printer profile 101?

[Robukincan]

I did a search on this - there are a number of posts but nothing that clearly outlines this for me. If someone has a link to a post or site, great. Here's the thing:

My printer doesn't output what I see on the screen. Not just my screen, but my wife's laptop, 2 other monitors at work ... the photo looks great on all screens but they all come out 'desaturated' when I print - it's like they lost their colour.

So reading around I've been hearing about 'printer profiles'. I also noticed printing out of Photoshop I was able to print with a number of different Color Profiles. Should I just run a bunch of test prints to find the best one for me .... or ....

Help? :)

Thanks in advance!!

-Rob

[René Damkot]

Go here (http://www.creativepro.com/author/home/40.html). You want to look at the links concerning color settings, color management and soft proofing...