True story — I waisted about $200 in ink and paper trying to make prints. All of my prints came out oversaturated and dark… why? Because I was using an LCD monitor with an inaccurate white point. I was adjusting my images to look good on the screen but when I printed images they printed WAY too dark. I wonder what others saw when I shared the images on a several of these types of forums?? Probably very dark images. Solution: Calibrate my monitor! (The sad part is that I never did print a good image!)
2. The printer. Well, I am not emplying that anyone use their imigiantion. But lets examine the world of printer manufacturers. It is no secret that the essentially give us the printers for free. They want us to make prints… This means we will buy paper and Ink. No doubt, this is were they make their money… Paper and INK. I wont harp on this point.
The key to making excellent prints the first time is — good color management. First get the monitor calibrated (Untill that happens – printing is just guess work) Now what you want is a print that looks like the image you created on your monitor.
NOTE: In order to manage color you need to understand how your software editing program and printer dirver manage color. Many programs try to override your adjustments. Especially printer dirvers.
Ok manging your printer color. Not to belabor the point here but everyone must accept realty here. INKS, Paper, and printers all introduce variables that effect your prints. (printer and software drivers do too)
OK… Here is where the problem is. And I assure you that if you are not managing your colors… there is a problem!!
To recap: Devices that either collect or display colors recieve numbers from the computer that tell it what colors to display. This also includes the all important definition of what is black and what is white.
First the scan ( I dont scan many images as I am a photographer, so I am not an expert on this topic. but it is the oppisite of printing. Numbers are coming in rather then going out so i belive the concepts are similar.)
The Monitor:
The Printer:
Other stuff I dont know about: It exists and if you are willing to teach me — I am teachable!! lol
OOOPS gtg… Ill clean this up and finish the section of printes later. GTG But remeber the printer must be calibrated. Just like the monitor.
