Evilmerlin said:
I recently tried to print out some photos which looked bright and well exposed on my notebook and when it was printed, it turned out really really dark. Could it be my notebook screen lying to me or the printer read the data wrongly?
Anyway to "synchronise" the two of them?
Hi Evilmerlin,
You are half correct actually,
(1) the display is lying to you (if it has never been profiled/calibrated before, think "ZEROing"
(2) i assume you are printing within Photoshop? - Is Photoshop setup for PRINTMAKING (Adobe RGB-More Colors, think 96 colors box of crayons) or SCREEN/VIDEO (sRGB-Less Colors, think 72 colors box of crayons)?
(3) the printer is a DUMMY device, it prints whatever you send it. So it can never print the wrong data.
So for successful printmaking,
(1) Try to get your display calibrated, a low-end calibrated display can outperform a high-end display showing the wrong colors.
(2) Setup your PS working space correctly, for Print.
(3) Make sure your file has a PROFILE (Color information)
(4) Make sure your your paper has a PROFILE for the printer so the printer will know what color compensation it has to do (based of paper white point) and how much ink to spray (absorbancy).
(5) Who manages Color? Photoshop or the Printer Driver? Decide on one, turn off the other. Best results is to let PS manage Colors and turn off in Printer Driver.
That basically rounds up the few checklist for successful home-based printmaking.
Cheers,
nic