What ppi should i set to? thinking of printing some 4R and 8R prints on Epson premium glossy. what is the best size to set for 3mp images?
Printing questions using Epson 830
- Thread starter thoa_rs
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Your image should be at least 300dpi (resize it until it is so) and the printer should be set at 1440 dpi. There are quite a number of reports that say 2880dpi and above are a waste of time and ink.
If you are printing colour images, be sure to calibrate your monitor and set up all the colour workflow properly. There are a number of web-sites that teach you how to do it:
computer darkroom
Lyson's website
Click on "Technical" and then "Support Documents". This is a better article, clear and concise with explanation.
If you are a Mac user, I can tell you the settings, but I bet you are a PC user!
The reason it is not straightforward is because of the way colour is managed by different programs. And you are sending a RGB info to a CMYK printer. Some colour conversion is needed and if the conversion is wrong, your colour image will be screwed!
If you don't want to learn about colour, and you like glossy prints (and not matte or fine art or satin.....), the best and usually the cheapest way is to send your data to a lab that runs Fuji Frontier machines. They are good and produce accurate colours, at least the one I go to. This is beacuse by the time you calibrated your system, you would have easily used up ink and paper that cost more than a few decent 8R prints.
If you are printing colour images, be sure to calibrate your monitor and set up all the colour workflow properly. There are a number of web-sites that teach you how to do it:
computer darkroom
Lyson's website
Click on "Technical" and then "Support Documents". This is a better article, clear and concise with explanation.
If you are a Mac user, I can tell you the settings, but I bet you are a PC user!
The reason it is not straightforward is because of the way colour is managed by different programs. And you are sending a RGB info to a CMYK printer. Some colour conversion is needed and if the conversion is wrong, your colour image will be screwed!
If you don't want to learn about colour, and you like glossy prints (and not matte or fine art or satin.....), the best and usually the cheapest way is to send your data to a lab that runs Fuji Frontier machines. They are good and produce accurate colours, at least the one I go to. This is beacuse by the time you calibrated your system, you would have easily used up ink and paper that cost more than a few decent 8R prints.
Sigh,
First part makes sense to everyone: calibrate your monitor as well as you can. Most of us can't afford the Photocal/Spyder combo, so we have to make do.
However, DON'T convert it to CMYK; your printer does not need a color separation (like a printing press). This is a common misconception that many (yes, I used to have it too) have. Instead, when you install the printer, the ICM installed will assist you to convert your sRGB gamut to the one on the printer. Use something like Photoshop to do so.
I had just bought a book on it, titled "Photoshop Color Correction". Read it to understand the issues involved.
First part makes sense to everyone: calibrate your monitor as well as you can. Most of us can't afford the Photocal/Spyder combo, so we have to make do.
However, DON'T convert it to CMYK; your printer does not need a color separation (like a printing press). This is a common misconception that many (yes, I used to have it too) have. Instead, when you install the printer, the ICM installed will assist you to convert your sRGB gamut to the one on the printer. Use something like Photoshop to do so.
I had just bought a book on it, titled "Photoshop Color Correction". Read it to understand the issues involved.
yeap....
there's a ICC profile for epson 830 available for download... is it correct to use that ICC for ur workspace in PS?
You don't have to. You may want to use the sRGB gamut and then when you want to print, the "Print and Preview" under Print Space allows you to set the print profile to the printer. Set the intent to "Relative Colormetric" unless you had been editing with AdobeRGB. Then you use "Perceptual".
All these are explained in the book that I had mentioned above.
Maybe I wasn't clear, but I didn't say "convert to CMYK". What I said was the PRINTER is CMYK. The program does the conversion when it send the info to the printer. The printer doesn't know what RGB is as it runs on inks. We don't convert our files to CMYK ourselves.
Maybe PC does it differently, but it may be better from my experience and the sites I visited that "no color adjustment" is much better. Printer color management should also be unchecked. This leaves Photoshop or whatever program to perform the color conversion. The Colour space should be the paper you are using assuming that you have the ICC profile for it.
for Canon S820, the default sizes for prints are 4x6ins, A4 and custom sizes. What are the sizes in 5R, 8R and passports? Curiosity sake, what the size for 'lorry tau'?
Actually, the printer is NOT CMYK (4 colors) but with additional light cyan and light magenta (6 colors). I'm not saying that you are asking him to "convert to CMYK" but by bringing it up, it gives an impression that it should be done for better printouts.
It really depends on the situation. If you are using a software that is Colorspace managed, like Photoshop 5.0 and above, it can convert a picture into the different Color space (not recommended! unless you are going for prepress!) using an engine link Adobe Color Engine (ACE). If you are printing to this printer or if software is not Colorspace aware, like the browser, the printer or printer driver that performs the actual conversion. Case in point, the various direct printer where you put in the storage card with say JPEG and it prints out the photo.
I do agree, do not make color adjustment unless you have your screen calibrated and know what you are doing. Photoshop manages the color conversion via its engine as it knows the color profile that your image is in and translate to the proper gamut before sending it to the printer where the printer driver performs last minute adjustment based on the paper and other options that you select (like 'Photo' vs 'Best Photo', etc). The printer has also be intelligent too. The processor on the printer will then, based on the info sent by the computer to dither, mix, etc the drops and ink to its ability.
Color space has NOTHING to do with the paper, it is with the device's response to a pixel. The paper type setting can either be on the driver or the printer itself.
Read the book I had mentioned, all these will become clear.
I apologise for not being clear. It is definitely what I don't intend to set out to do.
The following website would be clearer than what I had said, if I have to provide all details, I might as well write a website.
Printing for Photoshop
The following website would be clearer than what I had said, if I have to provide all details, I might as well write a website.
Printing for Photoshop
I am using CMYK as would most people would use it. I am just plain lazy and would not type CcMmYK for Epson 830 or CcMmYKk for Epson 2200, or CcMmYyK for the Japanese version of Epson 950.
When I mean no color adjustment, I mean selecting "No Color Adjustment" on the printer driver.
I am not talking about the color space per se, I am talking about the Printer Color Space which tells the Printer your ICC profile for the paper you are using so that each paper's color response is tuned to.
It is very depressing to be nit-picked upon when I'm just sharing my experiences. I had spent lots of time trying the best methods to get good printout and the sites I had recommended gives info that works for me. Straightforward and practical info for that matter. Check out the sites and you would know what I mean.
Maybe we can meet one day and I'll have a look at your book, I may be missing much for all I know.
Hey! Don't get depressed! I'm just a nit-picker by nature :dent: We do agree more than disagree. 
I too am changing Color workflow to ensure I don't clip my color, etc. Now all I shoot is AdobeRGB and may even try to keep things in Kodak ProPhoto RGB
I too am changing Color workflow to ensure I don't clip my color, etc. Now all I shoot is AdobeRGB and may even try to keep things in Kodak ProPhoto RGB - Status
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