Paul. I must admit my understanding of this is different to yours.

For the monitor profile I use the profile created from my calibration software.

The default printer profile though is Epson's profile for their premium glossy paper. The way the printer profile page is worded to me implies that it needs a profile for the output from that device based on the media used, rather than a monitor profile.

Edit. Now I'm baffled. Whatever profile is used as default in the printer profile seems to be ignored and the profile set in the 'print preview' screen is used. I admit this is what I want because thats where I change the profiles but what is the Colour Management profile doing?

Mike,

A few good suggestions have been made but I hoped that if you answered the initial questions we my have been able to sort the problem, in some sort of order.
Having some sort of monitor calibration is, I think, essential before altering the settings in the advanced colour management settings in the printer.

I initially had a fiddle in there and used up loads of paper and ink attempting to bodge a solution. The problem is you can produce a print which won't look too bad after some messing around, but then the next, different, image could be miles out.

The only way I've found to get consistent printed images has been to calibrate the monitor, use the correct profile for the paper that I am using in the printer and to always use genuine Epson Ink.

Paul
 
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Gave up on printing my own after going through all of the above & still having to experiment with settings before getting a print that looked right. I now have all my prints done professionally at peak imaging. I am extremely happy with the results & prices are good if you order in quantity. They optimise the image for colour & contrast for you unless you tell them otherwise, & do a great job.
http://www.peak-imaging.co.uk/
Regards Rob.
 
paul goode said:
Thats interesting Paul. I must admit my understanding of this is different to yours.
Paul,

My understanding of the process was the same as yours, and I’m sure it must be right. I bought a SpyderPro to calibrate my monitor and a printer calibration tool from ColorVision. I created a profile for the monitor and a separate profile for the printer using the paper I intended to use. I also tried the Canon profile for the printer and paper (both Canon). But neither of these methods worked for me after many attempts and a lot of wasted paper.

I then read that you should calibrate your monitor and then use the same profile for your printer. I tried it and the result was almost perfect. It’s possible that it was just a coincidence I suppose?
 
Rob Chace said:
Gave up on printing my own after going through all of the above & still having to experiment with settings before getting a print that looked right. I now have all my prints done professionally at peak imaging. I am extremely happy with the results & prices are good if you order in quantity. They optimise the image for colour & contrast for you unless you tell them otherwise, & do a great job.
http://www.peak-imaging.co.uk/
Regards Rob.

That could be the best advice there's been on this thread, Rob
;)

I've got to say its been a long haul to get prints I'm happy with and having had some calendars commercially printed and seeing the colour match that they achieved it does make you wonder.....

Paul
 
bpw said:
Paul,



I then read that you should calibrate your monitor and then use the same profile for your printer. I tried it and the result was almost perfect. It’s possible that it was just a coincidence I suppose?

I honestly don't know Paul. I've just tried your setting with my Epson printer and its not as good as using the Epson paper profile. It really does seem confusing!

Paul
 
paul goode said:
I honestly don't know Paul. I've just tried your setting with my Epson printer and its not as good as using the Epson paper profile. It really does seem confusing!

Paul
I agree, it’s very confusing, so if you find a method that works, hang on to it!

I forgot to mention – for anyone else experimenting – in addition to setting the profile, I tell the printer which paper I’m using. It’s a Canon printer so it lists all the different Canon papers.
 
i calibrated the monitor last night and also went into the printer`s advanced menu and adjusted the brightness.tried printing the same image again and it looks a lot better.i seem to have opened a complicated can of worms here and for that i apologise.mike.
 
mike from ebbw said:
i calibrated the monitor last night and also went into the printer`s advanced menu and adjusted the brightness.tried printing the same image again and it looks a lot better.i seem to have opened a complicated can of worms here and for that i apologise.mike.

No need for apologies Mike. If you've sorted a tricky problem well done. If you look on dpreview you'll find a bucketful of threads with people struggling with this problem.

Paul
 
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