Please help me understand calibration and printing

[Pelao]

Hi

I have had an R800 for a number of years, and larger prints have been achieved through ordering from a print shop.

I find myself printing more and more, and will probably purchase a 3880 in the coming months.

I have always struggled to understand and apply calibration. Here's an example of the confusion:

I calibrate my monitor using a Spyder3 Pro. I have downloaded the latest paper profiles from Epson.

In LR I prepare the photograph, and if I print using the profile provided by Epson I end up with a mess: usually washed out.

if I select the latest profile for my monitor, I get something pretty close to what I see on screen, though generally a little darker.

I would be deeply appreciative if someone could explain the basics of printing, profiles and calibration, and what settings should be used, and how I achieve something very close to the choices I have made in editing.

Or...perhaps to put it more simply, why can't I get my prints to match what I see on screen, with a calibrated monitor and the correct paper profiles?

Thanks in advance.

[PeterAit]

Hi

I have had an R800 for a number of years, and larger prints have been achieved through ordering from a print shop.

I find myself printing more and more, and will probably purchase a 3880 in the coming months.

I have always struggled to understand and apply calibration. Here's an example of the confusion:

I calibrate my monitor using a Spyder3 Pro. I have downloaded the latest paper profiles from Epson.

In LR I prepare the photograph, and if I print using the profile provided by Epson I end up with a mess: usually washed out.

if I select the latest profile for my monitor, I get something pretty close to what I see on screen, though generally a little darker.

I would be deeply appreciative if someone could explain the basics of printing, profiles and calibration, and what settings should be used, and how I achieve something very close to the choices I have made in editing.

Or...perhaps to put it more simply, why can't I get my prints to match what I see on screen, with a calibrated monitor and the correct paper profiles?

Thanks in advance.

When you print, make sure you have Lightroom *OR* the printer driver managing color, not both and not neither. Beyond that, there are many other possible causes. Your questions have been answered in many posts, books, and articles and that's where you should turn.

[DarkPenguin]

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/videos/camera-print.shtml

[John R Smith]

Or...perhaps to put it more simply, why can't I get my prints to match what I see on screen, with a calibrated monitor and the correct paper profiles?

If your monitor is calibrated correctly, your print should be a reasonable match (not necessarily perfect, mind), as long as -

* You let LR manage profiling and select the paper profile from within the LR print module, and

* You turn OFF colour management in the printer settings (usually by selecting ICM and Off (No color adjustment) on Epsons

This way you avoid double profiling, which is deadly. If things are still bad, then perhaps your monitor profile is not as good as you think it is.

John