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How to change the color of mastic printing on copies. Customize color profiles on your monitor, printer, and Photoshop

Although the printer is a simple device, many people have problems setting it up. But do not rush to despair. As practice shows, they can be solved quickly and easily. Especially if Windows 7 is installed on your computer. The system is able to detect, install and configure the printer on its own.

What will be discussed:

How to connect a printer?

The first and fundamental task is to connect the printer. To do this, you will need to read the instruction manual for the device. In it, the manufacturer indicates this information most extensively. If you follow his instructions, then there will be no problems.

Wi-Fi is a great connection option. This modern way greatly simplifies the task. At the same time, there is no need to use a bunch of wires that interfere very much during the operation of the equipment. It is also worth noting that the control process can take place from any device. For example, laptop, tablet.

main feature this connection is to apply network tools. If the task did not work out, then you will need to use the home group command. It is located in the network and sharing control center. This command must be selected with the appropriate button. After that, you will need to select the section that is associated with the changes. additional options and general access. In the graph general access to files and printers, check the box.

After that, you will need to manually create home group. It should be noted right away that the appearance of the window may differ, but this is not essential, the principle of action is the same. If the group has already been created earlier, then it is enough to join it. Here you need to check what is indicated in the printers and devices column. You must select sharing, after which you can continue with the configuration.

The next step is to add a printer. This is done through automatic search. The system will automatically show the devices that it has found. If you saw yours from the suggested ones, then add it with the appropriate command. Next, Windows 7 will do everything itself: it will load the drivers, configure the device.

Such a simple combination of actions is not always effective. But do not rush to get upset. Since in this case just use the command - the necessary access is missing. So the system will offer different variants from which you can choose the most suitable one.

What is an IP address and how to use it?

IP address is good helper when setting up the printer. But its use involves a more complex procedure. It is also important here to know all the data about your device. Specifically its IP address. Basically, this information is contained in the device manual in the settings section.

Once you have established what the IP address of the printer is, you need to select the column on the computer that implies adding it using it. Then a window will appear. It spells out given address and auto-detect is selected. Be careful, it is especially important to check the box in the line that is responsible for automatic selection drivers.

How to change printer settings?

After the printer is connected, you need to set it up. To save yourself some time in this process, you can choose to set as default. The device is provided given ability. It chooses at its discretion required parameters printing, colors, etc.

You can also customize to your liking. This section will help printers and scanners. It will require you to select a control. It can change the language, font, and so on in the printer.

How to change printer print?

The question of how to change the printing of a printer arises for many users. This issue is the most pressing. Do this action possible from any Windows programs 7. Our instructions will help with this. If you follow it, then you will easily and quickly get the expected result.

First you need to open the document that you want to print. After that, the file column and the print item are selected. A new window will open, in which look for the word properties. Depending on the application, it may change and be called differently. Carefully study the proposed functions in the window and choose the most appropriate in meaning. For example, settings, printer settings, and more.

Now you will be offered options that you can use when printing. Explore each one. After that, determine which option suits you best. Select it. You need to fix your actions with the command ok. Otherwise, the operation will not be performed.

Also in this window you can change the paper size, orientation. To do this, use the commands that are located at the bottom of the window. They will offer options from which you can choose the one you need.

Language, color, printer font: how to change?

Quite often, while working with the printer, you need to change the font, language, and so on. It can be done. Moreover, a function is used that is responsible for setting up the printer. It contains all the commands that will help in solving various problems when operating the device.

It is important to note that the printer changes colors. Its parameters are offered in two versions - shades of gray and black. In addition, the color can be controlled. This is done in two ways: a printer or an application. The first option allows the device itself to control the rendering type and determine what the original profile will be. The second involves using a program that adjusts the color of the document.

To change the font of the printer, you must use the capabilities of the section responsible for its size. It can be actual or by size. It is enough to select the parameter that is necessary, and the text will take on the desired form.

Often, when printing on a printer, there are problems associated with incorrect reproduction of colors relative to the monitor. To eliminate this "mismatch" you should perform a printer profiling.

In general, color profiles are files that contain descriptions of the characteristics of a particular equipment, as well as settings for working with colors. Such data is reflected in a certain way when playing finished image on the paper.

All color profile files have following extensions: .icm and .icc. The abbreviation icc profile stands for "International Color Consortium". This name was obtained thanks to the color consortium formed in 1993. Several well-known companies took part in it, namely: Kodak, Adobe, Apple, Agfa and some others. It was thanks to the cooperation and fruitful work of these companies that icc profiles appeared, which significantly facilitate the printing of high-quality and well-processed images.

Factory settings

To begin with, it should be said that you can use the printer's factory color profile. Usually it is recorded on a CD along with the software and comes with the device. If it is not on the disk, then open the official website of the manufacturer and download the already configured color profile from there. But there is no certainty that a given color profile will provide optimal color reproduction when printing images, even if you use only original consumables that are recommended by the manufacturer. The key reason that using a factory printer profile can result in incorrect color reproduction is that in this case there is no consideration for the individual characteristics of the device. But in general, unless you are planning to print some high-quality photographs, where it is very important to match all the tones with those displayed on the monitor, then the factory settings should suit you.

Creating a color profile: ways

If you want to create or install individual settings so that the color rendering calibration completely suits you, then in this case, take this task seriously and responsibly. To ensure that the calibration really goes the way you want it, and the print color ultimately satisfies you, then download the Color DarkRoom plugin designed for Adobe Photoshop software. This method, which allows you to make a change in the printer profiling, is that the user, in order to achieve desired result you need to print the test scale one by one and change the arrangement of channels and RGB curves at your discretion.

So, to set up the printer's color profile in this way, launch Photoshop software and open the so-called. color map with which you plan to edit your color profile. To do this, select "File"=>"Open"=>"…..\Color DarkRoom\Color_Card". But it is worth noting that this plugin only works with files that have the extension * icm. Therefore, change the *icc extension to this one in advance. Next, complete all of the following steps to calibrate:

  • Go through the "Start" menu to the "Devices and Printers" menu to find out in the properties of the device what profile it uses in this moment. In the device properties, open the color management and click on the button of the same name. Find your device and remember the name of the color profile, which will be displayed below. In the "System32\spool\drivers\color" folder, find this profile, copy it and rename it - this way you will create the basis for a new color profile.
  • Print out a color chart so you know which colors need to be calibrated. In the settings, be sure to specify "the color is controlled by the printer", because. printing will be done using the printer's color filter.
  • Go into Photoshop software with the above plugin and gray card open. Open the "Filter" and go there from "AMS" to "Color DarkRoom". Through the window that opens, add your profile that you created earlier.
  • Now you can do the task of calibrating the profile. To do this, find the "Graph" button in the "Print Colors" menu and click on it. Next, your profile will open in front of you, presented in the form of a graph consisting of curves in red, green and blue.
  • Customize your profile to your liking. It is very important that both at the beginning and at the end this chart, all lines in color converged to one point. Save the calibrated profile.
  • To solve a problem like "how to install a color profile", open the properties of the printing device, click on "Color Management" and the button of the same name. Next, in the profile selection point, click on "add". Then select from the list that appears desired profile and click OK. Select it and set it to "default".

Another way to solve the problem related to how to configure optimal parameters color transfer printer is to use a scanner. The essence of this method is that first you need to print a test target, i.e. profile card, and then scan it without preliminary color processing. The file obtained after this procedure must be loaded into Adobe Photoshop, or to be more precise, into the Pantone Colorvision Profilerplus plugin. This plugin will generate a new color profile in semi-automatic mode. The difference in the source file and the color of the reference image of the profile card will be taken as a basis.

But this method solving the problem "how to change the color of the transfer of the printer" has a drawback, which is the possible deviation of the transfer of the color of the scanner. It will be possible to bring the results closer to the most suitable ones using the plug-in used in the first method of printer profiling.

Briefly about how to profile a monitor

In addition to calibrating the color output of the printer, it is very important to solve the problem of how to calibrate the monitor. Without an established monitor-printer connection, it will be very difficult or even impossible to achieve optimal results. To perform this task, you can use the factory settings by installing your monitor software.

If this profile does not suit you, then for manual creation new version, you need to use a calibrator (colorimeter). This procedure consists of measurement of external lighting and installation initial settings using the display controls, namely: brightness, contrast and color temperature. Then you need to compare those colors that are actually reproduced on the screen with the reference values. Finally, you need to generate an individual profile for your monitor, taking into account the ambient light. Thus, adjusting the color rendering of the display for specific conditions is not so easy.

Instruction

Click the "Start -" Control Panel.

In the folder that opens, select "Printers and other hardware.

Also, from the “Pages per sheet” list, you can select the required number of pages that will be printed on one sheet of paper.

You can change the order of the print direction in "Page Order. Check the box next to Start to End or End to Start. The choice of order will help facilitate the convenience of assembling multi-page .

In the Paper/Quality tab, you can select the print quality for a particular type of paper. The level of print quality depends on the number of dots per inch. Both numbers and options for quality levels can be used here: low, medium, high. Here you can also select the paper source from the Tray Selection list.

If available, select the type of paper you are using.

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Long ago printers firmly entered our lives. They can be found in every office and in many homes. But the printer cannot be used standalone, in order to start working, it must be connected to a computer.

You will need

  • USB cable.

Instruction

Not included with most printers USB cable required to connect the printer to a computer, so make sure to purchase it in advance. Its length should be 1.8 or 3 m. Long, 5 m cables do not work with all printers, so it is better not to use them.

After you have unpacked the printer, you need to insert it into it (or if the printer is an inkjet). Remove the cartridge from the package, remove protective film or paper and install in the printer. More information on how to do this is written in the instructions.

Insert the driver disk into your optical drive. Autorun will work and a menu will appear (if autorun is disabled, then go to the disk and run autorun.exe or setup.exe). The autorun menu for different printers may be different, you need to select the installation of drivers from the options presented. If for some reason the drivers were not included in the kit, then you can download them directly from the manufacturer's website.

When the installer copies necessary files, it will prompt you to connect the printer to your computer. Take a USB cable and connect the square connector to the printer and the rectangular connector to the computer. Then turn on the printer. The computer will detect it and continue the installation.

If the printer is a laser printer, then you will be prompted for a test page. After it is printed, you can get to work. If the printer is inkjet, then before you start working, you need to calibrate it. The printer will print small designs, after which you will need to enter the results that most closely resemble the printed design. After the calibration is completed, the printer will be ready for use.

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Modern printer provides high quality print. But sometimes the user is faced with a situation where the printed document is too faded, instead of black, there is gray.

Instruction

In the event that the print quality of a laser printer has deteriorated and there is no apparent reason for this, first of all check for the presence of toner. The lack of toner usually manifests itself as the appearance of lighter vertical sections of text on the printed document. If the cause of poor printing is precisely the lack of toner, remove the cartridge and gently shake it from side to side. This will redistribute the rest of the toner, which will allow you to print another dozen pages in normal quality.

Check if you have toner save mode enabled. If, for example, you are working with text editor Word, open: "File" - "Print". Select "Properties" in the opened window. Then on the Paper/Quality tab, click the Advanced button. In the window that opens, in its lower part, there is an option to enable / disable the economy mode. If it says Eco Mode is on, select the Off option.

Some printers have a button that controls print quality. If you have just such a printer, check in what position it is - pressed or not.

AT poor quality printing, the toner may be to blame - if it is of poor quality or is intended for a different printer model. If the printer started to print poorly shortly after refilling the cartridge, the problem is most likely in the toner. Replace low-quality toner, when refilling the cartridge (it is quite possible to refill it yourself), make sure that there are no traces of old toner left in the hopper.

It is possible that the printer is working properly, while inexperienced user wants to see bold text but doesn't know how. The absence of bold type is interpreted by him as "bad printing". If you need to select all text in bold, in the Word editor, click: "Edit - select all", then click the black letter "g" on the format bar with the mouse. You can select the desired panels by opening: "View - Toolbars".

A modern office, perhaps, cannot do without facsimile connections. But to be at a stationary device to receive text documents not always convenient, so there are technologies for sending faxes to mobile phones.

In this article, you will learn how to edit the color profile of your printer on your own and without expensive equipment. This method is suitable for both regular photo printing and sublimation transfer, as in my case. So let's go! For the time being, I never thought about changing the color profile of my sublimation printer. The ink that I used initially conveyed colors perfectly and did not lie on default settings printer. And on various printed forums, pleas for help to deal with color reproduction came across every now and then. One face came out red, the other White color not white, but beige, and the third black fill turned out to be dirty green. I still wonder why people have different kind problems, I've filled in the ink and it all worked right away. But, as they say, there is a first time for everything. After six months of work, I decided to change the sublimation ink to another manufacturer. And the printer remains the same. I bought ink and new refillable cartridges for them. I installed them in the printer, filled in the ink, printed a sample and went nuts - the faces became incredibly red, grey colour turned green. Rushed to solve the problem. In the printer print settings on the tab Advanced went to the menu Color Correction (Color Controls) and, by clicking on the Settings button, went to the window where you can manually adjust one or another color using the sliders.

Helped a little. At least I was able to finish printing the order, which then “hung” on me.

But it was clear that it would not always work to set up the printer this way - the settings were too rough and not accurate. Then I remembered those members of the forum who were in the same situation as me. Their problems suddenly became so near and dear.

In a word, I began to look for necessary information, which, by the way, on the Internet turned out to be quite a lot. True, the advice of various gurus was often quite contradictory. After collecting the right things, digesting and discarding the garbage, I managed to edit my color profile quite well. And now about how to do it, I want to tell you, my readers.

I will try to explain my actions in a simple way. plain language, supplementing your story with images. I think even a beginner can figure out the profile.

For starters, just a little bit of theory. What is a printer color profile?

talking plain language, a color profile is a set of printer commands written as a file. Thanks to the algorithm recorded in this file, the printer knows how much, what kind of ink and in what place of the printed sheet to pour it during operation.

You must have seen in the print settings window various modes - Glossy paper, Matte, Super glossy etc. Under each such setting, a separate color profile is hidden with a set of commands suitable for the selected paper type.

As long as you use original cartridges and photo paper recommended by the manufacturer, you will have no problems with printing. Photos will be of excellent quality. That's just the cost of these photos will strain you a little. Alas, the original consumables are very expensive.

Therefore, you have to look for an alternative on the side - install and fill in ink in them third party manufacturers. As a result, the cost of printing is pennies, but in return, problems with color reproduction may occur. After all, the manufacturer sharpens profiles for their ink and paper. He doesn't care about your problems with other people's ink.

Fortunately, the problem is easily solved by simply profiling the printer. And although many believe that this is a very complicated procedure that only specialists can do, I will try to prove the opposite to you. At home, this is within the power of everyone.

It should be noted that for professional profiling, which uses an expensive spectrophotometer, this method is not suitable. For professional profile settings with perfect color reproduction, you should contact the experts. Finding them on the Internet is very simple by typing the appropriate query in Yandex.

If your hands grow from right place and you are satisfied with color correction, as they say, at the household level, then this article is for you. Read on and repeat after me.

The color profile is built for a specific printer, ink and paper. Keep this in mind and always use the same consumables and settings.

To print photos and pictures, we will use a bunch:

Printer - Ink - Paper

Here, the correction must be carried out, focusing on the final paper print.

For sublimation printing, a fourth link is added to our bundle:

Printer - Ink - Paper - Sublimation blank (fabric, mug, etc.)

In this case, we will correct the profile based on the print on this blank, and we WILL NOT pay attention to the paper print. I hope this is understandable.

So let's go!

To work, we need a program Adobe Photoshop and plugin for it Color DarkRoom. You can download the plugin from the manufacturer's official website. True, they ask 75 American rubles for it, but, I think, anyone who wants to easily find a cure for this problem on the net :) After downloading the plugin, we begin its installation. First, the plugin is installed in the folder with your OS, by default C:\Program Files\AMS\Color DarkRoom. Then, during installation, you need to specify the folder with the Photoshop plugins. It - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop\plugins or in older versions C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop\Plugins\Filter Now, by launching Photoshop, open the color map with which we will edit our profile. go File--Open--C:\Program Files\AMS\Color DarkRoom\Color_Card.

The color map appeared in the program window.

It should be noted that the plugin Color DarkRoom works with profiles with *icm extension. If your profile has the *icc extension, it's okay - you just need the right one.

First of all, you need to find out which profile your printer is currently using. We go to the menu Start--Devices and Printers. On the printer we need, right-click and select the item

Now go to the "Color Management" tab and click the button with the same name:

If there are several profiles in this list, then we remember the name of the one next to which it is written in brackets (by default).

Now we need , if your file has it, like me *icс. All printer profiles used on your computer are stored in the folder C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color. We go into it, look for the profile we need (we remembered the name earlier) and in the same folder we save a copy of it with a different name. This is very important - do not touch the original profile, work with a copy! I called my profile - "T-shirts-Sublim-00". If necessary, change its extension. After that, the folder can be closed.

We need to print a color card with the original profile so we know which colors we will be adjusting. You can print absolutely from any editor, for example from Photoshop, by going File--Print:

Set the desired settings:

1- select your printer in the window;

2- set the position of the printed sheet;

3- uncheck "centered" and, using the mouse, place the image as you need;

4- zoom out so as not to waste paper and ink;

5- do not forget to set “printer controls color”, because we will print through the printer profile.

To profile a sublimation printer, as in my case, you also need to transfer images to a T-shirt, mug, or any other blank you need.

Probably, every professional photographer and those who make money by taking pictures at weddings, selling photos to stocks, etc., thought about the “camera - computer - printer” connection. I think that not all of them know, and bind the created profile to the monitor. Among other things, for correct color reproduction, the profile is necessary for both the printer and graphics programs. For example, the most popular photo editor Adobe Photoshop.

Color reproduction or correct display of colors on the monitor and when printing on the printer, has always been a stumbling block between digital photography and preparing a layout for print. The reason for this is the individual color rendering settings on each device in the image prepress cycle.

At the time of shooting one of the frames, the digital matrix of your camera registers on each light-sensitive element (point) the color itself and the intensity of its glow, forming an image, and its result is recorded in a file that we can observe on a computer monitor and other playback devices.
The color of the dots of the resulting image is described by codes that lie within a certain color space. color space ( color model) is a coordinate system in which each combination of numbers corresponds to a certain shade).

Color models are as follows:

RGB CMYK XYZ HSV (HSB) HSL RYB LAB PMS (Panton) LMS Munsell NCS RAL ProPhoto YUV YCbCr YPbPr YDbDr YIQ

Color models or color management systems differ from each other in color gamut. Graduates of Moscow State University of Printing will probably immediately remember Mr. Andreev and his lectures on prepress :).

Most cameras used for professional photography provide the photographer with a choice of color space in which to save photographs. It should be noted that when photographing in RAW format, color space is not selected, since this format can generate an image file in any color model.

When you open files digital imaging in all sorts of programs or print them, color profiles constantly convert these images from one color space to another for correct display colors.

If you experience printing problems (incorrect colors relative to the monitor) on home printer, then do not grab onto setting up the printer for a monitor. Start link profiling
you need to start with the monitor and only then think about setting up the printer.

How to achieve correct color reproduction:

  • First load the correct profile for the monitor, in ideal case created manually using a calibrator.
  • Make sure the monitor is calibrated. Then find or manually create the correct profile for the printer, designed specifically for the consumables that are used when printing (type of paper, ink).

P.S. When changing the type of ink or paper, you need to use new profile!!!

Most Common Color Spaces sRGB and Adobe RGB. Most commonly used in digital cameras sRGB, it is also used for image conversion and subsequent publication on the Internet, because most browsers work with it correctly.

True, this color space has a slight disadvantage of sRGB - a bias towards the red zone, which causes a reddish tint in the photo due to the high sensitivity to the white balance setting. In turn, the Adobe RGB space has approximately the same balance of red and green, which reduces sensitivity to white balance errors. Note that Adobe RGB works well, for example, in photographs of autumn landscapes, when along with warm colors it is necessary to display many shades of green.

WideGamutRGB and ProPhotoRGB color spaces are required for special occasions: Performs accurate color correction and maintains maximum hue. For example, professional photographers because a monitor or printer that supports these color profiles is rare.

The camera creates image files containing information about the coordinates of pixels in a certain digital space, and the computer, determining the coordinate system - color space, reads
these numerical values ​​and reproduces the image.

Common problems for inexperienced photographers

  • Lack of identity between camera and monitor: The image on the camera display looks colorful and saturated, while on the computer monitor it fades.
  • Lack of identity between 2 monitors or a monitor and a photo printer: the colors of a photo processed in Photoshop look correct on the monitor on which the processing was performed, and when viewing a photo on another monitor or printing on a photo printer, color tint distortions become noticeable.

Adobe, Agfa, Apple, Kodak, Microsoft, Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems and Taligent formed in 1993 International Color Consortium(International Color Consortium, the abbreviated name is abbreviated ICC) in order to develop universal system color management without reference to computer platform. Their fruitful collaboration has resulted in a standard against which any color device can be judged. Thus appeared color profiles and the concept arose profiling devices for working with color (monitors, printers).

Probably many people noticed that color profile file extensions referred to as .icc and .icm.

What is a monitor (printer) profile and why is it needed

Color profile is a file containing a description of the specific characteristics of the equipment and optimal values settings options for it correct operation with color. For example, a printer profile may contain information about the amount of ink required to pass through the nozzles. This information has a beneficial effect when reproducing a particular shade on certain type paper after receiving the finished (processed) image in Photoshop (photo prepress).

Monitor profiles take into account its real capabilities (color gamut, backlight type) for optimal image display on the screen, taking into account the fact that the original image could be created by a camera with a profile that has a larger color gamut than the monitor can physically display with its matrix.

Profiles are a connecting link (adapter) that allows devices to work smoothly and smoothly with color, and the user to achieve stable and predictable color reproduction when transferring images from the camera to a computer, and from a computer to paper and other types of media.

Factory monitor profiles

Everyone noticed that new monitor Comes with a CD with drivers and setup utilities. Actually, the driver itself is not required for the monitor to work, but the profile for the monitor that is hidden under them is useful thing(not always :)), as the manufacturer supplies it to optimize color reproduction.
By running the installer software your monitor, you will install the .icc or .icm files in the following folder: C:\Windows\System32\spool\drives\color.

Unfortunately, the standard profiles of many monitors leave much to be desired. The reason for this is the standardization of the profile for the entire line, without taking into account the fact that each of its copies has individual color rendering characteristics. This is especially true inexpensive models, where the quality of the matrix and the uniformity of illumination are far from ideal.

Create a Monitor Profile Manually

Now you know that the monitor profile is not limited to information about its technical specifications and features, but also contains a configuration file that can fundamentally change the balance of colors
by changing the signal coming to the monitor from the video card.

Attention! At this link you can see the table of calibrated color profiles for various models monitors and recommendations for hardware settings.

Printer profiling | Installing a profile on a printer

order how to install a profile on a monitor we figured it out, and now we may need
printer profiling. Especially if the print quality after installing the profile on the monitor began to limp.

Priiter factory profiles

Of course, all printers have a factory profile, which, as usual, is recorded on the software disk in the kit or with the ability to download on the official website of the manufacturer. But it is not a fact that such a profile will provide correct color reproduction when printing photographs, even when operating using the original Supplies(one or more branded paper and ink) recommended by the manufacturer. The main reason for the possible inaccurate color reproduction when using the factory profile is that the individual characteristics of the printer are not taken into account. Probably, it will be enough for many users, but only if there are no alternatives and strict quality requirements.

Custom Printer Profiles

Most will complain that the original consumables are quite expensive, not to mention the fact that for professional photographers who are creative in their work, they are simply not suitable for realizing their ideas. However, when using third-party paper and ink, you may encounter significant color deviations, which will be blamed on an inappropriate color profile. Any professional printer knows that slight changes in paper weight and ink viscosity affect the result, so with a photo printer, we will get a photo with correct color reproduction by changing the print configuration. Third-party user profiles cannot be used on the printer, since ink-to-paper mismatch is inevitable ( various options). The way out of this situation is to create an individual profile for your paper and ink. If you take the issue seriously, then you will noticeably correct the color rendition.

2 ways to create a profile for a printer

I must say right away that we will create our own profile for the printer at home without using special equipment.

1 way. Using the Color DarkRoom Plugin for Photoshop.

This method consists in sequential printing of the test scale. The user changes the RGB curves and channels by eye until the display of the test target is as close as possible to its display on a calibrated monitor.

Attention! If the monitor is not calibrated, then there is no point in setting up the printer.

2 way. Creating a profile using a scanner for home use.

The essence of the process: you need to print a profile card (test target) and scan (without color processing). Further, the file obtained after scanning is loaded into the Pantone Colorvision Profilerplus plugin in Photoshop, which will generate a new profile for the printer in semi-automatic mode, based on the difference in color reproduction of the reference image of the test target in the original scanned image file.

The disadvantages of this method are the possible color deviations of the scanner. You can “finish” the results using the aforementioned Color DarkRoom plugin. Despite the difficulties, these methods are an excellent option for printer profiling. Of course, the color accuracy of printing presses is impossible to achieve, but get control over color and predictable results when printing photos.

Professional printer profiling

To achieve maximum accuracy in color reproduction on a printer, its profiling must be carried out using an expensive device - spectrophotometer. This device is much more accurate than an office or home scanner. With it, you can more accurately take readings from printed targets, therefore, and build a profile with minimal errors. Of course, it is not advisable to buy a spectrum photometer for home use, since the service of specialized companies involved in professional printer profiling. It is possible that you use the spectrophotometer of your friend or acquaintance, or temporarily borrow the device at work.

So, in order to get a professional profile for your printer, you will need to print test targets according to the requirements published on the website of the company offering profiling services, and send them in an envelope to post office(or courier). Make sure from reviews or user advice that the company provides high quality services.

As a result, you will get the most accurate profile for the printer, but it is worth remembering that each profile is suitable for only one type of paper and ink, that is, when changing consumables, you need to create new profiles.

The method is expensive, so think in advance, maybe you can limit yourself to printer profiling.

Datacolor's SpyderPrint hardware and software suite allows you to quickly and accurately print in the home. generate a profile for the printer for certain inks and papers.

Installing a profile to a printer in Windows 7 is done in the same way as linking a profile to a monitor (see the instructions "How to install a profile on a monitor"). The only difference is that in the device selection window, instead of a monitor, you need to select a printer.

Working with color profiles in Photoshop

Monitor calibration, printer profiling... And this is not the end of color reproduction optimization. You ask: "What else?". The fact is that many professional programs for working with graphics have autonomous system color management. These systems were needed when Operating Systems did not yet fully support ISS profiles. The developers of photo editors and programs for working with graphics initially focused on the independent internal settings of each individual program, since full support for iCC profiles at the OS level appeared starting from Windows versions 7.

It must be taken into account that the image observed on the monitor or on the print is not the original image, but only an interpretation created by the profile from the original image. graphic file. In other words, this is an attempt to fit a large gamut color space into a small bottle of color reproduction limitations. specific device: monitor or printer. Thus, the real original reference image with all the information about colors and shades is the one that exists in digital form in the Photoshop window with the specified color profile.

It is important to be able to maintain image quality on initial stage, without previously losing all the information about it with a narrower profile, and open with the correct initial settings workspace of the photo editor. Otherwise, all the effort of calibrating the monitor and profiling the printer will not have much impact on the final result, since it will still not be possible to obtain color control.

When creating a new file in Photoshop you should immediately set the color profile for working with the image. This will not affect the display of the picture on the monitor, but will set the "real" color frames for the original image.

In the "File" menu, select the "New" command and in the dialog box open the list of expert settings by clicking on the arrow next to the "Advanced" item.

Pay attention to the appeared list for choosing a working color profile, the “Color Profile” item.

At this point, you should select the color profile in which the original image will be processed. It is from this “source” that the color management system will convert the image into the monitor’s color profile for display on the screen and into the printer’s color profile when printing, so it’s important not to make a mistake with its choice so as not to lose quality.

The best choice would be to rely on next rule: source color space in which the source files image must match the working color space.

For example, if your digital camera was set to the Adobe RGB color space when taking a photo (many cameras allow you to choose a color space), then the photo editor's workspace is set to Photoshop is better use the Adobe RGB profile (1998).

The sRGB IEC-61966-2.1 space is suitable for files without an embedded profile, that is, if you are working with images obtained using an unknown model digital camera or scanner. This color space is ideal for web design, but not great for photo editing and professional printing as it tends to fade. blue color. Profile
Adobe RGB (1998), on the other hand, is more suitable for prepress photography, and is the accepted standard for editing RGB images to be converted to CMYK (this is the space that images are typically converted to when printed on most printing machines).
If you plan to continue printing photos on your home inkjet printer, then you can select a "supply" quality profile - ProPhoto RGB - as the source workspace in Photoshop. This type RGB space has wide range colors, good for preserving gamut
RAW images when they were originally converted to RGB, but if the original image was taken in JPEG with standard profile Adobe RGB, then it is better to choose Adobe RGB as a working space)

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