I have a serious issue with my current output - all of my prints have an orange/red tint and print slightly dark.
I've gotten around the darkness by adding a levels layer for print adjustments and bumping up the mid-range slightly. I'm not sure if this is normally expected or not - the prints are not extremely dark, and I'm comparing a lit up screen to reflected light off of paper. I generally evaluate my prints outside in mid-day sunlight whenever possible.
As far as the orange/red tint - it's driving me nuts. The shift isn't wild - it's hard to notice without comparing prints to the screen, but it's definitely there. I notice it most when looking at tree bark - it appears warmer then on-screen.
Environment - Lightroom 1.1, PS4, Mac OS 10.5.8, Epson R1900, Espon Lustre Paper, Epson Lustre Profile, Colorvision Spyder 2
Usual worflow:
From PS4
Print => Let PS manage colors using Epson Lustre driver
In Epson driver => color management off, Epson Lustre driver
I've had the following theories-
- Maybe the Spyder 2 isn't up to snuff and I need to upgrade. I doubt that's it though; I have some images where I've used RGB curves to pull the color cast out of snow using RGB values to guide me. If the Spyder was the issue I assume that the screen and RGB numbers shouldn't match up.
- The canned Epson profile isn't great - need to get a custom profile made. Once again I kind of doubt the canned profile for their own paper would be that far off. I installed the latest driver a couple of months ago so I think I'm up to date. Am I wrong?
Ideas?