Colour management .. help!!

hi there , struggling to get colour matching on screen to what I print out .. what I see on screen is good same as on web as well as in PS cc
when I print the colours seem more vibrant /saturated , maybe a colour cast to them .. i.e. grey seems brownish ! grass is a lot greener almost to green !
tried printing same pic out from picture viewer still same so thinking its printer driver /icm although icm turned off when I'm using Photoshop to print

so I guess what I'm asking is
is the printer next to useless (also tried other icm profiles from Epsom still same problem) or am I missing a setting or not using correct settings?

software ..Photoshop cc
printer Epson stylus photo R360

calibrated monitor ..with optix xr
settings in p/shop cc..

Photoshop settings

colour settings
setting.Europe prepress 3
workspace... adobe RGB(1998)
CMYK... Coated forgra39
gray ...dot gain 15%
spot ...dot gain 15%
all else as std settings

proof setup (although I don't think this matters to the actual colour management side )!!
Device to simulate ..stylusPhotoR360 R390 Series
preserve rgb numbers ticked

print settings ..

printer set up Epson Stylus PhotoR360 Series
colour management .. Document profile .. Adobe RGB9(1998)
colour handling ..photoshop manages Colours
printer profile ...stylusPhotoR360 R390 Series
normal printing
relative colourmetric
black point .ticked

printer settings ..
paper Epson premium glossy paper
quality ..photo
size 13X18 cm (as paper size)
colour management ..
ICM.. (off) No Colour Adjustment ticked

hope someone can help thanks in advance ..phil

Please post:
- A screen shot of your color settings - I'm unsure whether you're using aRgb or CMYK.
- Tell us what monitor/OS you're using (Monaco XR doesn't work with LED monitors)
- Post a link to a high res image exactly as you printed it

Also read this thread. Turn on the three checkboxes in the color management dialog - after you do the screenshot.

As requested screencapture of colour settings

monitor is a NEC multisync 90gx pro lcd

As for high res pic of print I don't have access to web space, and think it would be to big to fit here .. although it would still be a picture of pre print

Sorry, I can't really help with anything specific. I have not been able to find anything regarding the R390 or R360's. I did download the drivers for the R320 which I assume will be just a regional difference.

The ICC file for the R320 is "E_FIC9FA.ICM" and it's plot is almost a like for like match to sRGB so perhaps your would be better off working in sRGB anyway.

As far as your issues go, I assume that you have done all of the normal things like ensuring that the inks are still in date range, that the print head nozzels are clear & a print head alignment has been performed. I would also try the Perceptual rending intent rather than the Relative Colorimetric.

EDIT: I also think you should un-check "Preserve RGB Numbers" in your proof setup.

Your color settings look fine, but I can't say about the print dialog, I never print myself.

Send the image to yourself using yousendit.com or put it on dropbox in a public folder. The reason being someone else calibrated can check it looks right.

Knowing that Epson are normally pretty good printers, I'd start thinking about monitor calibration rather than immediately blaming the printer. Of course the internet shots will look like your own, but both might still be wrong.

And yes, your particular printer could be faulty. As you are UK based, try getting an Epson Engineer to pop round and check it out. They did that for me on my R2880 when I found a snag with the black ink swop.

thank you all for your help .. ,the printer is actually a few years old now and its not exactly a pro model so maybe time for an upgrade.
as far as colour profiling I calibrated it with Monaco optix colorimeter ,,so I'm guessing the monitor isn't to far off. tried a few different settings different icm profiles and black dot , use numbers off etc. still the same
maybe the drivers are outdated now and not really supported although the drivers are from Epson they haven't been updated by them since 2012
time to look for a newer model ..thanks
anyone got suggestions for a good printer .. probably looking at spending ..£300- £450

What ICC profile are you using for your paper that can be critical. I've used the wrong profile before and it completely skews the colors. Also if you are low on one color of ink that messes with things. I use Epsons a 7600 and a 3800 and those are a couple of our problem areas we check first when we see color issues.

Based on my brief research, your printer prints with six colors and will never match the output of your screen regardless of the color management settings. I think it's time for a new printer.

Based on the amount of printing you do, I would recommend the Epson R2880 or R1900. In addtion, I would use the sRGB color space rather than RGB(1998). Use the sRGB for your monitor(if you can set it) and use this same color space in your camera.

Also, when you get your new printer, download the ICC printer profile for the paper you are using. Once the printer is upgraded, your print should match what you see on your monitor. (YMMV)

thanks fir the replies food for thought there
I noticed the suggestion of srgb colour space in camera .and monitor that's no problem as monitor has srgb setting ..but doesn't this negate monitor profiling ? or is it still needed? if so will I have to re-profile but using the srgb which wont allow me to set rgb values obviously as you can see im pretty new to colour managing
thanks in advance .. phil

The color space of your camera is independent of your monitor color space. Suggest you get yourself a book on color management, there's one in my book thread but you might also want one about printing.

Color's complex.

Sorry if I missed it, but you don't say what paper you use. The ICC profiles need to match the paper or all bets are off. I stick with Epson papers for all my more important prints and use something cheap and cheerful for anything less so.

notastockpikr wrote in post #16336373
Based on my brief research, your printer prints with six colors and will never match the output of your screen regardless of the color management settings.

No, the greater majority of monitors are at or around sRGB

Based on the amount of printing you do, I would recommend the Epson R2880 or R1900. In addtion, I would use the sRGB color space rather than RGB(1998). Use the sRGB for your monitor(if you can set it) and use this same color space in your camera.

The monitor profile is quite different to sRGB (which is a colour space, not a device profile). In camera colour space has no bearing if he shoots in raw anyway.

Also, when you get your new printer, download the ICC printer profile for the paper you are using. Once the printer is upgraded, your print should match what you see on your monitor. (YMMV)

Generally for pro-sumer printers, the canned profiles are pretty close when used with OEM papers. I tend to think the issue here is more of a ink age, print head issue.

iii

notastockpikr wrote in post #16336373
Based on my brief research, your printer prints with six colors and will never match the output of your screen regardless of the color management settings.....In addtion, I would use the sRGB color space rather than RGB(1998).

With six colors, most likely CMYK plus light M and light C, I would expect it to exceed sRGB and Adobe RGB (1998) would be the appropriate working space for any image with a wide range of greens and blues, such as landscapes, nature, etc.

In addition to the six colors mentioned above the R2880 adds two shades of grey pigment (light black and light light black). Again, Adobe RGB would be the best working space. The R1900 (which I have) uses either C/M/Y/K-photo or C/M/Y/K-matte plus the addition of red and orange, which extends its gamut significantly in the orange and yellow directions beyond Adobe RGB, as can be seen below, and I would recommend therefore a wider working space like ProPhoto RGB or Chrome 2000 RGB.

Lowner wrote in post #16337536
Sorry if I missed it, but you don't say what paper you use. The ICC profiles need to match the paper or all bets are off. I stick with Epson papers for all my more important prints and use something cheap and cheerful for anything less so.

The paper I'm using is Epsom premium glossy
ICC profiles StylusphotoR R390 series360 or SPR360 390 Epson PGPP these came with the Epsom driver install so should work fine