Why is this photo so hard to softproof?

I spent about an hour today, trying to get this photo ready to print on Red River Paper Canvas. The softproof was really horrible, but when it obviously wasn't going to get any better, I printed it and the resulting print was so bad! Muddy and dark. Hardly any color at all.

So was it the photo or the paper? This was my first time to print this photo, and my first time with the Paper Canvas. So...

I tried softproofing it on Ilford Smooth Pearl, which I use a lot, and I couldn't get a decent-looking softproof there either.

Then I took a photo that I've printed many times, softproofed it with the paper canvas profile and it looked fine.

So the problem is the photo. But why is this one harder to softproof than any other one? Any ideas?

On my monitor it's splotchy, has no detail, and seems blown.

:p Well, it's been posterized, filtered, and otherwise abused all to heck and gone! So what you're seeing is correct.
The problem is that it doesn't print (or softproof) the way it looks on screen. The best I've been able to come up with has practically no color in it at all. The tree trunks have various shades of red, purple, yellow, etc, and they come out pretty much like various shades of brown. The green masses look like dark camouflage in the prints. The only thing that's right is the white of the flowers.

ncjohn wrote in post #14278759
The tree trunks have various shades of red, purple, yellow, etc, and they come out pretty much like various shades of brown. The green masses look like dark camouflage in the prints. The only thing that's right is the white of the flowers.

How big is the actual final edited version of the image that you are trying to print?

Softproofs like I'd expect for my R2880/Archival Matte / Perceptual…

Obviously, you'll get less vibrant colors then on glossy paper.

isoMorphic wrote in post #14279373
How big is the actual final edited version of the image that you are trying to print?

Approximately 3000x2400.

René Damkot wrote in post #14279650
Softproofs like I'd expect for my R2880/Archival Matte / Perceptual…

Crap! That means it's just me.

Yeah, and that's what I don't like about matte paper, but this one's just horrible.
Thanks for checking it out.

For reference: screenshot (converted to sRGB) of the image softproofed for R2880/Archival Matte. Simulate paper white checked.

Yeah, that looks pretty good. Except for using a different profile, it's the same setup I was using but I sure can't get it to look like that. I spent some time again yesterday trying to softproof it for some canvas papers that I've ordered and I did better than before but it's still not as good as yours. Can you tell me what edits you made to get it there?

When you say "same set up" are you also using the same printer, the R2880? Perhaps your printer/paper combo cannot handle the gamut of this image. Have you tried different rendering intents?

Also - in certain situations, for whatever reason, it may be better to simply specify the paper type to your print driver and let the "Printer Handles Colors" option control the process.

kirk

No, not the same printer, I'm using a Pro9000MkII; I meant that I've got the same options set as in the screen shot. Yes, I've tried different rendering intents and different papers.

I'm certainly not an expert on this stuff, but it seems to me that it would have a rather narrow gamut.

Also, I know that whatever edits René made to arrive at that proof won't have the same effect on my paper with my printer, but I was just curious what they were because I've gone round and around, back and forth, like a dog chasing his tail. Levels, curves, hue/saturation, bright/contrast, over and over, start over from scratch, same thing all over again. I've never gotten a proof that looks as good as René's.

Looks like the original is muddy and dark, splotchy and has little color. It doesn't even look like a photo.

It's not supposed to look like a photo. But on my screen it's not muddy; it is dark, but it has a lot of color in it. My softproofs don't.

I suppose someone will suggest that my monitor is probably too bright; that's often the case when someone says their prints are too dark. My monitor's calibrated and my prints look great; just not this print.

Here's what I get on my three+ year old MacBook Pro with your printer-paper profile.

I converted the screenshot to sRGB (top image). The lower attached image is your original post.

kirk

And can you tell me what edits you made, kirkt?
I really appreciate you guys taking the time to proof this for me. And speaking of that, how much time did this take you?