temblor

These two images look different when using the same photo, the printer image colors and tones don't match what shows on the screen. I did some research and found there's software I can buy to make the printer image match the screen image. For over $700!

Does anyone know what causes the discrepancy and why? Is there a better solution than the one I found?

My printer is an HP Officejet Pro 8630. I used to have an HP Photo printer but it showed the same effect.

Love Wildlife

If you have Windows 10 go to settings, systems and in display there are options to use to sync your monitor color with what the computer is seeing. It is not perfect but it gets me quite a bit closer to what my printer prints. I have a lower end 1080i monitor. I want to eventually upgrade to a higher resolution that is free sync for AMD processor which will be even better for picture quality. Hope this was helpful.

temblor

Very much so. Thanks very much.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

You did not mention projected images... historically projected images are a great sleep aid... remember the drone of the fan on the Kodak Carousel Projectors.

Projected, and monitor are both radiated colors vs printing which depends on the surrounding lighting to show the image. The room bulb lighting can vary from 3000K to over 5000K [daylight] using bulbs readily available from Wmrt. Color of the walls can affect the printed image. One UHH person suggested that he painted his room 18% gray!!!

The perception of color [more than you want to know]:
https://www.britannica.com/science/color/The-perception-of-colour

tcthome Loc: NJ

Monitor calibrated? Data color or store make them for monitor calibration. B&H sells them for $170.00.

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

A couple of things.

You will never get a match, but you will get close. Different color gamut and reflective vs transmitted colors are never going to look alike. The HP is an all-purpose printer, and lacks the color gamut of a true photo printer. It only has three colors and black so you can't expect much.

You don't need to spend $700, but you can get away with spending about $250 for an Xrite i1 Display Pro colorimeter, and using a printer profile to view your images for soft proofing and final adjustments. If you profile your screen and use OEM paper and ink in your printer, you will get a better match.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

DanielJDLM

You really should be using a dedicated photo printer

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

Am I the only one who doesn't see any images?

I used to have an HP printer. Used it for years until it finally died for the second time. It would print images with a heavy magenta cast. So I bought a Canon. Used up the rest of my HP paper and discovered the paper has a magenta cast! So now I use Canon paper, too.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Calibrate your monitor using a colorimeter or spectrophotometer from X-Rite or DataColor. Then CUSTOM PROFILE the monitor, using the same kit. This is partly a guided process, partly an automated process. Kits cost $150 to $250.

Use a real photo printer from Canon or EPSON.

Use the manufacturer’s inks. They don’t fade nearly as fast as the refills and knock-offs.

Use the manufacturer’s papers, to start. The proper printer profiles are already installed on your system by the printer driver installer. DO choose the correct paper type in the printer driver!

Let EITHER your printer OR your software manage color... not both! Double profiling makes a big mess.

When you use other photo papers, download and install the ICC profiles for YOUR photo printer model and THAT paper, following the paper vendor or manufacturer’s instructions.

Use the printer profile as a proofing profile when doing final image adjustment. See your post-processing software manual for instructions.

Ron Dial Loc: Cuenca, Ecuador

The two are not calibrated. You may have the level for the screen on your camera turned too high. You can check this by purchasing a registered color target (a color picture certified to a certain color level) then photograph it and then print it. The color profile on your printer should match.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Learning to print is a process, just like learning photography. You must calibrate your screen, have a decent inkjet printer made for printing photographs, use the proper ICC profile for the paper of your choice, and still, at times, you must proof the image in your processing software to get the desired effect. Take a class, read a book.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

save money.....look at the printed image and correct using your own PP software - then print out the image again (corrected)
You can go down a long road trying to 'match' everything (inc. ink and paper as well as monitor and printer) Ink isn't cheap....but a) how many do you print and b) how much is the alternative.
There is no 'true image' cause everyone PP's to make their image 'sing to them' so how can there be a 'true print'.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

This is a very common problem.

You need to calibrate your computer monitor. Most monitors are by default way too bright and don't render all that accurate colors. This causes you to misadjust your images too dark and with the wrong color settings.

A calibration device and it's software help solve the problem. This doesn't need to cost anywhere near $700! Two popular and effective devices are X-Rite ColorMunki and Datacolor Spyder, some versions of which cost as little as $100 to $150. There are more advanced versions that cost more, of course. Check to see which can do what you need.

If you do much printing, this is a good investment because re-calibration needs to be done periodically. Over time and with use, monitors gradually lose brightness and shift color rendition. Some people calibrate very frequently... weekly or even daily. I do so monthly and that works for me. But, to give you some idea, when I first got my current monitor some 7 o 8 years ago I had to adjust the brightness down to 20& (sorry, don't remember what the default setting was). Now after using it all those years, when I calibrated it most recently it was set to just over 50%. That's how much it's changed over time.

If you print a lot, a calibration device will essentially pay for itself in savings of ink & paper, or the cost of re-doing prints if you send them out for printing instead.

The way these devices work is first testing the brightness of your display and helping you set that to a workable level. Next the calibration software displays a series of test patches of various colors, which the device measures. The information gathered by this process is used to create an accurate color profile for the monitor. This also changes gradually as the monitor ages and needs to be re-done periodically. The changes in color rendition aren't as obvious or easily measured for comparison, as the brightness level. But, depending upon how advanced a device you use, there may be sample images that you can toggle and compare, and/or charts of the color rendition that you can compare and save.

Depending upon your workflow, you also might improve print accuracy by installing an ICC profile that your image editing software can be used with one to "soft proof" your images. This isn't perfect (can never be, since a monitor display is back lit and has a narrower dynamic range than a reflective print on paper)... but it can be pretty close. Most printer manufacturers build profiles into their driver software you can select among, which might work well so long as you use their inks and paper. But if you use different brands of paper and ink, you may need to see if their manufacturers offer profiles for your particular printer. If not, custom profiles are possible. Some of the most advanced versions of calibration devices can be used to make them... or you can purchase a custom made profile from a supplier.

Another important consideration is where you actually view your monitor screen... ambient light conditions effect how things appear on-screen. For that reason, it's usually best to set up somewhere that lighting is pretty consistent. I also made a 6 inch deep "hood" for my monitor out of black foam core board to keep oblique light off it. It's fastened with Velcro and I cut a small panel in it that can be removed when I need to run the wire to do a calibration. Variable lighting conditions are one reason that laptops are less useful for image editing than a permanent work station where lighting can be controlled and kept more consistent.

You also have to set up the printer correctly. Or it may be better for your image editing software to control the color rendition. Some software can do that... others can't.

Hope this helps!

mborn Loc: Massachusetts