Color Management - the dreaded question YET again!!!

[GlueFactoryBJJ]

Hopefully we're done off topic and you can get some answers to your original question. 

I would suggest you post some additional information regarding your workflow, calibration (monitor and/or printer), inks (OEM or not), paper, etc. so that the community can provide some better guidance regarding your specific issues.  I'd also suggest you try posting a small copy of an pic that is exhibiting the problems you are describing along with a scan and/or picture of the print that illustrates what you are seeing.

In particular, I'd really try to be specific regarding your workflow process and settings from beginning to end.

Oh, and you are asking about two different problems.  #1 is the monitor/print match.  #2 is what is happening to your files when posted to a web site.  With #2, again examples would help (originals for download/comparison to a site link).  Have you tried pulling the file off the web site and into Photoshop to see if they still match, off line?

Unfortunately, as you have probably guessed from reading this thread, monitor/print matching is not an easy thing and it may not be something that can be diagnosed on a forum.  Also, it may not be cheap to resolve, so you may have to make a decision between the costs of "accurate" and "close enough".

Scott

[xpatUSA]

http://www.ppmag.com/reviews/200703_rodneycm.pdf

A belated 'thank you' for the link, Andrew.

It was most illuminating for one who knows little about the art of printing or about paper . . .

. . . until now. Good stuff, well written.

[digitaldog]

A belated 'thank you' for the link, Andrew.

It was most illuminating for one who knows little about the art of printing or about paper . . .

Wrong URL (my bad). How about this:

http://www.ppmag.com/reviews/200702_rodneycm.pdf

[xpatUSA]

Wrong URL (my bad). How about this:

http://www.ppmag.com/reviews/200702_rodneycm.pdf

Didn't realize ir was the wrong URL, actually, so I do hope my post wasn't mis-interpreted as being sarky.

Also good stuff and thanks again. I especially liked the advice in the last paragraph!

[teebe]

Hope is not late for answering.
My experience is: confused.
My R3000 prints like woman feeling, sometimes bad with no hope to revert to good, sometimes good. Well, in both cases the workflow changes itself from bad to good without any apparent reason. Sometimes fingering Epson driver 6.75 ICM settings back and forth, sometimes changing paper orientation. It is a woman. I gave up finding a reason, I live with her, R3000, now I know some that prints are dark, contrasted like double color managed besides is not (absurd application and driver cannot speak each other and adjust accordingly) and put all this matter of acid into the Windows bin: its a problem from OS, similar 'sticky' malfunctions are common with other application. Wizards at Adobe, MS,Epson  etc, etc, should know well this behavior but they are too busy with last version upgrade, porting code from one to another. IT is young but looks like an obsolescent science, maybe time is passing quickly and there is no real innovation, apart greenish translucent buttons. As part of my living I always check the preview in Epson driver to lessen the paper/ink waste, even so R3000 can print bad, sometimes. Best wishes.

[bjanes]

I have to agree with Jim Kasson on this one...

Perhaps you misstated yourself.  

Techno-geek Warning

* Skip this section if you aren't into technical discussions, you won't miss any real-world information!

Sorry if I missed anything in this and other posts in this thread. One reason that incandescent light sources are not used in a light booth is that the brightness can not be controlled, except by varying the number of bulbs used in the booth. For soft proofing, it is necessary to vary the brightness of the lamps so that the reflected brightness of the print matches thay of the computer screen (in terms of cd/m^2 a factor of pi (3.14) is needed to account for Lambertian reflection--incident vs reflected brightness). Dimmers for incandescent bulbs change the color temperature.

Most of us non-professionals do not have a light booth. For my home use, I have found that a single Solux bulb at a distance of about 18 inches from the print works reasonably well with my monitor calibrated to 120 cd/m^2.

Bill

[howardm]

Interesting.  Are you using the 35W or the 50W Solux?  My setup is similar to yours but w/ the 35W (3500K) single Solux about 18" away, it matches my NEC screen at about 90(ish) (and I wouldn't mind the Solux being a bit dimmer in reality to match the display space).

I would have thought the primary reason for not using incandescents in a lighting booth is their spectrum (A vs. the 'required' D50)

[bjanes]

Interesting.  Are you using the 35W or the 50W Solux?  My setup is similar to yours but w/ the 35W (3500K) single Solux about 18" away, it matches my NEC screen at about 90(ish) (and I wouldn't mind the Solux being a bit dimmer in reality to match the display space).

I would have thought the primary reason for not using incandescents in a lighting booth is their spectrum (A vs. the 'required' D50)

I'm using 12 v, 50 watt, 4700K, 36 degree flood lamps (Q50MR16/CG/47/36) in a lamp fixture with a diffuser in front of the lamp. You can check the brightness with an incident meter that reads lux. I have an old Gossen LunaProF that does this.

Bill

[Lundberg02]

Hydrology: I have PSCS5 and an Epson printer (not yours) and a long time ago I discovered that I wasn't getting a really good match because I had overlooked the second "Print Settings" clickie in the Photoshop Manages Color dialog. It's in the upper left and allows you to set the general paper type, in addition to the printer/paper profile you set  in the long drop down on the right.  I don't know what the dialog looks like in CS6, but the second Print Settings should still be there.  Just a thought.