johnsnap1947 wrote:
All my photos look great in Photoshop but when printed on Epson P600 the faces are red like sunburn and the rest of the pic is fine..This happens to all the printed pics. Can't figure out if it's a Photoshop issue or not. I can turn down the contrast to almost nothing and that helps some but not good enough. Any ideas would be appreciated..
You'll need to profile, not calibrate your display and printer. Most people use the terms interchangeably but they are incorrect. Display calibration is a hardware procedure done at the manufacturer to ensure that the equipment is producing true color as it corresponds to a test signal. Profiling introduces a graphics card, your environment, camera and other variables, and uses a test signal AND YOUR COMPUTER to display that signal, then uses a colorimeter or a spectrophotometer to read the colors displayed, and generate a table to balance the color in the graphics card, to match to the greatest extent possible, the color in the source signal with what is displayed. A simple example would be if the source provides a pure yellow signal, but the display shows one that is off by -10 units according to the reading device, the software will add a +10 yellow value to the table it is building. When the profiling process is complete it saves the compensating values in a display profile that is read and loaded by your editing software, provided it is color management aware. In critical settings, profiles are made monthly or even more often, because backlights change color as well as other components gradually drifting the display from the original settings. The main difference between a factory calibration and a user developed profile is the addition of the specific components in the photographer's workflow and their specific characteristics - that are NOT part of the factory calibration process.
Spyder is good, but it cannot profile a display with a programmable LUT (look up table), like some Dells, Eizo, Sony, HP and other middle to high end displays. The least expensive device I am aware of that has that capability is the Xrite i1 Display Pro - which would make it a much better choice for the present and future.
Next you'd need to build a profile for your printer/ink/paper combination(s). Same process, but you'll use a colorimeter to read color swatches on a print. This profile will then be used to "soft proof" you image so that you can make any adjustments based on what you see in the soft proof.
If you send your image file to a print lab, you can ask them for a printer profile and bypass the entire process of building a profile for your equipment. Another shortcut that works is to use fine art paper, either from the printer manufacturer or a third party, and use their profile and printer setting recommendations.
If your head hasn't exploded yet, I can tell you that there is much more to getting the color right - but this should be a good start. Don't buy Datacolor products.