Need advice on printing issues

[Robert Brummitt]

Hello,

It's been awhile since I've been on this site. I've been busy with life and other things. Today, I need some advice from those who may know and give me a helping hand.

It's been a long while since I printed. My Epson r3800 had what the repair person quoted to say, "A ink head Stroke" It would have cost me more then the price of a new Epson printer. So, I bought a Epson P600. The problem is now I'm not getting my prints to look good at all. They all come out dark and off color.

I had a friend take a file of one print and with his larger Epson 7800 printer and using PSCC, he got great results. Almost a match! My friend and I figure is this. I use Lightroom 5 and 6 to load my files and edit them. Then I use PS CS3 to fine tune the files and save them as PSD files. When I try to print from photoshop, the prints come out dark and off color. If I try to print from LR they come closer but not a bullseye.

We figure that the newer printing driver for the Epson P600 is not translating correctly between PSCS3 and a little better with LR5. So, my question is this. I don't wish to subscribe to Adobe. I have issues with this. I have thought of buying PSCS5 but looks like I'm not alone with not wanting to subscribe. Prices are high. So, what about buying PS Elements 14? Will its driver be better to work with newer Epson printers?

I also have spoken with Adobe about using the PSCC for only on a short term basis. I only need to print once in awhile. They quoted me a price of $29.00 per month. Again, I can buy PS Elements 14 for $65.

What are your thoughts?

[Ken Bennett]

The Adobe Photographer's Package is $10 per month and includes both Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC, as well as Bridge and the latest Camera Raw.

http://www.adobe.com/africa/creativecloud/photography.html

I find the $10/month package is reasonable for me -- it's about the same price or a little cheaper over the long run as upgrading LR each time, and PS every other time (using EDU prices).

I can't really diagnose your printing problem from a distance, except to note that saving a file back to Lightroom it saves as a TIFF -- I don't know how to save a layered PSD back to LR and have it work properly (but then I haven't really tried).

[DeanChriss]

Hello,

It's been awhile since I've been on this site. I've been busy with life and other things. Today, I need some advice from those who may know and give me a helping hand.

It's been a long while since I printed. My Epson r3800 had what the repair person quoted to say, "A ink head Stroke" It would have cost me more then the price of a new Epson printer. So, I bought a Epson P600. The problem is now I'm not getting my prints to look good at all. They all come out dark and off color.

I had a friend take a file of one print and with his larger Epson 7800 printer and using PSCC, he got great results. Almost a match! My friend and I figure is this. I use Lightroom 5 and 6 to load my files and edit them. Then I use PS CS3 to fine tune the files and save them as PSD files. When I try to print from photoshop, the prints come out dark and off color. If I try to print from LR they come closer but not a bullseye.

We figure that the newer printing driver for the Epson P600 is not translating correctly between PSCS3 and a little better with LR5. So, my question is this. I don't wish to subscribe to Adobe. I have issues with this. I have thought of buying PSCS5 but looks like I'm not alone with not wanting to subscribe. Prices are high. So, what about buying PS Elements 14? Will its driver be better to work with newer Epson printers?

I also have spoken with Adobe about using the PSCC for only on a short term basis. I only need to print once in awhile. They quoted me a price of $29.00 per month. Again, I can buy PS Elements 14 for $65.

What are your thoughts?

You do not mention printer/paper profiles. Your friend with the Epson 7800 may be using a good profile for his printer and paper. You obviously can't be using the same profile because you are using a different printer. I'd guess the profile you are using is to blame for the difference. If you are using a color managed workflow the software is the least likely culprit.

[Wayne Fox]

Probably need a lot more details  to be able to help (including screenshots of dialog boxes).  However, the very first step in troubleshooting things like this is to print a standard print, with no changes and the correct color management applied.

I would recommend trying Digital Dog's  or the one at Outback Photo

This will just confirm your color management settings and practices are correct.  If it prints poorly then something is amiss in the color management settings.  As mentioned, it most likely isn't the software, but there are some known incompatibilities with some software versions and some OS versions.