Printing options - am I doing the right thing?

[MalcolmSu]

Hi

I've been using Elements for some years now and currently have v7. Surprisingly, in all this time I've never done any serious printing, mostly viewing my pics on screen or sharing them on the likes of flickr.com (http://flickr.com/photos/surgenor/).

I'd now like to print some and, whilst I have done a bit of reading over the past few days and now printed two or three test prints, I found some of the advice about colour management and resizing, etc a bit confusing and thought I'd ask here for some confirmation that I'm doing things the right way.

I have experimented with some of the settings already but couldn't really see what difference they were making in the final print.

In detail, here's what I'm doing - please feel free to jump in with any corrections or suggestions.

First up I'm using a Pentax K100D and shooting sRGB JPEGs (i.e, not RAW).

I've also already used a colour calibrating tool on my monitor.

For my first prints I'm just experimenting with 153mm x 102mm Fuji photo inkjet paper (gloss).

Once I've got my picture ready for printing, the first thing I do is Image / Resize / Image Size. I have Scale Styles unticked and Constrain Proportions and Resample Image ticked. With the Resample Image option set to Bicubic.

I then change either the width or height to 102mm depending upon the orientation of the picture. That then changes the other dimension automatically to 153mm (because of Constrain Proportions being ticked). I then manually change the resolution from 72 to 300 pixels/inch and click OK.

I then go to File / Print.

I'm using an HP Photosmart D7160. In the Color Management box I currently have Color Handling set to "Photoshop Elements Manages Colors" (although some advice I've read suggested this should be set to "No Color Management"?) and the Printer Profile is set to "WorkingRGB - sRGB IEC61966-2.1"

I then select Printer Preferences and set up the paper details. Then on the Features tab I leave Printer Quality as "Automatic" (I've tried Maximum dpi" and can't see any difference).

Also on this tab there's an HP Real Life Technologies Photo Fix option which I've set to "Full" - the other options are "Off" and "Basic" (not really sure what this is doing and will have to investigate further).

Finally, on the Color tab there's a Color Management option which is currently set to "ColorSmart/sRGB". Now I know the Elements print dialogue has a - "Did you remember to disable color management in the printer preferences dialog?" - reminder but there's no "Off" option under Color Management. However, would "Application Managed Colors" do this?

I then press Print and I can't really see anything wrong with the end result.

Sorry it's such a long post but there's so many options! :) I'd love someone to to reply, "Yes, your prints will be just fine" but I suspect there might be a few further tweaks!

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Malcolm

[frank abramonte]

Malcolm, read through your post and your last thought should give you the answer. You like what you see. You seem to have the correct photo and printer profile.

[QUOTE]I then press Print and I can't really see anything wrong with the end result.[QUOTE]

My only suggestion is as follows.

1. Depending on the subject, going from 72 dpi to 300 dpi will not give you the best quality. A flat color image will not matter, but a face will be affected quite a bit.
2. Your camera generates a large image in 72 dpi. I would scale the camera image to the size you wish to print as follows.
A. Create a new document to the size you wish to print at 300 dpi. Example: (6 x 4 300 dpi)
B. Next select the original image and either copy and paste it or drag it onto the new 6 x 4 document.
C. At this point scale it to fit the way you would like it to be within the new document.
By scaling the large camera image to a smaller size you will get a better quality image then adjusting the size and then changing the dpi to 300.
If you need clarification post back.

[MalcolmSu]

thanks for the advice Frank - much appreciated.

I did a couple of side by side prints using your method and my method and couldn't see any appreciable difference in the end print - however I understand the difference in the pixel/content between the two methods.

A secondary question springs to mind - if I was sending a file of to a print lab for printing would I do the same thing or rather send them the original (suitably cropped) and let them do resizing?

Malcolm

[frank abramonte]

A secondary question springs to mind - if I was sending a file of to a print lab for printing would I do the same thing or rather send them the original (suitably cropped) and let them do resizing?
Malcolm

I don't send prints out, however, I've read where you should indicate for the lab not to change or override your photo profile which should be embeded within the document.
Just so there isn't any doubt, I would contact the lab as to how to go about doing this.

You can make up a test print to gauge what the images should look like on your monitor to get the best results.
Include a normal, a lighter and one darker version on the print. Mark these differences on the print so you don't forget them.
When you get the print back it should give you an idea of just how far off your monitor is.

Perhaps someone may come along with more specific advise. Or, post back for additional info.


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/19yw9e8GifdQGMvDfPhAVP9vNJajUL0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=19yw9e8GifdQGMvDfPhAVP9vNJajUL0)