Colors

[ojp11]

I have an Epson Stylus Photo 1400, using ELEMENTS FOR MAC. When printing from Elements the colors are not as shown on the Monitor, not even close. But when I print the same image from iPhoto, the colors are correct. Can anybody help? Thanks, ojp11.

[Codebreaker]

Always a tricky one to answer in a few lines. I have some more detail on my web site under Colour Problems but what it comes down to is one of Colour Management.

First step is to ensure that your Monitor is calibrated and profiled. There is only one effective way to do this and thats to use a Colourimeter like an Eye-one or Spyder. This ensures and accurate rendering of the image on screen.

Second step is to use a program that understands and performs Colour Management - this is Elements in your case. However, you need to ensure that its enable in Edit >Colour Settings.

Third step is to ensure that all you images have the correct colour profile embedded or tagged in them - all digital camera images are but images from other sources may not; web or scanners for example.

The profiles let the colour managed program work correctly.

Fourthly, when printing you must choose a Printer Profile that matches both your Printer and the Paper you are using. Also you must let Elements manage the colours, which means setting your printer driver not to manage the colours ( If both do it some strane things may happen)

So, thats a starter but come back with more questions when your ready.

Colin

[Jinxy]

Colin

Great info. I have a Epson Stylus CX6000, my issue was everything printed darker than on screen. Believe that I have solved that problem with your tips.

Thank you

[Wendy]

Hi ojp11 ..

... and welcome to the Village :)

The Mac comes with its own calibrator so you could try that first ... its called ColorSync and you should find it in Utilities. However, I prefer using SuperCal:

http://www.bergdesign.com/supercal/

Wendy

[ljameso1]

Also, I found on adobe forums the statement that PSE has a glitch with macs in that if you let PSE manage colors it will get double managed by both the OS and PSE. The solution recommended (and I find it works quite well) is to disable color management in PSE and and let the printer manage colors.