Printing /
Printing Problems - Prevention
Do the following to prevent printing problems.
Tutorial
Tutorial
Check to make sure you're using the correct, and most-up-to-date,
printer driver.
Go to Printer
Manufacturers.
Profiles are described in the
Color Management tutorial.
Don't Use a Profile Twice
Make sure the printer driver is not performing color management.
Example
1) You've turned color management on in Photoshop or Photoshop
Elements.
2) You've used the software to convert a file to Printer Profile
1245.
3) You click Print, and the file is sent to the printer.
4) If the printer driver has color management turned on, it may
also apply a color profile, say, Printer Profile 54321.
5) The print looks strange.
The colors will be off, there may be a color caste in gray areas,
and the print may be too light.
Solution
Go to Print.
Click Page Set Up > Printer > Properties.
Look for a section concerning color management, often abbreviated
ICM, and make the selection for no color management by the printer
driver.
This may be designated by the phrase, Same As Source.
"Change the Oil"
Follow the maintenance guidelines of the printer manufacturer
1) Use your printer at least once a week.
Make a print that has blacks and colors.
2) Always keep ink cartridges in place to prevent ink from drying
out in the print head.
3) Turn the printer off using the on/off switch, rather than
an on/off switch on a power strip.
The print head capping mechanism can then activate properly to
prevent ink in the heads from drying out.
4) Don't leave the printer on for extended periods without printing,
to prevent ink in the heads from drying out.
Note about Epson Cleaning Cycles
If you're trying to unclog an Epson printer, you should only
do three cleaning cycles.
Epson printers have three types of cleaning cycles: short, medium,
and long.
The short one occurs on the 1st and 4th cleaning cycle, and then,
on every cycle until you make a print.
If repeated, the short cleaning cycle can damage the nozzles.
So, after 3 cleaning cycles, make a print, such as a test pattern.
Letting the printer rest for a couple of hours, to allow air
bubble to dissipate, may work better than repeated cleaning cycles.
Check to make sure the printer is recognizing the type and size
of the paper that you're using.
If the paper should be printed on one side only, make sure the
paper is loaded properly.
Evaluate prints using the same light source, and of the same
intensity, as the illumination where the prints will be displayed.
Print exposure and color changes depending on the color and intensity
of the light source.
For example, the excess green of most florescent tubes will decrease
the magenta component of Caucasian faces.
OTT-LITE products have
a daylight color balance.
If your prints are to illuminated by daylight, use the OTT-LITE,
or similar light source, when evaluating your prints.
If track lighting or florescent lighting are going to be illuminating
your prints, use similar lighting, both in color and intensity,
when judging the prints.
Best Exposure 1st
Before evaluating contrast and color balance, make sure the image
has the best overall exposure.
Evaluate color balance using
Lee Viewing Kit 3 filters.
You can evaluate prints with
Lee Viewing Kit 3 filters.
There are six cards, one for each of the six colors (yellow,
magenta, cyan, red, green, blue).
Each card has three filters of varying strengths.
Photographers learning how to evaluate color often have a hard
time:
• Discerning whether a color cast is blue or green.
• Deciding how much of a change is needed.
The print viewing filters will help.
Do the following.
Let's say your evaluating a skin tone, and you think it's too
yellow.
1) Choose the filter color that's opposite of yellow, which is
blue.
2) Close one eye, look at the print, and flick the filter in
and out of your line of vision.
3) Select the filter that makes the skin tone look the best.
At the bottom of each filter, the amount of the correction is
specified.
This amount is given color correction (CC) units.
Unfortunately, CC units don't correspond to the units used in
Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.
The PhotoKit Color 2
plug-in does have a feature called CC Correction, that used CC units.
More Printing Help
Paper Size Charts
Pixels,
PPI, & Print Size Calculators
Printing Problems: Solutions
Printing Resources
