Print color is off, me or the printer?

[gramps]

I'm still fighting my cheapo HP 5550 that is producing off color prints.

Here is the problem that I am having. I think it is just the poor quality of the printer.
The first picture is taken off my hard drive and saved to the web, the colors are very close to being correct. The second picture is a scan of the print of the first picture, it has a green tint to it……..



Do you think it’s the printer (I do) or is there another reason?



http://www.pbase.com/sjh/image/40396302.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/sjh/image/40396303.jpg

[PacAce]

To be honest with you, Steve, both images look the same on my two monitors except for the fact that the scanned one is a little palers. But the colors look almost identical. AAMOF, if you adjust the mid-tone level of the 2nd image to match the 1st one, the 2nd image comes out looking a little better although the skin tone is still a tad paler. No greenish overcast that I can discern on this end.

I'm wondering if maybe your whole color management setup in Photoshop is kind of messed up.

[gramps]

The scan above is much better than the print................you are right about it showing as being more pale. I'm "pretty" sure I have PS set corectly. I almost want to think that the ink is bad.

[scottbergerphoto]

To be honest with you, Steve, both images look the same on my two monitors except for the fact that the scanned one is a little palers. But the colors look almost identical. AAMOF, if you adjust the mid-tone level of the 2nd image to match the 1st one, the 2nd image comes out looking a little better although the skin tone is still a tad paler. No greenish overcast that I can discern on this end.

I'm wondering if maybe your whole color management setup in Photoshop is kind of messed up.
Ditto.
Scott

[PacAce]

What type of lighting are you using to view the printed pictures? I wonder if that may have something to do with how you are perceiving the printed colors.

[gramps]

What type of lighting are you using to view the printed pictures? I wonder if that may have something to do with how you are perceiving the printed colors.

Everything.............sunlight, indoor flourescent, incadescent..........I put the picture next to the screen and even my wife tells me she sees green.

[PacAce]

Everything.............sunlight, indoor flourescent, incadescent..........I put the picture next to the screen and even my wife tells me she sees green.
OK, that's the one thing you shouldn't do. Don't put the picture next to the screen because it'll look off for sure. That happens to me all the time, too. In my case, the print looks too yellowish (or could be greenish, too).

You'll get a truer picture (no pun intended :mrgreen: ) if you put the picture under your normal light source but just close enough to the screen so that you can move your eyes from one to the other.

[gramps]

I do agree that when the picture is "alone" the green isn't as bad. Anyonw willing to let me mail the print to them for an opinion?

[PacAce]

I do agree that when the picture is "alone" the green isn't as bad. Anyonw willing to let me mail the print to them for an opinion?
Sure, you can mail it to me. You did mean mail as in US Mail, right? I'll PM you my address.

[gramps]

Sure, you can mail it to me. You did mean mail as in US Mail, right? I'll PM you my address.

Thank You Leo,

I'll send it tomorrow

Steve

[PacAce]

Steve,

There's a test image you can dowload from the internet which you can try printing on your printer. This image might make a better test for determining how faithful your printer really is. If you have time, you might also want to print that image on a 4x6 sheet of paper and send that along, too. I printed out a whole bunch of these using the different rendering intents on my printer so I can compare yours with what I have.

http://www.webstir.com/PDITestImage.html

[robertwgross]

All I see is that one is a little brighter than the other.

Keep in mind that you have another unknown on the scanned version... the scanner.

---Bob Gross---

[gramps]

Leo I opened the link and downloaded the file but I cannot open it!!!!! The file extension is .sit thats one I have never seen.

[PacAce]

Leo I opened the link and downloaded the file but I cannot open it!!!!! The file extension is .sit thats one I have never seen.
I was afraid of that. It's a download for the Mac. What you can do is run a search for "PDI test image" and see if you can find a hit of one appropriate for the PC. Sorry about that.

[edit]OK, try this site:

http://www.inkjetart.com/custom/

[gramps]

Leo, I got the "test" print done, I'll send it with the picture. Everything on it looks good except the skin tones...............

[PacAce]

Leo, I got the "test" print done, I'll send it with the picture. Everything on it looks good except the skin tones...............
Yup, that's the same problem I have, too. The skin tone seems to be the hardest to get right. I can get it reasonably close though which is good enough since no printer is expected to match what's on the screen 100%.

[Gary Secondino]

I was afraid of that. It's a download for the Mac. What you can do is run a search for "PDI test image" and see if you can find a hit of one appropriate for the PC.

Heads up to Gramps, PacAce, and all others,

I need to point out that the PDI Test Image (http://www.webstir.com/color_management/PDITestImage.html) is not "only for Mac". The company, allume.com (makers of StuffIt), develops software for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh. The free StuffIt Expander for Windows is available on their website (http://www.stuffit.com/win/expander/index.html). I use their products daily in production workflow's and on my home system with great success. I have no affiliation with the company, I am just a satisfied customer.

Also, just in case people are reluctant to change I modified the PDI Test Image (http://www.webstir.com/color_management/PDITestImage.html) into a .zip file.

Cordially,

Gary Secondino

[PacAce]

Heads up to Gramps, PacAce, and all others,

I need to point out that the PDI Test Image (http://www.webstir.com/color_management/PDITestImage.html) is not "only for Mac". The company, allume.com (makers of StuffIt), develops software for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh. The free StuffIt Expander for Windows is available on their website (http://www.stuffit.com/win/expander/index.htmll). I use their products daily in production workflow's and on my home system with great success. I have no affiliation with the company, I am just a satisfied customer.

Also, just in case people are reluctant to change I modified the PDI Test Image (http://www.webstir.com/color_management/PDITestImage.html) into a .zip file.

Cordially,

Gary Secondino
Thanks for the heads-up. Good to know if I ever need to unzip platform independent files. It'll save me from downloading twice, once for each platform. :)