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kelly
516 days ago
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Inkjet Printing Contest!
What's Your #1 Burning Question About Inkjet Printing?
Andrew Darlow, photographer and author of the 500+ page book 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers is here to answer your questions, and he's giving away 10 of his books to 10 Photojojo readers.
Whoever asks the best questions wins! The contest starts Monday June 23 and ends Tuesday June 24, so get your questions in soon!
Check out the chapter titles listed below for some of the topics Andrew covers:
File Preparation: An Overview
Choosing an Inkjet Printer
Color Management
Black and White
Inkjet Paper, Canvas, and Coating
Portfolio and Presentation
Specific Printer Tips and More
Inkjet Paper Tips
Art Reproduction, Canvas, and finishing
Portfolio and Marketing Tips
RIPs, B&W, and Color Management
Exhibitions, Editioning, and Image Tracking
Packing, Lighting, and Framing
Unique Art Applications
Additional Tips and Print Permanence
You can download the Introduction, Table of Contents and a full chapter from the book here: http://inkjettips.com
Winners will be announced on Thursday, June 26, and answers will continue to be posted throughout the week.
Andrew promised not to sleep for at least the first 20 hours of his tour, so let the questions begin!
p.s. One question per person, okay? Okay.
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Derek
516 days ago
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I get a great picture on my LCD monitor, how can I easily get a better color match on my inkjet printer?
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yo5bdm
516 days ago
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How can I make my printed photos water (or at least water drops) resistant?
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ptople
515 days ago
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How can I keep my Epson 1280 printer from clogging?
I don't use it every day and would like to have a solution to this problem.
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pearnone
515 days ago
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Do you have any recommendations on managing ink supply? I like to use the draft option with regular paper to test for formatting before printing on good paper with high quality ink settings... but then invariably the ink is not quite right when I finally print. This happens on all three of our HP printers without warning, so it is definitely not just a physical problem with a single printer. Thus leaving me the waste I was trying to avoid. Is this a printer brand issue or is there a better way to check or test for ink quality before printing (i.e. an issue with me)?
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pearnone
515 days ago
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What colors go into "grayscale"? I noticed that when printing black and whites, I can opt for just using black ink or "grayscale". Besides saving on the color ink cartridges, is there an advantage to choosing one over the other?
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artcricket
515 days ago
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How can you get rid of a thin horizontal line on your photo even after you have run the printer through all of it's ink jet head cleaning and alignment paces? This is the number one reason i buy a new printer...
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pearnone
515 days ago
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Is there REALLY a difference between purchasing off brand ink cartridges and those made by the manufacturer of the printer? Also, is refilling ink cartridges using kits a good idea or does it pose eventual problems for printer heads?
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dandeliond
igital
515 days ago
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Hi Andrew,
Color Management is fast nearing the end of it's second decade, but it still seems so elusive, and if it could talk it might say, " I can't get no respect." What do you imagine will allow color management to, in the words of John Lennon, "Come together, yeah?" (between the digital capture, the computer, and the printer?)
Thanks, and so long for now, TOM
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AndrewDarl
ow
515 days ago
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Congratulations on being the first to ask a question Derek! This may very well be the longest answer of the two day Q&A! I think that the answer to your question, Tom "dandeliondigital" is also contained within. Entire books on color management have been written, so feel free to post a follow-up if you have more questions:
Derek asked: I get a great picture on my LCD monitor, how can I easily get a better color match on my inkjet printer? Answer: Getting your screen and prints to match is one of the main goals (and main frustrations) for anyone who makes prints. Though it is virtually impossible to get an exact match, you can get very close by following some guidelines and taking things step-by-step. Here is an overview with a number of specific suggestions:
1. Use a color-management-aware image editing application, such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom or Apple Aperture, and make sure that your photos have a proper working space profile embedded.
Common working space profiles are sRGB, Adobe RGB (1998) and ProPhoto RGB.
This will help ensure that your photos will look very similar on any calibrated and profiled monitor (more on that in a moment).
I recently had an article published on Adorama.com describing this very topic. You can read it here:
http://www.adorama.com/Catalog.tpl?op=a … cle=061708
Also, I recommend setting up your image editor's color settings to the RGB Working Space you use most. You can find it under Edit>Color Settings in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, and a screen shot with some recommended settings can be found in the article above.
2. Calibrate and profile your monitor.
Calibrating a monitor is different from profiling a monitor. Here’s how they’re different.
In photography and digital printing, calibrating means to bring a device, such as a flat screen monitor, to a repeatable operating state, usually with the expectation that it will maintain that state over days or months before having to be recalibrated. For example, a factory that makes Plasma or LCD flat panel TV displays will generally set all the individual units of a particular model to a certain calibrated standard, with the brightness, contrast, and color settings set to specific starting points. LCD computer displays are shipped to users in a similar fashion, with the brightness, contrast, or color level adjustment set at specific default settings. A monitor can then be calibrated more accurately using various software or hardware tools.
I recommend using a hardware calibrator, such as the X-Rite i1 Display 2 or Colorvision Spyder. These devices will usually help to make the images on your screen look more accurate (neutrals more neutral, for example).
Also keep in mind that the environment in which your monitor is being operated also plays a major role in the way your images will look. Light from windows, overhead lighting, and even the color of the walls and ceiling in the space where you work will all influence the overall look of your display. I recommend working in a place with relatively low light that does not fluctuate greatly throughout the day. Typical window shades and/or "blackout shades" can help greatly.
3. Use a standard image to judge your monitor.
This is probably the most important part of the process. Even if you use a hardware calibration device, your monitor may still be too bright or too dark, or something might just be "off." On this page, next to L2.2, you will see links to different test targets.
http://www.inkjettips.com/chapters/chapter-2/
The first one, the PhotoDisc Target (.zip) is a very good choice. It has a grayscale ramp with different densities (all of which should look neutral, without a color cast), plus skin tones and bright colors. It is in the AdobeRGB Color Space.
4. Calibrate your printer.
Most inkjet printers have print heads and use multiple inks, and as they age or when ink is changed, the tiny nozzles that eject ink from the print head can clog or become misaligned over time, leading to subtle changes in performance, such as lower ink output or less overall color saturation. These changes are referred to as drift.
Indoor temperature and humidity can also affect consistency over time, or even right out of the box. For example, two printers that are calibrated at the factory may perform differently if they are operated in locations with very different climates or elevations.
I recommend doing a nozzle check, followed by a test print of a standard image like the one suggested in #3. If you do this before each printing session, you can be assured that your printer is operating properly.
5. Use supplied or custom profiles and have your image editor control the profile, instead of letting the "Printer Determine Colors."
Proper color management means using output profiles for your specific paper and printer combo.
I recommend checking to see what profiles come loaded with your printer’s driver (you can see by choosing File>Print and clicking on the list under "Printer Profile" in Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop Elements) Screen shot is below. Your printer's name should be listed in the first few letters: The profile selected below is the Epson Stylus Pro 3800 and Photo Quality Inkjet Paper using the Matte Black ink (as opposed to the Photo Black ink)
If you have a paper that is not the same brand as your printer, you can visit the paper manufacturers’ websites to see if additional profiles are available for your specific printer. These can produce excellent results. Just be sure to follow the directions that they provide. The key is having Photoshop or another image editor do the conversion for you, instead of doing the conversion in the printer driver. The screen shot below is properly set up and reads "Photoshop Manages Color." After you leave that screen by pressing, Print, on Epson printers, you should set the driver to "No color management" or "ICM off." On HP printers, you select "Application Managed Color," and on many Canon printers, you choose "None" under Color Correction.
I’ve found that good custom profiles are the best choice for getting the closest match because they are tailored to your specific printer, including the paper type, resolution, etc., so I recommend either making your own profiles or having them made for you. There are many hardware/software bundled options for making your own printer profiles available from companies including ColorVision and X-Rite, or you can have custom profiles made for your specific printer and paper by companies such as cathysprofiles.com, chromix.com or inkjetart.com for about $25-100 each. A list of some custom profile providers can be found here: http://www.inkjettips.com/custom-profile-providers/
If you'd like a guide to the whole process, a very good step by step printing workflow by Ian Lyons can be found here for Windows:
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps10_p … rint_4.htm
and here for Mac:
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps10_p … rint_2.htm
6. Use softproofing to get a sense of what your prints will look like.
Softproofing can really help to show you what your prints will look like before you make a print. A softproofing tutorial can be found here: http://www.computer-darkroom.com/softpr … roof_1.htm . Even though this tutorial was written for Photoshop 6, the information is still valid for all Photoshop applications.
7. Use a standard image to judge your printer and paper.
Every printer and paper is different, so I recommend testing with a standard image, such as the files available on my book's companion site (same link as in #3 above): http://www.inkjettips.com/chapters/chapter-2/ . This will help you to determine whether your neutrals are printing with a color cast, and whether your printer is printing too dark or light.
8. View your prints under a known and consistent light source.
One of the most overlooked steps of the printmaking process is the importance of the light in which you proof and display your prints.
Black-and-white prints are especially susceptible to slight shifts in appearance under different lighting conditions; this can be especially problematic when evaluating prints containing people. If you make a print that is visually neutral under warm incandescent light (like a standard light bulb, which is approximately 3000 degrees Kelvin) and then view the same print under daylight at noon (approximately 5500 degrees Kelvin), the skin tones may appear greenish. Most people, I've found, prefer not to look green in their photos! This is why I generally evaluate my prints in light that’s 4000 to 5000 degrees Kelvin, which means that if the prints are moved into tungsten-balanced lighting, the image may appear warmer, which is generally more appealing to the viewer.
Most galleries will display artwork with bulbs in the 3000-3500 degree Kelvin range. That means that you might want to also have a few 3500 degree Kelvin bulbs in your home or studio to evaluate prints. And don't forget the effect of glass or plexi on the color of your prints. Most glass will add a slight green cast to your prints and mats. Do a test first before hanging a show.
There are many companies who make color corrected lighting. I highly recommend the bulbs and Task Lamps from SoLux ( http://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlistore/index.html ) for viewing prints. For color-corrected daylight viewing, I recommend GTI’s and Just Normlicht’s products. Another option is to use plain daylight, filtered by a window. It is not ideal, but is generally much better than using most household bulbs to view your prints.
Another suggestion is to take a class or consider hiring a consultant. There are many classes offered at different schools that cover inkjet printing, and a number of consultants help people one-on-one via phone, e-mail and in person. That is often the fastest way to get your images closely matching. My upcoming workshops can be found here: http://www.inkjettips.com/workshops
Hope that helps!
Thanks to everyone for your great questions! We're not taking any more questions on this forum thread for this contest, but for more tips like this, as well as free downloads and links to hundreds of resources mentioned in my book 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques, visit http://www.inkjettips.com.
----------------------------------
Andrew Darlow
Editor, The Imaging Buffet
http://www.imagingbuffet.com
Author, 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques:
An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers - http://www.inkjettips.com
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jdwegner
515 days ago
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My Canon MP530 doesn't play well with Adobe Lightroom - specifically, the MP530 doesn't support ProPhoto RGB. To get the right colors, I have to export the photo to sRGB, then print the exported photo. I downloaded the ICM profiles from Canon, but they don't seem to help. What am I doing wrong? If I have to buy a new printer, how can I tell which printers support Pro Photo?
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lilijifu
515 days ago
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[edit by ben-s: I moved this in here before I saw your second reply. I've removed the copy now to keep things sensible  /edit]
Andrew,
Last week while commenting on the Epson Stylus R2880 review in the U.K. you wrote the following :
"I do wish that Epson had added another ink channel to avoid the need to switch between Photo Black and Matte Black (a manual cartridge switch is necessary for optimum results on both semi-gloss/glossy and matte/watercolor papers)."
I have an Epson Stylus R1800 and I think if I knew more about this comment i.e. how to do this and why, I would get better prints on semi-gloss/glossy papers. I am a printmaker and I find that my digital prints look good on Epson Watercolor paper. Would they look even better?
Does that mean removing the photo black cartridge and replacing it with a matte black? Would I then end up with 2 matte black cartridges?
Hope I am not asking too much...
Thank you
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AndrewDarl
ow
515 days ago
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yo5bdm asked: How can I make my printed photos water (or at least water drops) resistant? There are a few ways to get water-resistant prints. One way is to use a printer and paper combo that is water resistant to begin with. Most pigment-based printers (like the HP Pro B8850 and the Epson Stylus Photo R2880), when used with compatible inkjet papers (matte and gloss/semi-gloss), produce water-resistant prints. I've even drenched some papers under a running faucet, and after drying, you could hardly tell that the print had ever been wet. Here's a photo demonstrating a "torture test" from a review I did about a year ago:
Caption: A sheet of Hahnemühle Fine Art Pearl going for a "swim" under warm water after printing on the HP Designjet Z3100. Even after 30 seconds under a steady stream of water, and after being saturated on both sides, no ink ran, and when it dried, it looked almost identical to a newly-printed sheet, except for a small amount of waviness. This is not a difficult test to repeat with many other papers and printers, but it shows how well the Hahnemühle Fine Art Pearl paper and HP Vivera Pigment inkset hold up under these conditions. I did a similar test, with similar results using the HP Hahnemühle Smooth Fine Art paper. Photo © Andrew Darlow
But what do you do if your printer/paper combo is not inherently water resistant? Many dye-based inkjet printers have this disadvantage. In those cases, you can coat the paper with a spray or film lamination. Film lamination is generally too expensive and would not be my choice for most people's prints.
Important to note is that the Epson Claria inkset (used in printers like the Epson Stylus Photo 1400), though a dye-based inkset, gets good ratings for water-resistance on many papers.
I have successfully used PremierArt Print Shield Spray on many papers and recommend it highly. It generally adds some contrast to matte inkjet papers, without leaving streak marks. However, as with any product that contains solvents, it’s important to use a mask in a properly ventilated area, away from open flames.
Wilhelm Imaging Research has published the results of water-resistance tests, as well as tests that look at resistance to ozone (a common problem with dye-based inksets and certain papers). The website for Wilhelm Imaging Research is: http://www.wilhelm-research.com (look on the right side for many popular printers). After selecting a printer, you can view how water-resistant a specific paper and ink combination is. If your printer is not listed, check what type of ink your printer uses, and then choose a printer than uses the same ink (even if your printer uses 5 inks vs. a 7 or 8 ink printer, if the ink type is the same, they should fare similarly in tests).
I wrote a related article all about this topic for Adorama's 100in100 series. You can find it here:
http://www.adorama.com/Catalog.tpl?op=a … cle=120407
Hope that helps!
Thanks to everyone for your great questions! We're not taking any more questions on this forum thread for this contest, but for more tips like this, as well as free downloads and links to hundreds of resources mentioned in my book 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques, visit http://www.inkjettips.com.
----------------------------------
Andrew Darlow
Editor, The Imaging Buffet
http://www.imagingbuffet.com
Author, 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques:
An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers - http://www.inkjettips.com
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EmThree
515 days ago
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My printer sucks. I can never get it to print anything to scale. How is that done?
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laneschnei
er
515 days ago
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Hi! I am planning to buy a quality inkjet printer, and the one that has looked to be a good choice is the Canon Pixma Pro9500. However, I have heard negative things about its glossy prints- like that different colors are inconsistently glossy because it doesn't have a gloss optimizer like another printer I was considering, the Epson Stylus Photo R1900.
Is this a big issue, and if so, would you recommend against this printer? Are there any advantages to matte prints that may lead me to prefer them over glossy anyway, and are there certain applications for each finish type? Thanks a lot!
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belleariel
paris
515 days ago
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How do I get true black & white prints of photos converted from color to black & white using Picasa2 and printed on an Epson Stylus Photo R200? I've tried using the black ink only, etc. but they generally come out with a blue cast. I was able to get good black & white prints on an old Lexmark Z52 which only had 2 cartridges..black; 4-color.
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zephryllis
515 days ago
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What are the best printers on the market for good artist prints of photos and digitally created art? I'm a new graduate looking to get into printing my own work and unsure how to go about looking at which printers would be best for my work and for using different art quality papers.
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AndrewDarl
ow
515 days ago
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pearnone asked: Do you have any recommendations on managing ink supply? I like to use the draft option with regular paper to test for formatting before printing on good paper with high quality ink settings... but then invariably the ink is not quite right when I finally print. This happens on all three of our HP printers without warning, so it is definitely not just a physical problem with a single printer. Thus leaving me the waste I was trying to avoid. Is this a printer brand issue or is there a better way to check or test for ink quality before printing (i.e. an issue with me)? This is a common issue with any printer. How to effectively test without wasting precious ink and paper prior to making final prints.
It is true that almost all inkjet printers will print very differently when you choose different quality settings in the print driver. If you change papers, then the differences will be even greater. Draft settings are good for testing basic layout for centering and 2-sided brochure printing, but not for doing initial testing.
Let's say you want to make a gallery-quality 13x19 inch print on your inkjet printer.
Here are a few suggestions for testing in a very economical way:
1. First, make sure that you have a calibrated and profiled monitor and printer, and follow the steps in my first answer to Derek above. That alone should get you 95% of the way there.
2. I would then dedicate a sheet of paper to testing that is identical to your final, high quality paper. 8.5x11 usually works well, but it depends upon the size of your final print. Just copy and paste a section of your image (preferably at 100% of the size it will end of being printed) on about 25% of the letter-sized page and print using the high quality settings you plan to use for your final print. Then note your printer settings. If the print looks good, put that test sheet aside and print your final image using the proper page size settings. If the image needs to be adjusted, make one or more Adjustment Layers in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements with any of the edits you want to make. The Adjustment Layers are recommended because they can be easily edited and dragged over to the larger file once you make the adjustments you like.
If you made any adjustments, print that small section again on a different part of your test sheet. You can move it from one area to another on a white background in Photoshop, or by choosing File>Print and moving it to another location after unchecking "Center Image" (shown below unchecked and circled in red). This screen can be found under File>Print with Preview in Photoshop CS2.
You'll also notice that I scaled the image above down a bit (to about 90%), using the "Scaled Print Size" control. This is OK for some testing, but I generally avoid scaling down here because I do most tests at 100% of my final print size. Testing at 100% of the print size will really show me what my final print will look like, especially the sharpening effects. Of course, in the example I show, I've only printed a small portion of my image and you'll need to decide if you'd like to test a larger area, which will use more ink and paper.
3. Then print the same piece of the photo on a different section of the paper. Keep doing that until you have the look you want, and then make your final print. While you're at it, I recommend writing down the settings you used, including the paper, profile, paper setting, quality level, etc, so that you can make another print that matches it in the future. I have a PDF on my book's companion site with a list of criteria that you can print out and affix to the back of your test prints:
You can download it at the following link: http://www.inkjettips.com/printtest.pdf
4. And here is another tip. There are often inexpensive papers sold that are very close in print quality to more expensive sheets (sometimes you can even use the same exact paper profile). Sometimes using thinner versions of a very similar paper, like Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 188gsm vs. Hahnemuhle 310gsm can help save money when testing.
You can also ask others for their suggestions. I compiled a list of 17 inkjet-related newsgroups and websites on ImagingBuffet.com that have members who may be able to help. You can find the list here: http://tinyurl.com/6btenp
Hope that helps!
Thanks to everyone for your great questions! We're not taking any more questions on this forum thread for this contest, but for more tips like this, as well as free downloads and links to hundreds of resources mentioned in my book 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques, visit http://www.inkjettips.com.
----------------------------------
Andrew Darlow
Editor, The Imaging Buffet
http://www.imagingbuffet.com
Author, 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques:
An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers - http://www.inkjettips.com
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dandeliond
igital
515 days ago
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Hi Andrew,
Your 8 rules very concisely describe my workflow and process (and I love the tips), and the only thing I might add is number 9. Be prepared to work around surprise breaks in the flow.
Do you have any opinions on the dynamic nature of this interaction of the puzzle pieces that complete the pictures we are all trying to put together?
Maybe I need to see you at a workshop? I've read quite a few books and web pages, and spent many a dollar on getting the high quality results using digital capture and inkjet printing. Overall, I'm really enjoying this technology.
So long for now, TOM
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kelly
515 days ago
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Oh yeah, we forgot to add...
One question per person please.
Thanks everybody!
-Kelly
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