I am using a HP 722C printer with Champion Ink Jet high gloss finish paper. When printing high contrast photos the printed image is much darker than the image on the CRT and the printed images looses most of the detail in darker portions of the photo. The same image when printed on plain paper looks very similar to the CRT image expect that the colors are not as vibrant (as I'd expect). Will using HP's permium or delux paper make a difference?

Thanks,

John

-- John Michnowicz (John-Michnowicz@worldnet.att.net), December 29, 1998

Answers

I have the same problem with Epson Photo 700 when printing in black and white mode. The picture printed on a semi-gloss ink jet 720-dpi paper looks exactly like on the screen but when printed on the Epson glossy photo paper is way too dark and looses all detail in deep shadows. I am pretty sure that I set the paper and ink nozzle parameters correctly within the printer driver.

Greg

-- Greg Garecki (greg_001@hotmail.com), December 29, 1998.

My suggestion would be that you'll have to vary the brightness and contrast settings for your printer based on the type of paper. If your printer driver lets you vary the brightness/contrast that's the place to do it. Just experiment and then use the proper settings each time you print on that kind of paper.

The only other alternative is to adjust the brightness and contrast of each image. This can be done on an individual photo basis, but with some programs you can do an entire directory at once using a batch mode function. The down side to this is that the photo won't look right on your monitor. I don't have an HP printer, but that seems to be the drill for the epson/canon/everything else I've used/seen printers and should apply.

-- Gerald M. Payne (gmp@francorp.francomm.com), December 29, 1998.

Whoops, one thing I forgot from the original post. You're never going to get a printed page to look as vibrant, bright, etc. as an image displayed on a monitor because the printed page depends on reflected light and the monitor emits or projects light. Best of luck, but realize that the colors will never be as vibrant as onscreen. Of course, you could print on backprint film and backlight it. :-)

-- Gerald M. Payne (gmp@francorp.francomm.com), December 29, 1998.

The "glossy" settings on most inkjet printers typically lay down a LOT more ink than other settings, producing darker blacks, but also plugging shadows. You might try a setting for "non-coated, photo- quality" paper, if your printer has such an option. This should hold the shadows, but still give you the deeper tones associated with the glossy paper surface. Hope this helps, good luck!

-- Dave Etchells (hotnews@imaging-resource.com), December 30, 1998.