RGB vs. CMYK

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Imaging Resource Discussion : One Thread

Does anybody know of any dependable way to have the monitor more closely match the outputted printed image? Aside from trial and error, it gets frustrating to work in, say Adobe Photodeluxe enhancing an image, then see the values in the printed image are very different.

A basic rule of thumb I've found when printing to my Epson Photo Stylus 700 is to increase the contrast and saturation, and decrease the brightness.

I've got a Pentium PC, with a 3 year old Dell SVGA monitor.

Thanks.

-- Tom Keramidas (krmidas@ix.netcom.com), September 15, 1998

Answers

Trial and error is the only solution. Photoshop comes with a balanced test picture to help you and there is an ink compensation procedure which allows a briteness and color proportion setting which reloads on initialization. But printers vary a great deal. Besides you have to fight your monitor which tends to be balanced toward blue. I find I get the best results undersaturating, and boosting contrast a little less than looks good on the monitor. My Lexmark 2070 printer requires a lot of trial and error and needs recompensating on cartridge replacement.

-- Wayne Fox (zoaro@hotmail.com), September 30, 1998.

I had problems with print quality from the EP 700. I fiddled around with a lot of things and now get great quality prints without having to go through trial and error. 1.Try adjusting your gamma. I don't know where to find it on a PC, on a Mac it's in control panels. If this applies to you, follow the steps in photoshop manual to adjust gamma. 2 Take out the colour cartridge from the printer, turn it over and make sure all the ink wells are pierced properly. 3.Make sure your files are in RGB mode.CMYK files will print incorrectly. Hope this is of help.Good luck.

-- Sarah Davidson (sarahd@magna.com), October 05, 1998.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ