Audi57 Loc: Bedford England.

I have seen a lot of people talking about adjusting the colour of the PC screen to match the Printer out put, which is the best way to do this as my Printer is always different to that which i see on my PC Screen

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

I think the best way is to get a color calibration device like a Spyder (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/838844-REG/Datacolor_S4P100_Spyder4Pro_Software.html) to get the color on your display as accurate as possible.

From there it depends on your printer and print software

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

You could get into monitor calibration devices and printer color profiles. I'll let someone else explain that for you. I simply take a picture on the screen and adjust the color until it matches the printed version. If you have a laptop, you have a different problem as the tilt of the screen when you open it is almost never the same and it affects the contrast and saturation of the picture. I do use a laptop but I purchased an inexpensive monitor just for pictures. Now, what I see is what I get from the printer. But, it is not necessarily what other people see when looking at one of my photo's on their computer.

Audi57 Loc: Bedford England.

thanks for that but that is the problem the colours from my printer do not match those on my monitor.

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

The thing is you have to start somewhere...

To REALLY do it right you have to shoot RAW, snap a photo of a color card like a Color Checker Passport, use software to create a color profile from the passport image, edit the image on a monitor that has been calibrated with one of the above mentioned tools and then print to a calibrated printer. That's just glossing over the details....

Try this: get a 2nd monitor (different than the one you are using now) set them both up side by side and clone the displays so they both show your desktop. When you view the image you're trying to print you will be amazed how different the displays are.

Trust me, start with monitor calibration and I suspect you will fix a great deal of the color mismatch you're seeing now.

Ziza Loc: USA

Check this out.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/colin_w/colour%20problems.htm

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Instead of trying to make the printer and monitor match each other the better practice is to create a profile for each device - camera, display and printer/paper/ink - It will never be 100% accurate - displays show transmitted light, while printers are reflected light. Also, different viewing circumstances (lighting color casts) will result in colors that appear to be inconsistent.

Get yourself some profiling tools - Datacolor or XRite - and profile things and your results will be better.

Also, if you are using a $200 or cheaper display, you are not likely seeing all the colors that can be printed. The cheaper displays are usually only 6 bit color depth, while the more expensive displays are 8 and 10 bit.

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

Change the colors on the monitor to match the prints. If the prints are too green, make the monitor too green. Now the 2 are somewhat sync'd. Now, open the picture on the screen in PhotoShop, or whatever you use to alter the color in the picture, and reduce the green. Print the picture again and see if the green is gone. It may take several tries as there may be more that one color that is affected.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

This is really bad advice - and the wrong way to do this.

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

I'm interested in why you think this is bad advice. I know it's a roundabout way of doing things but, it sync's the computer and the printer, at virtually no cost, and that's what he's after.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Because if you adjust one display to match the print, it will always look wrong on all other displays. Why would you want to deliberately throw the color balance off on a display? It would be better, and easier, to use the printer driver to make adjustments in how it prints, though that is also an exercise in frustration. Another issue is that you are not working with images that are full color gamut. If you get one color correct, another color that has the first color as a component may be off. What you are suggest is not a shortcut and a waste of time.

If you do nothing but properly profile you display, you edit that image on your display, then send that image to any print service and get back something very close to your original intent and what you see on the display.

If you post the image to social media or send it to someone in an email, again, the image will appear correct.

If you print your own work, you will get your best results if you profile the printer as well. But if you don't have the tool to do that, then you can use the manufacturer's paper and ink and the printer driver will produce a reasonable print. Many quality inkjet paper manufacturers such as Moab, Hahnemuhle and Canson, will provide decent printer profiles that you can use in place of generating your own.

Adjusting the display to match a printer is the worse thing you can do. The amount of paper and ink that will be consumed in trying to get it right, not to mention the time spent (wasted) doing this, makes the Spyder or Xrite Color Munki look like a bargain.

sloscheider Loc: Minnesota

I think it would help the OP get closer to what they want but in the big scheme of things it still wont work quite right. When the OP changes to matte paper instead of glossy or gets a glossy paper that is a different brightness or has a different white balance from what they calibrated to the colors will once again be off.

Let's say they have an Epson Artisan 1430 printer and Photoshop. If they use a colorimeter (like a Spyder) to calibrate their monitor, when photoshop prints the photo, the assumptions it makes based on the printer, paper type and inks available will be far more accurate. Choose a different paper in the print settings and Photoshop (or LR or Gimp, etc...) will adjust settings to achieve the proper color, or at least get close given the new conditions...


This one bit I have to disagree with - once you change to a different display you are at the mercy of that display for how the colors appear. BUT you will have done everything within your control to make it appear "correct". My laptop display is lousy for instance and images edited on a good, calibrated, display never really look quite right on it...

smith934 Loc: Huntsville, Alabama

Simple solution for the 'tilt' problem is to place a witness mark on one end of the laptop hinge

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

A good number of displays today are able to show 6 bits and with FRC similate 8 bit color depth. FRC is good for video, as it relies on the perception of more color as frame rate control switches pixels rapidly from one color to another. The illusion is of greater color depth. However, for still images you are likely to see banding, posterization and other undesirable effects, including way fewer colors.

A few displays are able to show 8 bit color depth without FRC and with FRC they can simulate 10 bit, and there are even fewer systems that can actually display a true deep gamut 10 bit color depth.

In terms of number of colors -

6 bit = 262,144
8 bit = 16,777,216
10 bit = 1,073,741,824

8 bit native (no FRC) is considered the minimum for photo editing.

Here's why:

http://www.ronmartblog.com/2011/07/guest-blog-understanding-10-bit-color.html

Most displays are factory calibrated (not profiled) to a color standard - and, though there will be some differences between them, generally speaking a blue is seen as blue, red as red and yellow appears yellow. not purple, orange and green.

So if you are saying that because an image edited to look correct on a calibrated and profiled display, will print perfectly correct, and "generally" looks ok on factory calibrated (and not necessarily profiled) displays, but it looks like crap on your totally out of whack laptop display - the problem is with your display, not with the industry practice of using calibration standards to make sure there are no surprises.

My advice - get a new display.