3800 Profiling questions and gamut

[evonzz]

Got my head around operational aspects of using the 3800 but now am down to the nitty gritty of actually churning out usable prints.  My printer is out of the box and i have not personally profiled it with any device- i am using all canned profiles - both Epson and hahnemuhle (from hahnemuhle website).  My monitor is calibrated using eye one display 2.

After retouching images and preparing them for print, i then softproof images using relevant paper profile and do final color edits.  In this case - Hahnemuhle Torchon 285 or also German Etch 310, A3+ size.  I select options as shown in attached image 'proof 2'.

[attachment=5103:attachment]

In Print with preview window i have the Hahne profile selected, but in print dialog i select the Velvet paper option. Then when print preview comes on the print colours have skewed extremely towards green and print is much lighter than on screen. So i go back and turn Gamut warning on and see that most of greens are out of gamut.  Changing any of the rendering intent does not seem to do much, neither does Black point compensation.

I read somewhere that some hahnemhule papers are not so good with greens, so maybe this image is not the best image to use as basis for my query, however, how can one pull an image back into gamut so that it prints as the screen shows?

Furthermore, is there a way to profile a printer without a hardware device or am i a frugal dreamer?  As i already own the Eyeonedisplay2 - is the Eye-One Photo bundle the best option?  other recommendations?

Thanks

[francois]

…
After retouching images and preparing them for print, i then softproof images using relevant paper profile and do final color edits.  In this case - Hahnemuhle Torchon 285 or also German Etch 310, A3+ size.  I select options as shown in attached image 'proof 2'.

-attachmentid=5103-

In Print with preview window i have the Hahne profile selected, but in print dialog i select the Velvet paper option. Then when print preview comes on the print colours have skewed extremely towards green and print is much lighter than on screen. So i go back and turn Gamut warning on and see that most of greens are out of gamut.  Changing any of the rendering intent does not seem to do much, neither does Black point compensation.

In CS2, print preview thumbnail is not color managed so it's normal to see a difference in rendering. You shouldn't be worried!

I read somewhere that some hahnemhule papers are not so good with greens, so maybe this image is not the best image to use as basis for my query, however, how can one pull an image back into gamut so that it prints as the screen shows?

I've not heard of the "greens" problem but I don't use hahnemhule papers much.
To match your print and display (***, see my suggestion below), you use soft proofing and try to adjust the soft proofed image with the standard Photoshop tools (curves, levels, saturation etc…).

Furthermore, is there a way to profile a printer without a hardware device or am i a frugal dreamer?  As i already own the Eyeonedisplay2 - is the Eye-One Photo bundle the best option?  other recommendations?

Thanks

You'll need a hardware solution to profile your printer. A cheaper alternative, if you use only a few paper types, is to have a knowledgeable person do the profiles for you. Prices vary from $30-$100 per profile. Andrew Rodney, Edmund Ronald - both members on this forum - can build them for you. Other choices include Chritophe Metairie or Cathy's Profiles.

One thing that you should do is to invest $35 in *** Camera to Print video tutorial. Soft Proofing (along with an example of how to adjust an image), print settings and others topics are explained in depth.

[digitaldog]

So your display is profiled and you have no issues with other papers? Try a canned Epson profile and paper. If that output is OK, sounds like the paper profile you have isn't any good. And no, you need an instrument to build custom ICC profiles.

[evonzz]

In CS2, print preview thumbnail is not color managed so it's normal to see a difference in rendering. You shouldn't be worried!

...
One thing that you should do is to invest $35 in *** Camera to Print video tutorial. Soft Proofing (along with an example of how to adjust an image), print settings and others topics are explained in depth.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=174184\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I know the print preview thumb is not color managed but oddly the prints that were coming out were a closer match to that so i started using this as a guide.  

Today i have been having better luck. I am back to the Epson premium Semigloss using canned profiles. Also in final print dialog box - i am printing through Custom and then turning off Colour management and things are working out a bit more as they ought to.

I'll look into that video and also am now shopping for hardware profiling device.  I really only am aware of the X-rite system.  What other hardware print profilers are there available and recommended? Anything under $1000?

Cheers

[francois]

I know the print preview thumb is not color managed but oddly the prints that were coming out were a closer match to that so i started using this as a guide. 

Today i have been having better luck. I am back to the Epson premium Semigloss using canned profiles. Also in final print dialog box - i am printing through Custom and then turning off Colour management and things are working out a bit more as they ought to.

I'll look into that video and also am now shopping for hardware profiling device.  I really only am aware of the X-rite system.  What other hardware print profilers are there available and recommended? Anything under $1000?

Cheers
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I must say that I only have limited experience with Hahnemhule profiles but I found the ones for matte papers quite bad. This was a couple of years ago and they may have updated them?

A cheaper alternative to X-Rite products is PrintFix Pro from DataColor (formerly ColorVision). There's a review on this site but if you search the forum, you'll notice that some users had bad experiences ([a href=\"http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19171&hl=colorvision]here[/url]) with it while other users a very satisfied.