Just bought an epson R3000. New to printing. Need help, please.

[henrikfoto]

I have not done much printing before.
Just started my new Epson R3000.

I did a few tests printing from Photoshop, but it looks bad..

Where should I start?
Should I print from Photoshop or another program?

Henrik

[hanzo]

First you need to calibrate your monitor.. then use the correct paper profile to print

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... but it looks bad..

Bad how?

Too dark? Colors do not match your monitor? Not sharp enough?

Knowing what the problem is would help us suggest a solution.

[JeanMichel]

Hi,
The Camera to print video tutorial from Luminous Landscape is a good starting point to learn printing. I now print almost exclusively fro Lighrroom (soft-proofing in LR is easier than in PS).
Jean-Michel

[henrikfoto]

My first problem was that I used the wrong printerprofile. After a lot of testing it is getting better.
Is it supposed to be set to rgb or cmyk?

Also, is Lightroom a better program for printing?

About the calibration of the screen:
I use Mac with mac screens. Should I just use the standard mac calibration ?

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Use RGB for a specific paper. CMYK is for offset printing in magazines etc.

Lightroom is easier and simpler.

Proper screen calibration/profiling with a profiling device (e.g., ColorMunki Display) would be preferred, however, standard Mac would be acceptable, providing the screen brightness is properly set. That is why I asked (and you have not answered) if your prints are too dark, wrong color or both. If just too dark (usually the case), than your monitor is set too bright.

[henrikfoto]

Thank you, Slobodan!

The prints seems to be a little too dark with ok colors.
I will try to adjust it tomorrow and print from Lightroom.

[rubencarmona]

If you want absolute reliability, the first step is calibrating with a hardware tool (colormunki already mentioned, I use a Spyder4Pro) with ambient light compensation.

If you use original Epson inks and paper, it should work fine. If you use different paper, you can give it a try with the icc profiles of the paper manufacturer...

[PhotoEcosse]

Just as another wee bit of input.

I use an R3000 and do all of my printing from Lightroom with the printing set to "Printer controls printing".

I find that, for virtually all the papers I use (stuff like Fotospeed Platinum Baryta, Ilford Gold Fibre Silk, Ilford Gold Mono Silk, etc., etc.) I get perfect results just using the standard Epson profiles from the Epson control panel, either Colour or B&W. Completely unnecessary to fanny about with custom profiles. But what has been said above about ensuring that your monitors are properly calibrated is important - I use a Spyder but others are available.

(The caveat I would add to the above is that I don't do product photography, when exact colour matches are clearly essential. What I want is that a landscape or street scene or portrait looks like I remember it - or what I have manipulated it to look like. As long as the print matches the image on my monitors, I am happy.)

[PeterAit]

As others have mentioned, you must use profile for your printer and the paper you are using. This profile can be applied by the printing program or by the printer driver - but not both. If it is applied by both your colors will be off.