Fire Engine Red on Epson 9800

[MikeRandall]

Trying to get as close as possible to a really intense fire engine red (reproducing painting of an Indy Race Car). Have masked the area(s) to be over-manipulated, and now experimenting with variations in Hue/Saturation and Selective Color.  Anyone have any go-to settings that approximate the fire engine red color?

[dwswager]

Trying to get as close as possible to a really intense fire engine red (reproducing painting of an Indy Race Car). Have masked the area(s) to be over-manipulated, and now experimenting with variations in Hue/Saturation and Selective Color.  Anyone have any go-to settings that approximate the fire engine red color?

There is no standard definition for "Fire Engine Red". 

Start at:
Red   206
Green 32
Blue   41

'Fire Engine Red' is a shade of Red that is 84% saturated and 81% bright.

Fire Engine Red

[hugowolf]

There is no standard definition for "Fire Engine Red". 

Start at:
Red   206
Green 32
Blue   41

In what color space? sRGB(206,32,41) is very different to Adobe or ProPhotoRGB(206,32,41).

Brian A

[bill t.]

FWIW 206,32,41 is on the ragged edge of the gamut envelope for most matte and gloss media, and quit a bit out for canvas.  The only available adjustment that stays in gamut is to desaturate, which will take the color further inside the envelope.  There is almost no room to go brighter or darker.  Am looking at 8300 profiles which approximate the 9900, the 9800 might have even less red coverage.

[dwswager]

In what color space? sRGB(206,32,41) is very different to Adobe or ProPhotoRGB(206,32,41).

Brian A

sRGB is where that came from.  My recommendation though, considering there is no standard is to find an image that has a red you like and sample it.  Everything from Marlboro Red on the Penske to the Red of a Ferrari F1 car.  Of find some images of actual fire engines.

[Jim Kasson]

Or find some images of actual fire engines.

Your wish is...





Jim

[MikeRandall]

Thanks... sorry, I didn't mention the color space that I use (Adobe RGB 1998).
The color in the original painting is very close to that in your race car image and also of the fire engine images from Jim Kasson (calling it "Fire Engine Red" was just my description).  Anyway, I tried creating the red that you described: 206 - 32 - 41 ... made a large swatch if this, then selected half of the swatch and increased red saturation to 84% (Hue/Saturation adj) and 81% Brightness (Brightness/Contrast adj).  Neither half was close to the original.  One of the other comments suggests that the target color may not be achievable on canvas with my 9800 -- I think this is at the heart of the problem.  I was hoping that someone could help me get closer than I have so far been able.  If I could print the reds in that race car on my canvas I would be ecstatic!  But I am beginning to think it just can't be done.  Very disappointing; the reproduction will look like the original in all areas except the most important one, the race car.  I'll try again with any suggestions, but have my doubts...

[na goodman]

Do you have a custom profile  for the canvas? That might help. Also, why don't you spray the canvas and see if it looks more like you want it to. Increasing the saturation and brightness that much with that printer and color space is probably out of gamut and cannot be reproduced. As someone else menioned you may want to take a spot reading of the red  and print that and see how close you are.

[bill t.]

Colors in the Coca-Cola Red arena are well known to a problem on the 9800.

Looking again at some of my 8300 canvas profiles, it looks like your best options may be in slightly desaturating, and going maybe 5 points darker.  Sorry, no longer have my 9880 profiles for comparison.

Sometimes you can keep an out of gamut color from going blank by creating a layer mask for a very narrow tonal range in the problem area, then making that area a little darker or lighter, and a somewhat different shade.  A good starting point would be a luminance mask, where you greatly increasing the contrast of the black and white mask, then blacken out everything except the area of interest.  The concept is: if you can't get a rich color, maybe increasing the overall surface modulation in that area is an option.  Perhaps you could simulate the reflection of a different, brighter, in-gamut color over some parts of the red area.  Or somethin'.