LR4 Printing - Non black, black background. Black ink not being consumed

[Baxter]

I'm trying to print out several images on one sheet with a true black background.

I've made a preset and all is working well, except I cannot get true blacks from my printer. They are coming out a deep navy blue.

I've tried a range of different profiles, media settings and rendering. All to no avail, the background frustratingly remains the same once the ink has dried. When wet, it appears far blacker. Very little black ink is being used, so I presume that the profiles are trying to make black with cyan and magenta which are going down rapidly. I've tried changing black ink cartridges (I'm on compatible inks). I've also downloaded a wide range of ICC profiles trying to get something to work. I'm not getting any bronzing.

This is for an event whereby the client has stipulated A4 glossy with black background and I have to print them there and then on location. I'm using an EPSON SX235W as my LF 7800 won't travel easily(!) and my Dye-sub only goes to 9x6 in. A 12x8 dye-sub is £1800, so a non-starter.

in summary, changing media type, photo quality, ICC profile and rendering intent are having no effect on changing the background colour to true black.

Any ideas what else I can try please? I've spent several hours on this so far and am at a loss. Furthermore I have to print them tomorrow!!

Many thanks

Bax

[John Caldwell]

You've checked these, I'll guess:

1) Your black is truly black; i.e., if RBG: 0,0,0?
2) No adjustments, other than profile instantiation, in your output stage? You don't mention from what app you're printing.
3) What happens to your black if you cancel all color management? If they're black, that me be your answer.

I'm sorry I can't offer a more specific solution.

This has been discussed here before, but I can't recall the proceedings. Try a Search.

John Caldwell

[Baxter]

Thanks John

Printing from LR4.4 from a Mac with OSX10.6.8 and latest Epson printer driver. Background is true black RGB (0,0,0) and have set printer No Colour Adjustment, leaving all to Colorsync in printer dialogue. I've tried 'printer manages colours' but colour of background remains the same.

Different profiles render the colour elements of the overlaid images differently, but the 'black' is unaffected. When an ink cartridge ran out, I could see from the partially printed page that the printer was laying down cyan and magenta over the pure black area. I was expecting it to only be using black ink for these regions.

I did try a search before posting, but didn't see anything, hence my post.

Bax 

[gerryrobinson]

You might try switching to "manage by printer " in the print module instead of using ICC profiles.
This worked for me with an older Epson 825 printer. It just couldn't seem to handle using the profiles.
Hope this helps
Gerry

[Baxter]

Thanks Gerry - it's definitely a printer/driver issue (and possibly way LR interfaces with them) as the images come out fine when I print on my dye-sub printer from LR using the appropriate ICC profile for that printer.

I just can't find a way to trigger it using black inks for the black areas. I completed the event yesterday, making 31 A4 prints which had a dark/navy blue background. I used up lots of cyan and magenta ink and virtually no black. Based on page content, I ought to have consumed most black.

I'll try printer managing colours again and see if I missed any options before.

Client didn't complain, but I know that images ought to look so much better than the ones I had to hand out yesterday because of this issue.

[NikoJorj]

I've often suspected that LR didn't apply any color management to non-image parts of the print (and I've seen it at least with the ID plate).
If that is true, then letting the printer manage colors could help to obtain a better black background.

[francois]

I've often suspected that LR didn't apply any color management to non-image parts of the print (and I've seen it at least with the ID plate).
If that is true, then letting the printer manage colors could help to obtain a better black background.

One way to test this would be to have a true black (0, 0, 0) area in the photo and see whether there's a different between in print between the photo part and non-image part.

[Baxter]

Thanks again for advice. The issue is now solved and am getting pure blacks just like I should.

Somehow the borderless template I was printing from had another frame going to edge of the page which I couldn't see. Once I spotted this and deleted it, all printing reverted to how it should be. It seems that the LR/Printer was confused when faced with this empty frame and thus was trying to produce a colour which wasn't entirely black.

I've metaphorically slapped my wrist and apologise for taking up people's time.

Bax