ecblackiii Loc: Maryland

I shoot with Nikon D7100, D810, and Galaxy D7 (in a pinch). I use a Dell computer with a 24" Dell monitor and use HP Photosmart 7520 as my primary printer. When I view photos in Lightroom, the colors are bright, beautiful and appear true to the photographed scene. But when I print, the printed picture has color shifts and appears drab. Am I right in assuming that the monitor is probably OK, but the printer needs to be calibrated? If so, what do I need to do?

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

You need to profile everything - camera, display, photo paper and ink. Otherwise you will be chasing your tail and spending $$$$ on ink and paper.

Alternately, you can just profile your display and use the printer manufacturer's ink and paper and you should be ok.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Calibrating your monitor is critical! Most monitors are set too bright to compensate for a well lighted room. Think how much brighter your monitor would look in a completely dark room. This results in 'muddy' looking prints.
I invite you to drop by the UHH section Printers and Color Printing Forum at http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-120-1.html , where several monitor calibration devices are discussed. I personally own an X-Rite ColorMunki Smile device for my PC monitor associated with my Canon Pro-100 printer, and a Datacolor Spyder 5 device for my editing monitor on my main PC.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Two common issues:

First, that is a black plus three color all purpose printer and scanner. It will never print brilliant color like photo printers that have black plus five or more. Look at the Canon Pro series or the Epson SureColor series.

Second, something tries to control the color. Lightroom, by default wants to. Your printer's driver by default wants to. You have to find where to turn one or the other off. If you don't, they fight and turn your photos to crap. With true photo printers, most turn of the color management in the Printer

Bill_de Loc: US

This should help:

To achieve colors in print that more closely resemble the bright and saturated look of onscreen colors in Lightroom, select Print Adjustment. Then, drag the Brightness and Contrast sliders.

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/print-job-options-settings.html#set_print_color_management


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dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

Give this a look over

lightroom: correcting differance what monitor see's an what printer see's

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-430068-1.html

Leicaflex Loc: Cymru

Calibrate your monitor and obtain bespoke profiles for your papers.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If I ever take a picture that's good enough to print, I'll pay a pro. I have two printers, and each one produces slightly different colors for the same image.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Check the soft proofing box in Lightroom to get an idea of what the print will look like

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Common color mis-match issues:

• Uncalibrated Monitor, or "too bright" calibration aims
• ICC profile mis-match (using Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB working space to interpret an sRGB image, for instance)
• Improper image profile conversion
• Double profiling (driver and application both apply the same profile, or worse, two different ones)
• Trying to print in 16-bit mode with an 8-bit printer driver
• Wrong, or NO printer/paper/ink profile enabled
• Clogged nozzles in one or more colors
• Using an office-grade printer for photos
• Partially color blind color corrector
• Lack of sleep, severe stress, pregnancy, recent exposure to bright light, too much caffeine, mind-altering substance consumption...

Most of these situations can be avoided with a little thought, care, foresight, and effort. Color management is a system that starts at the camera, ends with the print.

In a raw image workflow, the "profile" is part of your computer operating system or application software. Microsoft, Apple, and Adobe (and your camera manufacturer) provide the conversion parameters that allow you to convert an image from raw data to a "working space" such as ProPhoto RGB or Adobe RGB. The working space profile is then converted to your monitor profile for viewing, or to your printer profile for printing, or to sRGB for the Internet and photo labs, or to Adobe RGB for high end labs and service bureaus or commercial printers. Along the way, you can adjust it within the limitations of your monitor.

In a JPEG workflow, the profile is set at the camera to sRGB or Adobe RGB. Adobe RGB is not recommended for office-grade equipment, which can't handle the wider gamut. The image is converted to the working space profile when it is opened. The working space profile is then converted to your monitor profile for viewing, or to your printer profile for printing, or to sRGB for the Internet and photo labs, or to Adobe RGB for high end labs and service bureaus or commercial printers. Along the way, you can adjust it within the limitations of your monitor.

Monitors must be calibrated with a colorimeter or spectrophotometer. From the calibrated state, the monitor calibration software then creates an ICC color profile and stores it in the operating system. It is the profile, working WITH the calibrated state of the monitor, that provides a standard color viewing environment. That's why it is important to NOT TOUCH the monitor calibration controls after installing the profile, UNLESS you intend to re-calibrate and re-profile.

Getting prints that are very close, pleasing matches with your monitor is possible, but there are many "switches to set" to get there.

donrosshill Loc: Delaware & Florida

Just a reminder: The viewing results that you see on a Monitor is a back lit light. The Image you see when you print is a Reflected image. The two will never match. The best info given here is to set the Monitor, Paper, Ink, Printer parameters to the various specifications or, send it out to a pro company for printing. I personally have matched my materials for what I consider a Proof. If I feel that it is worth it or is part of a job, I send it out to a Pro shop.
Don

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

You don't need to calibrate your printer. You should calibrate your monitor. In processing you need to set your ICC profile for your paper. There are some good tutorials on printing from LR. KelbyOne has a new one out that is excellent.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

In the first place, if you are going to be doing your own printing your monitor needs calibration. Paper and inks from the manufacturer of your printer will give you the best results.
Do also a printer test to determine if the flow of ink is even in all injectors but your first and most important step is calibration.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

This reply is as good as it gets. Making your own prints, and making them well, is not a plug-and-play operation, nor will a printer work well out-of-the-box. A proper printer, designed to print photos, proper ink, paper profiles, calibration, etc etc are all needed to get a "good" print. I don't mean to make it sound soo very hard, but there is a bit to be done. Best of luck.

Marn

Being lazy, I don't wan to calibrate my monitor.
What I do is pront a color test, then use the co,or maagement control on the monitor so that
the screen image is similar to the print.
Once done my prints are close to the monitor pic.