Critique my printing workflow!

Hello photo friends! It's been quuuiiite some time since I last posted here... Equally long since I last shot digital as I've been shooting strictly film now.

I decided to branch out and jump into printing my scans using a Pixma Pro 100. With that said, I totally forgot how complicated color management & printing can be... I just want to run back into the darkroom!

I just calibrated my 13" Macbook Pro monitor using a Spyder5Express. (I know it's not an ideal monitor but I'm aiming for ballpark accuracy until I get an external monitor) I'm using Ilford's Galerie Prestige Silk paper along with its ICC profile that I downloaded from Ilford's site.

I open up the Black & White image in PS CS6. Resize & sharpen for output.

I convert the image's profile to sRGB. Soft proof the image using the correct ICC profile with "Black Point Compensation" checked. It appears to be slightly less punchy in the blacks but the image is still acceptable.

Under the print settings, I ensure Photoshop manages color and the printer profile is set to the paper's ICC profile. Additionally I set the media type to "Pro Luster" which I think matches the paper. I'm not really sure what effect the media type has on the final print as well...

The results tend to lean towards a slight warmer print that leans a little towards the magentas and its probably a quarter stop darker. (My monitor's brightness is lowered to around medium brightness) Is the warmer tone due to the inherent characteristics of the paper itself?

Ideally I'd LOVE to get a print that matches the tone and exposure of what I'm seeing but I do understand that it won't be 100% but would the results be better if I sent out a print for custom ICC profiling? How should I go about with getting the correct tones and exposure during soft proofing? I usually adjust via Levels and Color Balance but it's all guestimated adjustments...

If anyone can steer me into the right direction, I'd be extremely happy. I'll even send you a print from my travels!

Thanks in advanced!

P.S. I do understand that ambient light changes the temperature of the paper so I've viewed my prints under my phone's cooler flashlight, incandescent lamp light and also indoor ambient lighting with no artificial light.

EOSBoy,
I'm doing similar things with an Epson 3880. Recently I checked with Red River Paper concerning one of your comments concerning media type. I asked what was the difference between choosing premium matte paper vs Ultra premium matte paper. Since I was using some of their fine art paper and another brand that did not specify what setting to use, I wanted to know the difference. They said that by choosing the premium the printer put out a bit less ink than using ultra premium and that worked best with their paper. It worked just fine with the other brand too so at least I understand and maybe this will help you. I also use the sRGB setting with Relative colormetric.

Did you disable color management in the printer driver?

In my Pixma MG7550 that is done in: Print Setup, Properties, Main, Color/Intensity = Manual, Set, Matching, Color Correction = None.

Without this you would be getting double-profiling.

Media type must still be set, for the driver to apply the correct amount of ink for the paper used.

Oh! Well that makes sense! I do wish there were better explanations on the listed paper types instead of applying some guesswork but as a whole, that info is much more useful. Thanks for looking into this!

Thanks for the reply! Are you using Windows or Mac? I use Mac and the option to adjust color settings within the OSX's native print settings aren't displayed.

I had worried about double profiling early on but I believe when Photoshop manages color, it turns off all defaults. When I double check the print options under the "Print Settings" tab and select the "Color Matching" option, it shows that "ColorSync" is selected instead of "Canon Color Matching." This leads me to believe it's Photoshop's way of insuring that no other color management interferes.

At least I hope so!

One thing to add is, I did some color prints earlier and they seemed to be relatively accurate with a slight magenta hue along with being a little darker than usual which is to be expected. I wonder if I should adjust the brightness within the print dialogue under "Color Options" instead of using Photoshop, would that be better? I could also reduce the levels of magenta within the same dialogue. The downside is no live preview which Photoshop displays. I'm just trying to save on expensive photo paper!

Color seems to be a bit more accurately printed than black and white..

I use Windows and print with Qimage, so I can't help wit Mac and Photoshop printing.