i9900 icc problems

[BGedeon]

I'm having recently purchased a Cannon i9900 and started printing first using "printer color management" with mixed results (images lack the punch of on-screen images but colors match) and then I experimented with Cannon i9900 printer profiles hoping to get better prints.

However, I found after using the recommendations of the Canonn ICC profies guide, my colors are way off. Especially fleshtones are overly pink in the printer preview and print that same way.

My setup:
Picture: Taken with Minolta A-1 sRGB (I know I should be using AdobeRGB now)
Monitor Calibration: Eye-One Match 3.2
Photoshop Elements: 3.0
ColorSettings: Full Color Management

PrintPreview:
Source Space: sRGB IE61966-2.1 (can't change this when using sRGB image)
Printer Space: Cannon i9900 SP1
Intent: Relative Colorimetric (image the same regardless of this selection)

I'm relatively new to postprocessing but I feel my images after adjustments (levels, sharpening, etc.) look great on-screen. I'm very disappointed that I can't obtain images anywhere near them in print, esp. people's faces.

I also just noticed that although I change the color adjustments to manual and then change the color balance settings (e.g. all of the sliders to -50) and then go to print preview ("preview before printing" selected), the image still looks the exactly the same, however it prints with changed settings. This seems counter intuitive to me. Why have a printer preview if it doesn't reflect the changes I have made. I starting to wonder if I have a printer driver issues?

Any suggestions would be helpful.

[ohenry]

Not sure, but it sounds like you're allowing the printer to override the settings set by Photoshop Elements. Make sure you turn all of your printer settings off or to manual and allow PSE 3.0 control the color management (ICC profile).

[BGedeon]

I've tried everything I could think of to allow Elements CM to control.
In the printer settings I've set

Media Type: Photo Paper Plus Glossy

Color Adjustment: Manual
Print Type: None
Enable ICM: NOT checked

For Print Quality: Custom
Quality: 1
Halftoning: Diffusion

All Effects are left as unchecked.

[ohenry]

I don't have Elements, but in the Print Preview area, is there a place that you can select the correct ICC profile for your printer/paper combination and is it chosen?

[BGedeon]

Yes and I've entered
Printer Space: Cannon i9900 SP1

It's interesting to me that when I select Printer Color Management my colors are almost spot-on but when I select an specific ICC profile, such as the one above, the colors are overblown. It's as if both Elements and i9900 are trying to manage the color but I've been very careful to ensure that Elements is managing color.

[ohenry]

Where did you get the printer profile?

Can you soft profile from Elements?

The term Printer Space doesn't compute with my brain. It's different from Photoshop CS or CS2.