printer colours vs 'real' colours

Hello,

I'm not sure if this is the best group to ask this question, so please feel
free to send me elsewhere.

I am new to digital photography, and am trying to print photos via my pc. I
have a new Vista pc and a big (19") monitor, plus an old but decent printer
(HP deskjet 5650). I find that my printed photos sometimes have much
deeper/darker colours than appear on the monitor. The colours on the monitor
seem to me to be 'correct' or 'natural' , the printed colours are too
deep.

For example, I have a pic of a hot-air balloon against a light blue sky. On
the monitor it seems perfect, but when printed the sky is a darker/deeper
blue than is natural.

I am printing at 'best' quality.

How do I synchronise the colours between the monitor and printer? Is this a
printer problem ?

Thanks for all advice

KK

And lo, dido22 emerged from the ether
and spake thus:
Hello,

I'm not sure if this is the best group to ask this question, so please feel
free to send me elsewhere.

I am new to digital photography, and am trying to print photos via my pc. I
have a new Vista pc and a big (19") monitor, plus an old but decent printer
(HP deskjet 5650). I find that my printed photos sometimes have much
deeper/darker colours than appear on the monitor. The colours on the monitor
seem to me to be 'correct' or 'natural' , the printed colours are too
deep.

For example, I have a pic of a hot-air balloon against a light blue sky. On
the monitor it seems perfect, but when printed the sky is a darker/deeper
blue than is natural.

I am printing at 'best' quality.

How do I synchronise the colours between the monitor and printer? Is this a
printer problem ?

Thanks for all advice

KK


The best approach is to use "color management," which typically means
having ICC color profiles of each device (e.g. monitor, printer) and
learning how to use them to "soft-proof" your work.

There are myriad resources available on the subject, I suggest
searching the web for "color management getting started" or something
along those lines. You may wish to purchase a color calibration kit to
generate your own profiles, though you may be able to mitigate your
problems with manufacturer profiles (typically freely downloadable).

--
Aaron
http://www.fisheyegallery.com
http://www.singleservingphoto.com

On 6/15/07 8:09 AM, in article , "dido22"
wrote:

Hello,

I'm not sure if this is the best group to ask this question, so please feel
free to send me elsewhere.

I am new to digital photography, and am trying to print photos via my pc. I
have a new Vista pc and a big (19") monitor, plus an old but decent printer
(HP deskjet 5650). I find that my printed photos sometimes have much
deeper/darker colours than appear on the monitor. The colours on the monitor
seem to me to be 'correct' or 'natural' , the printed colours are too
deep.

For example, I have a pic of a hot-air balloon against a light blue sky. On
the monitor it seems perfect, but when printed the sky is a darker/deeper
blue than is natural.

I am printing at 'best' quality.

How do I synchronise the colours between the monitor and printer? Is this a
printer problem ?

Thanks for all advice

KK

http://www.photoshopsupport.com/resources/color.html

I'm not sure if this is the best group to ask this question, so please
feel free to send me elsewhere.

I am new to digital photography, and am trying to print photos via my pc.
I have a new Vista pc and a big (19") monitor, plus an old but decent
printer (HP deskjet 5650). I find that my printed photos sometimes have
much deeper/darker colours than appear on the monitor. The colours on the
monitor seem to me to be 'correct' or 'natural' , the printed colours
are too deep.

For example, I have a pic of a hot-air balloon against a light blue sky.
On the monitor it seems perfect, but when printed the sky is a
darker/deeper blue than is natural.

I am printing at 'best' quality.

How do I synchronise the colours between the monitor and printer? Is this
a printer problem ?

1) You can install an icm file for your monitor and your printer.
2) You can set the gamma for the monitor using "Quick Gamma" or "Dark
Adapted" which are freeware.
3) You can buy custom color profiles.
4) You can buy a Colorvision Monitor Spyder.

My first two suggestions won't cost you anything and may make enough
difference. In my experience most computer monitors are setup to be as
bright as possible with the color temperature set to 9300k (cool). Changing
the color temp to 6500k (using the monitor's internal menu) and using Quick
Gamma to adjust brightness and contrast will help. Also, go into the
advanced properties of the printer driver and make sure it's not set to
"photo enhance" the output - you don't want the printer driver messing with
the color while you're trying to establish a baseline. Hope this helps.

LCD monitors are surface of the sun bright compared to the reflective
surfaces of even hi gloss prints. It is inevitable that prints will be too
dark, regardless of color management, if you expect the brightness values
you see on an LCD to be mirrored in a print.
That being said it is also more difficult to achieve accurate color with an
LCD than a CRT if you do not calibrate the monitor and use color management
in a color managed program like Photoshop/Elements/Paint Shop Pro.
LCD monitors tend to have steeper steps between color gradations than CRTs
so results improve if objective measurements have been made so the imaging
program can try to translate what you see to what it can print.
There is an easy trick that works for most general uses, presuming you are
using color management:
Take a representative print and just prior to printing arbitrarily dial up
the brightness to different levels (using either a brightness control or a
curves control) until you find a setting that works for you. Some users also
experiment with contrast changes in the same fashion. That setting will work
for most images.
For my LCD, using the newer Brightness control in CS3, that setting is all
the way up to 40, which indicates how ultrabrite these LCDS are.
Also: do not look at the print immediately after you have been staring at
that ultrabrite LCD. Let your eyes adjust to normal levels of illumination.
Do not save your image with that arbitrary brightness/contrast change.
Also: do not dial down the brightness/contrast of your LCD, leave them at
default, supernova settings. These settings in an LCD are not analogous to
similar controls on a CRT. Calibration device software goes through all
that.