Printing, why is it so hard?

Inkjet printers have gotten fantastic. I use an Epson Pro 3800 in my office and it is a stunning machine. Rich colors, and  great set of media to print on. 

But printing -consistently- is hard. Why?

In short it is because too many things want to manage our color. Photoshop does, color-sync does, Epson does. And if we let them we'll get great results once bad results the next time. That makes it very hard to adjust your prints.

So how to get good, consistent, results?

(these notes are tailored to Mac/Epson/Photoshop color management but should apply to any os/printer/software combo)

1: Calibrate your monitor. I can't emphasize this enough. You have to make sure that your monitor shows red as red and green as green. It can be done with your eye, but invest in a high quality hardware solution. We use the X-Rite Eye-One  but there are others.

2: Pick your paper carefully. There are a bunch of great papers out there. Personally I do most of my printing on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 but again, there are others. To go with your paper you will need the corresponding profile for the paper/printer combo. The profile is a small program that tells you and your computer what the color should look like. You can have them custom written or get generic ones from the paper manufacturers (Hahnemüles here). The profiles go in your Hard Drive/Library/ColorSync/Profiles folder.

3: Edit you photos in a standard color space (Adobe 1998 is the standard) but when it comes time to print do a custom proof. In Photoshop view/ proof set up/custom/ your paper's profile name. This will give you an idea of what the image will look like provided you follow the next step!

4: When printing there are 2 dialog boxes you have to deal with. In photoshop when you print you get this one. The important things here for color management are on the right side of the box. 

Color Management set to Proof (profile for the paper of your choice set in step 3).

Color Handling set to No Color Management 

Hit Print

The next box is for the printer. I will demonstrate for my printer, the Epson 3800 and yours will be a little different but the concept is the same. 

I find this the most confusing part. There are 2 scroll down menus, go to the second one For Printer Settings.

Media Type to what ever works for your paper

Print Mode to AccuPhoto HD

Color Mode to Off(No Color Management)

Output Resolution to whatever works for you (I use SuperPhoto 2800)

then PRINT

What we have done is turn off all color management except for the original proof profile that was written specifically for the printer/paper combo.

Good Luck and happy printing.

-Stephen Alvarez