Dull colors from printer: Epson P800 Surecolor printer is not printing colors shown on monitor. I calibrated monitor twice with XRite iPro and using the ICC profile for the particular...

Golden Rule Loc: Washington State

Epson P800 Surecolor printer is not printing colors shown on monitor. I calibrated monitor twice with XRite iPro and using the ICC profile for the particular paper that I'm using from Red River Paper. Whites come out off white or kind of a very light gray and the other colors are a bit dull maybe a very very slight tint of magenta. Any tips on what steps to try to remedy this dilemma? To make a print come out looking like what was on monitor I had to really brighten photo up almost blowing out whites. Thanks in advance for any remedy to the problem.

Bill_de Loc: US

The print driver for the P800 gives you a choice of letting the software or the printer control the output.

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Golden Rule Loc: Washington State

Bill_de wrote:

The print driver for the P800 gives you a choice of letting the software or the printer control the output.

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I have no color adjustment selected. Sorry, I forgot to mention that.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

A white area with rgb value (255,255,255) should appear both on monitor and on printed (white) paper as pure white. If either monitor or print shows it to look off-white, then that's where the problem is.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Golden Rule wrote:

Epson P800 Surecolor printer is not printing color... (show quote)

Are you "soft proofing" images you process for printing?

Genessi Loc: SoCal

Rich1939 wrote:

Are you "soft proofing" images you process for printing?

What is soft proofing?

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Genessi wrote:

What is soft proofing?

I don't know about processing programs other than Photoshop but they all seem to have the same tools. Soft proofing is a way to see how your print will look before you actually print it. Since monitor screens and print paper display your image differently you need a way to visualize on your monitor how the print will look. When you use this tool you need to have a profile for the paper you will use loaded into to you processing program. (These profiles are available from the paper manufacturers)
A image printed will always look a bit darker and duller than what you see on your screen. When you soft proof and see how the image will look, you can adjust for that (to some extent)

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

Golden Rule wrote:

Epson P800 Surecolor printer is not printing color... (show quote)

I have the same P800, and, before that, a 2000P. With both I set up to let Photoshop do the color, and use "Perceptual" as the Rendering Intent. Rather than calibrate continually and do other fiddling, I copy a few key areas from my print and print them, often on the leading edge of my sheet, leaving from for the final print and a border, since I usually print at 11.5 x 15.5 on Super A3 paper (Epson). By now, I have found how I need to adjust Curves to get the color I want. Still, sometimes these "test strips" show a need for further adjustments. I always have had to add a Curves adjustment layer, which I label as such and the printer it is adjusted for.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Golden Rule wrote:

Epson P800 Surecolor printer is not printing color... (show quote)

Maybe the printer has problems? Sounds like you are doing the right steps. If you use LR you can find the soft proof box at the bottom of the window while in Develop. You click on the box and choose the paper you want to use and you'll see what that paper will do to the print. Are your inks good? Epson ink? Perhaps a call to Epson?

bleirer

I assume Lightroom has a 'show out of gamut' menu item when you softproof. I know Photoshop does in the view menu. The out of gamut colors for that printer get greyed out in the image meaning the printer is not capable of fully reproducing them. You fix it by adjusting saturation or vibrance, or other settings that can impact color such as white balance, hsl, curves, contrast......

Golden Rule Loc: Washington State

bleirer wrote:

I assume Lightroom has a 'show out of gamut' menu item when you softproof. I know Photoshop does in the view menu. The out of gamut colors for that printer get greyed out in the image meaning the printer is not capable of fully reproducing them. You fix it by adjusting saturation or vibrance, or other settings that can impact color such as white balance, hsl, curves, contrast......

Interesting....I will have to research this.

Golden Rule Loc: Washington State

via the lens wrote:

Maybe the printer has problems? Sounds like you are doing the right steps. If you use LR you can find the soft proof box at the bottom of the window while in Develop. You click on the box and choose the paper you want to use and you'll see what that paper will do to the print. Are your inks good? Epson ink? Perhaps a call to Epson?

I use Photoshop to print. My inks are Epson and are not expired. I have never heard of soft proofing and will research this.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

bleirer wrote:

I assume Lightroom has a 'show out of gamut' menu item when you softproof. I know Photoshop does in the view menu. The out of gamut colors for that printer get greyed out in the image meaning the printer is not capable of fully reproducing them. You fix it by adjusting saturation or vibrance, or other settings that can impact color such as white balance, hsl, curves, contrast......

Yes, it does.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Golden Rule wrote:

I use Photoshop to print. My inks are Epson and are not expired. I have never heard of soft proofing and will research this.

I use PS but never to print, only to work in. I print everything from LR. I have heard that PS also has the ability to show soft proofing and out of gamut range. But, I still think maybe your printer is the problem. Have you run diagnostics on it to ensure that all colors are printing as they should?

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

bleirer wrote:

I assume Lightroom has a 'show out of gamut' menu item when you softproof. I know Photoshop does in the view menu. The out of gamut colors for that printer get greyed out in the image meaning the printer is not capable of fully reproducing them. You fix it by adjusting saturation or vibrance, or other settings that can impact color such as white balance, hsl, curves, contrast......

I read somewhere recently (sorry I don't recall where but will try to find it) that the out of gamut tool in Photoshop goes back to the early days of PS, has never been updated and really isn't reliable at all.