Tools of the Trade (printers)

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AnnOminous
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by AnnOminous »

pawprints wrote:I've always had HPs and I have loved every one of them. My Deskjet 970 has always printed out fabulous photos, and still does. I just got an HP Photosmart B8550 that prints 12 x 12. I haven't had a chance to do any large format prints yet, but I love the quality. I'm just working on getting the settings right because it seems to be putting too much red in the photos. Soon as I get that straight I'll be doing my first Photo Book with it on the double-sided photo paper. Can't wait!


Please let me know how you get that too much red fixed. That's the same problem I am having!!!!!
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pawprints
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by pawprints »

AnnOminous wrote:
pawprints wrote:I've always had HPs and I have loved every one of them. My Deskjet 970 has always printed out fabulous photos, and still does. I just got an HP Photosmart B8550 that prints 12 x 12. I haven't had a chance to do any large format prints yet, but I love the quality. I'm just working on getting the settings right because it seems to be putting too much red in the photos. Soon as I get that straight I'll be doing my first Photo Book with it on the double-sided photo paper. Can't wait!


Please let me know how you get that too much red fixed. That's the same problem I am having!!!!!


Now I'm scared! I hope that I can get it resolved!
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pawprints
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by pawprints »

pawprints wrote:
AnnOminous wrote:
pawprints wrote:I've always had HPs and I have loved every one of them. My Deskjet 970 has always printed out fabulous photos, and still does. I just got an HP Photosmart B8550 that prints 12 x 12. I haven't had a chance to do any large format prints yet, but I love the quality. I'm just working on getting the settings right because it seems to be putting too much red in the photos. Soon as I get that straight I'll be doing my first Photo Book with it on the double-sided photo paper. Can't wait!


Please let me know how you get that too much red fixed. That's the same problem I am having!!!!!


Now I'm scared! I hope that I can get it resolved!


Okay Ann... I got it!! I have been working on this all afternoon and after a lot of frustration and many printouts, I got a great print! My printer is an HP. If yours isn't I would think it would work somewhat the same for other brands too. Here is what I found worked to resolve the problem...

First, I went from having Photoshop managing the colors to having the printer managing the colors. After doing that, I was able to get access to making adjustments in the printer driver for color, saturation, brightness, and tone. I am on a Mac and I was able to access this from the Print dialog box under the Paper Type / Quality section and then chose the Color Options tab. There must be something similar to this in Windows like printer properties or something like that. Once you find it you can use the sliders to keep making adjustments until the photo prints correctly. Just keep in mind you can only do this if you have it set to have the printer manage the colors, not the app. In my case, I used the sliders to remove magenta but to make a long story short, it was the brightness that was the problem. My photos were printing not only too red but too dark with very little contrast. I discovered that removing magenta just made the photo greener. So I put the Magenta slider back in the middle and I upped the brightness a bunch and the redness went away. After that the photo just seemed a bit too warm (a little too yellowish), so I used the tone slider to knock the tone down a bit until I got the printout looking good. My final settings were to increase the Brightness setting to 20, decrease the Tone setting to -10, and leave the Magenta setting alone. I am sure your settings would be different as it all depends on your printer and the paper you are printing on, but I just want to give you an idea as to what settings worked for me. Just play around with the sliders and keep printing out. I know it is a lot of photo paper to use to test but trial and error is the only way to get the setting just right. I used 4x6 paper so it wasn't too bad. I just kept adjusting and printing the same photo out over and over. Oh, and be sure to write on the back of each photo when it comes out what your settings were, or you will get totally lost and have to start over! I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions let me know.
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AnnOminous
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by AnnOminous »

Holey Moley Barb - that seems to be working!!!! Magenta +10 and yellow -5 seems to have it looking right, but I'm going to have to fine tune it in tomorrow in daylight.


THANK YOU!!!!!



But do I have to manually set it everytime? Is there a way to make it stick?
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pawprints
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by pawprints »

I noticed that too, and I meant to mention it in my post. Can you make a printing preset in Windows? I was able to add the setting changes to the preset that I had already made for when I print photos. I chose my preset, made the adjustments with the sliders, and then saved. Now whenever I bring up my preset the setting is already there. Hope you can do that too!
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AnnOminous
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by AnnOminous »

I saw the thing to save when I went back and tried magenta +10 and yellow -15. This looks even pinker!!!
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pawprints
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by pawprints »

Don't add any magenta and see what you get. It works like this... as you add magenta it gets pinker, as you deduct magenta it gets greener. As you add cyan it gets bluer, as you deduct cyan it gets redder. As you add yellow it obviously gets more yellow, as you deduct yellow it gets bluer. If you have Photoshop, you can see this by going into the individual channels for each curve, or by moving the sliders in the color balance box. Take any photo and play with the sliders or the curves. If a photo needs a little warmth add a small amount of yellow, if it is too warm then move the slider towards blue, or move the yellow curve down. Same with reds and cyans. Move the slider one way, or move the red curve up, for more red, or move the slider the other way, or the red curve down, for more cyan. Works the same for the green/magenta. This will give you an idea on how the color shifts affect your photo, and it is also a good way to correct a color casted photo or add a touch of a missing tone. Once I figured out how to adjust the printer's output, it was this knowledge that helped me figure out WTH to do!
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AnnOminous
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by AnnOminous »

pawprints wrote:Don't add any magenta and see what you get. It works like this... as you add magenta it gets pinker, as you deduct magenta it gets greener. As you add cyan it gets bluer, as you deduct cyan it gets redder. As you add yellow it obviously gets more yellow, as you deduct yellow it gets bluer. If you have Photoshop, you can see this by going into the individual channels for each curve, or by moving the sliders in the color balance box. Take any photo and play with the sliders or the curves. If a photo needs a little warmth add a small amount of yellow, if it is too warm then move the slider towards blue, or move the yellow curve down. Same with reds and cyans. Move the slider one way, or move the red curve up, for more red, or move the slider the other way, or the red curve down, for more cyan. Works the same for the green/magenta. This will give you an idea on how the color shifts affect your photo, and it is also a good way to correct a color casted photo or add a touch of a missing tone. Once I figured out how to adjust the printer's output, it was this knowledge that helped me figure out WTH to do!


A layout with a pink/maroon paper prints out red, so I am trying to make that pinker without making it redder. Just adding magenta wasn't getting it that much pinker, which is why I tried deducting the yellow.



Another photo I've got to play with tomorrow is of a black dog that prints out chocolate brown. That probably is too much yellow.



I will try deducting just the yellow tomorrow. I want to look at it in daylight.
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pawprints
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by pawprints »

AnnOminous wrote: A layout with a pink/maroon paper prints out red, so I am trying to make that pinker without making it redder. Just adding magenta wasn't getting it that much pinker, which is why I tried deducting the yellow.


Hmmm... some suggestions to try would be bringing up the brightness and/or desaturating the red a bit. I think if pink/maroon is printing out red then the reds may be oversaturated, and if the print is printing dark then bringing up the brightness may lighten the reds up. Just some suggestions.
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pawprints
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

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AnnOminous wrote: Another photo I've got to play with tomorrow is of a black dog that prints out chocolate brown. That probably is too much yellow.


I tend to think that adding yellow might make it look more brown. Deducting yellow will bring it more toward blue, which if you deduct just the right amount you might find a sweet spot for black. Another thought I have for this one is I am guessing that it is also possible that there is too much red or oversaturated reds. Excess red can give you brown in darker areas. As an example, when I remove red-eye from pics I usually select the iris of the eyes and desaturate the reds, and while I'm still targeting the reds I use the lightness slider to darken them. If the person has brown eyes, I don't completely desaturate the red, I bring it down maybe about 3/4 or so, then I move the lightness slider to darker and darker until I get a brownish color. (I do this enlarged on the eyes and when you reduce the view back down to normal the eyes look brown). Now my baby granddaughter has blue gray eyes and gets red-eye something fierce, so for her eyes I desaturate the reds completely, and then bring the lightness down until the color looks right. Now by desaturating the reds completely, I have gotten rid of all the brown and her eyes now look blue gray or dark gray. So I am thinking for your black doggie pick for you to try to desaturate the reds or removing some red and see if the pic starts heading in the right direction. If you remove red then the pic will start to go more toward cyan, so at some point your brown may turn close to black before it starts taking on a bluish tone. You can play with the different sliders in combination and see what happens.

Sorry if I go on and on, but I always find that it is easiest to make adjustments when you know what is going on when you move those sliders around. It took me many years to get it all straight! Hope these suggestions are helpful. Let me know how you make out in the daylight!
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GreyRaven
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by GreyRaven »

I am looking to get myself a wide format printer... and thanks so much for some of the ideas i need to check into.
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Kim2002
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by Kim2002 »

I've got the Epson Artison 810 on my wish list. It's an all-in-one, but the main reason I want this one is because it prints on DVDs so I can offer my photography clients a truly customized DVD of their images (instead of putting a peel & stick label on the front).
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TraciL
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by TraciL »

I just got a new printer. Del A305 and it prints great. I decided after about a week I better try to scan and guess what? it didn't. Spent over an hour on the phone with Dell installing and un-installing and finally he took over my pc and tried to make it scan and when it did he said "is that what it looks like" and I said that's what I've been trying to tell you for an hour. So then he said they would send me out a new one right away.

well the new on is re-furbished - and I was livid - he didn't tell me that and we didn't pay for a re-furbished model we paid for a new one. DH said if it works, let it go. (guess I still have to do that)

PS: this was about a week after someone asked about computers on the board and I totally said Dell was the best......and that's what I get.

The one huge drawback is that if you unplug it - you have to install it all over again.
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luboost
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by luboost »

I have an HP photosmart. I like it, but I totally wanted a large format, but forgot that minor detail until I'd already been using this one a week! :x My memory is just awful! But at least printers are cheap (relatively speaking, of course!) The ink on the other hand...whew! :?
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scrappininAK
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by scrappininAK »

I have an Epson stylus 1400 prints 12x12. However, it smears black ink down the edge of the page - guess I need to get it seen to. Love the individual cartridges
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joeybrat2
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by joeybrat2 »

I have a Canon iP1800, I love my printer, 95% of the time, I make 8X8 books anyway so it works well for me. I have a standard Dell printer for document printing. The problem I have now is I've gotten in Paper Invite designs, and have some pretty hefty printing coming, I think I'm going to have to send them away to be printed, my Canon doesn't print well on regular paper.
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sloanekane
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by sloanekane »

My darling husband gave me an Epson Stylus Photo 1400 which can print 12 x 12 & up to 13 x 19. It is wonderful! He also got me Digital Scapbook Artist which annoyingly I ended up having to upgrade to their new progam Craft Artist. Now I can actually scrapbook again as the computer is much easier to use than scissors, punches, adhesive, glue, brads, etc. etc. etc.! I must say, I haven't found as many papers/backgrounds that I like digitally but I've contemplated scanning some of my paper backgrounds, although I don't know if this will work very well.



Newbie with a nice Printer,

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croppinmama
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by croppinmama »

Mine broke and will be getting a new one. Thanks for this post, I will have to look into the one you mentioned. Sounds like a good one.
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doviana
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by doviana »

I have an HP all in one, I like it - works for what I print here. Course I am easy... LOL
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No1Mommy
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Re: Tools of the Trade (printers)

Post by No1Mommy »

Art_Teacher wrote:My current printer is an Epson R1800 wide format printer. I can print 12 x 12 on it. I love the color cartridges that are individual, so when I run out of yellow, I just buy a yellow cartridge. I also love the print quality and the size! It seems to print well on a variety of papers, even some HP paper I had.


What type of printer do you have? Do you love it? Hate it? A little of both?
Okay...now...I have a question regarding using your own printer....what kind of paper do you use? I used to use CM to print my digital pages but they are going out of business....so I am scrambling....I want acid and lignin free paper..right?
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