Lost my lovely flesh tones...?

[gekkardboy]

I recently upgraded to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 from 10.5.8. I been using Photoshop CS3 to print to my 9900 with great results, using an Epson profile. When I printed a photo that was also previously printed in 10.5.8, the colors, especially the flesh tones, have shifted. It is a subtle shift, but noticeable when placing the images side-by-side. The photo coming out of 10.6.8 does not pop as it did previously, the darker areas are muddy and lack detail, while the flesh colors have more red tones in their appearance.

I am using all the same settings as I always have, any suggestions on what is causing the difference?

[ronmart]

I have heard of others reporting the same issue on anything greater than 10.6.5. I have not heard of an adequate work around beyond going to a RIP like ImagePrint where you remove the Adobe and much of the  operating system from the equation when printing.

[gekkardboy]

My current work-around was to install 10.5.8 on another drive and boot-up in that environment for printing. Its inconvenient for sure. The reason I needed upgrade is because Corel Painter was crashing more and more frequently in 10.5. This is the primary program I use to create all works destined for the 9900 printer, while using PS CS3 for printing. Its baffling because its the same drivers, settings, etc. Anyone let me know if newer versions of Photoshop have different results.

I also plan to call Epson tomorrow and see what insight they might have.

[ronmart]

My current work-around was to install 10.5.8 on another drive and boot-up in that environment for printing. Its inconvenient for sure. The reason I needed upgrade is because Corel Painter was crashing more and more frequently in 10.5. This is the primary program I use to create all works destined for the 9900 printer, while using PS CS3 for printing. Its baffling because its the same drivers, settings, etc. Anyone let me know if newer versions of Photoshop have different results.

I also plan to call Epson tomorrow and see what insight they might have.

I can't get great softproofing results with CS4 on the Mac and CS5 has printing issues on both the Mac and PC.

Editing-wise CS5 is wonderful though. I just don't like it for printing - especially on the Mac.

[gekkardboy]

After no response from Epson via their email tech support, I assume because my problem was not a mechanical issue, I decided to download the trial version of Photoshop CS5.1 and try a test print. Printing from CS5 corrected the color shift and I can now print in Snow Leopard with genuine flesh tones.