Color Management

[EMVirostek]

Hi everyone. I'm having issues printing and I tried searching, but really didn't get the answer I was looking for

Anyway, I shoot RAW, sRGB,edit in Lightroom 3, and export as sRGB.

When I print on my Officejet J4680, the photos are usually darker and have much more contrast then when I see them on my monitor. Now, my monitor has not been calibrated with a tool..but calibrated with the "eyeball technique"...using the calibration wizard in Windows 7. I know this isn't the preferred method, but my photos look about the same on every monitor I see them on.

My main question is how do I know if my printer is managing colors? I have gone through the settings for the printer and can't seem to find the option to turn it off. Conversely, is there a way to turn off color management in Lightroom? Honestly, I would rather use LIghtroom, then HP.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[OsmosisStudios]

When youre printing, you have to calibrate your monitor to your printer: otherwise it's just a fruitless endeavour.

Frankly, I wouldnt print on anything named "officejet".

I calibrated my editing techniques and monitor from test prints done at a local lab.

[EMVirostek]

I know the officejet is not the ideal printer, but it prints photos from our point and shoot just fine. Only with my DSLR the quality isn't there. I assume from shooting RAW and the post production process.

I guess I'm just stumped on how to calibrate my printer to my monitor.

Thanks for your response Osmosis.

[Doug Pardee]

Originally Posted by EMVirostek

I'm just stumped on how to calibrate my printer to my monitor.

You don't. You calibrate your monitor, using a proper calibration device. If you're not prepared to do this, don't edit your photos or you're setting yourself up for long-term grief.

Every photo that you manipulate on an uncalibrated monitor is being adjusted wrong, and whenever you finally do calibrate your monitor, you're going to have to go back and readjust all of those photos to make them right.

[EMVirostek]

Doug, I understand all of that. Unfortunately, a calibration device is not in my immediate future. I am simply wondering how to make sure my printer isn't managing colors and conflicting with what I am doing in lightroom.

As I said before, the photos look practically identical on other monitors. The final print is drastically different. Would you look at my flickr page and let me know how my photos look on a properly calibrated monitor...please?

Lastly, I know of people who don't calibrate and don't have this issue.

[ravncat]

Originally Posted by EMVirostek

Doug, I understand all of that. Unfortunately, a calibration device is not in my immediate future. I am simply wondering how to make sure my printer isn't managing colors and conflicting with what I am doing in lightroom.

As I said before, the photos look practically identical on other monitors. The final print is drastically different. Would you look at my flickr page and let me know how my photos look on a properly calibrated monitor...please?

Lastly, I know of people who don't calibrate and don't have this issue.

That's in your printer preferences somewhere - or should be. Check under color management - for example my epson lets me select color controls, ICM or "don't color manage"

[ccting]

sRGB (for screen only) for print? s= screen only. You should not use sRGB, you should use other color scheme. Download printer driver for your software for the best output. For instance, autocad driver etc etc.. some drivers can be purchase.

Why the RGB color model give you different result. Because printer does not use RGB color model, it is more traditional CMY color model. Therefore, using sRGB (RGB for screen only) is actually killing yourself.

****Luminance uses RGB color model; while reflection (paintings etc) uses CMY color model. Therefore, the conversion between both color models is crucial for printing.

Another factor that lead to darker images, is that, grey color cannot be printed accurately using any kind of printers, especially laser printers. The mix of three colors by printers are hard to get the tone of grey, and that's why some modern printer have different "grey" tonners.. Don't blame yourself, blame the technology and settings.

That's why i blame my D5100 and kit lens whenever i take bad photos ;D

[OsmosisStudios]

ccting: Wrong once again.

sRGB - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From the first line:

sRGB is a standard RGB color space created cooperatively by HP and Microsoft in 1996 for use on monitors, printers, and the Internet.

*emphasis mine

"s" is for "standard", not "screen".

You're on a weird sort of parallel track: Printers use subtractive colour (CMYK) to print colours, but convert to CMYK from sRGB best since it is the standard and manufacturers have that standard to work from.

[EMVirostek]

Thanks for all your replies. Unfortunately, I think i may just need to upgrade my printer. Can't seem to find the color management options in the settings...maybe they simply aren't there.

BTW, has anyone checked out my flickr page to see if the photos look odd there? I think that would possibly help by letting me know if my monitor is off.

Thanks again.