OS X Color Calibration

Vard

Vard

Looking for progress
OK peoples...I'm finally asking cause after a year of just getting by, I just want it to work like it's supposed to.

I can't, for the life of me, get my printing to look like it's supposed to in OS X. Everywhere I read, I hear about ColorSync being the answer to my scanning-displaying-printing color match woes. Well, I can't seem to get to the point where I am happy with what is happening. Here's what I am using:

Scanner: Epson Perfection 1650 Photo
Mac: Quicksilver 2002 Dual 1Ghz
OS: OS X 10.2.6
Display: Apple 17" LCD
Printer: Epson Stylus Photo 820

When I scan I usually end up with blown contrasts...no prob (or is it?), that's what Photoshop is for, right. I can fix it there, but when I print I get prints that certainly DO NOT look like they do on the screen. Detail is usually toast, colors are off, usually shifted a bit cyan, but not always...sometimes it's just plain off in all directions.

Here's what I am doing..let me know where I am wrong:
Scan at highest 'real' res. On my scanner it is 1600. When I print I use Kodak Ultima Paper (71 lb.) and real Epson inks. I used to use generic, but I thought perhaps they were screwing the color up--not so.

I have gone through the color calibration and created a settign that I call 17" LCD (I used to have a 21" CRT on the system as well, but it died) which is the color profile I use in Photoshop. I opened the ColorSync utility but that's about greek to me. It shows both my scanner and printer as having profiles (default) and I have no idea if I should be changing anything here, so I moved on.

I have both the Epson 820 driver that came with Jaguar, and the Gimp Print driver--for printing in OpenOffice and other stuff. When I print I select the Epson driver setup, choose colorsync and select Premium Luster Paper.

I don't know, I am jsut gettig frustrated with this. I am not complaining about OS X. I fully believe it is something that I might be doing wrong...which is why I am here asking for pointers on how to fix this.

Any suggestions on setting this puppy up correctly, be it interenet sites, books or whatever, I am all ears.

Thanks,
Eddie
 
Rather a big Q - try spending some time browsing around: http://www.apple.com/colorsync/
to get the general idea of the technology and how it is supposed to work...

ColorSync is Apple's idea of utilizing the ICC Standard Commission guidelines to create what one popular could call the 'PostScript' of color management, i.e. a standard for handling color across devices (and platforms).

Trying to make this short and hopefully a bit less than confusing.
There are two main factors involved: The color space and the color deviation.
Each device has an ability to see a certain color space and at the same time a disability to see this color space correctly.
Skanning: Resolution is not really an issue here, but you should scan in the largest possible color space: f.inst. CIElab (CIE is a french commission that has established the total visible color space, that the human eye can see).
This meaning - as your skanner will not be able to see by far the same large color space that your eye can, that you always will have 'room' for the skanners color space within the CIElab space. (You will also get a relatively large amount of 'empty' values as the skanner's color space inevitable is smaller than the CIElab one).
For the sake of experiment: if you were to use a very limited color space (like a monitor space as sRGB, your defined color space is most likely smaller than the space your skanner can comprehend = a lot of color is lost outside the boundaries of the sRGB space).
Then you need to calibrate your skanner, i.e. to make a correction file that 'translates' the way your skanner misinterprets some of the colors it sees. The best way to do this is by some software, a color target and a measuring device. This is rather costly for you to invest in, but a skanner does not need that many calibrations. A skanner light source 'dies' very slowly over a long period of time, so a measured profile will only very gradually be more and more faulty, as the light source gets more and more tired - and thus more and more reddish probably.
So get a pro to come and make a profile for your skanner - and pay the man...it could be a good investment if you desire a more or less perfect basis for your work.
Monitor: Again a monitor needs to be calibrated. You can do it by a 'best-possible' trial-and-error. If you had a CTR monitor, I think I would recommend that, since CTR monitors tend to change all the time. However, flatpanel monitors acts almost as skannners with regards to their ability to show constant colors over time.
If you are really fuzzy, you should blind the windows around your working space and put the right Kelvin G. bulbs in all your lamps. The reason for this is that your impression of what's on the monitor will vary with the surrounding light (i.e. summer-winter, sun-grey skies). However the right Kelvin G has a tendency to make you look like you have been out on town for a couple of days without sleeping and is generally reserved for pro's that get paid to work under such conditions. A moderate precausion against changing light surroundings is advisable though - maybe a homemade .
(You could also consider buying a calibration unit - but if you have a pro out for money anyway - make him/her calibrate the whole thing: Scanner, monitor and printer)
Printing: I am not sure, but I think you have a problem with the Epson printer, as it probably does not support ICC/ColorSync properly.
You could try and make a PDF doc through Distiller, and here embed the right profiles - and then print the PDF to see if it gets any better (if you experiment with this - remember to make the PDF without any reductions in resolution etc. etc. - just a 1:1 PDF with the right color profiles). I have customers that have had a lot of success with this.
If your Printer can be calibrated - again you should have it done. Printer's usually needs calibration every time you run out of color and has to replace cartridges (the toner is not a constant color even at this day and age, but changes from batch to batch..)
Anyway, hope some of this makes sense.
I am off on weekend now - you are welcome to contact me by mail: john.p@excanto.dk if you want to continue this discussion in some depth.

Out to enjoy the sun

John Philip
 
Wow....thanks John. I will look into everything you mentioned this weekend, when it's raining here and we can't seet he sun ;P

Thanks....I'll be in touch.

Eddie
 
I have been troubled by the whole color calibration but over the last few years have found a pretty easy solution and it has worked pretty good. My printer suggested this one. He printed on some clear plastic sheets some basic color blocks of Cyan, magenta, yellow and black(CMYK) at 100% or 50% and then laid them on top of eachother to form 8 different color blocks. I created the same color block in photoshop and adjusted my 2 CRT moniters so that what I see on the screen matches the print out when I hold up the card. I have turned OFF all my color management but use a US SAWP Coated 20% for CMYK in photoshop. Since I have done that I have had no color problems at all and I do couple dozen magazine ads, posters and a few catalogs a year with no color problems. What prints out on my Epson 777i is pretty bang on to my moniter and what my print house does.

With all that said, maybe I am just lucky but it worked for me.

if you want you can check out the PSD file of the color Test i use.

http://www.panthermedia.com/tmp/colourTest.psd
 
Originally posted by Pardus
I have been troubled by the whole color calibration but over the last few years have found a pretty easy solution and it has worked pretty good. My printer suggested this one. He printed on some clear plastic sheets some basic color blocks of Cyan, magenta, yellow and black(CMYK) at 100% or 50% and then laid them on top of eachother to form 8 different color blocks. I created the same color block in photoshop and adjusted my 2 CRT moniters so that what I see on the screen matches the print out when I hold up the card. I have turned OFF all my color management but use a US SAWP Coated 20% for CMYK in photoshop. Since I have done that I have had no color problems at all and I do couple dozen magazine ads, posters and a few catalogs a year with no color problems. What prints out on my Epson 777i is pretty bang on to my moniter and what my print house does.

With all that said, maybe I am just lucky but it worked for me.

if you want you can check out the PSD file of the color Test i use.

http://www.panthermedia.com/tmp/colourTest.psd
Click to expand...

Souds like a feasible solution. I am always having the problem of 'how far should I go' to adjust an installation.
If you don't mind, I will use your method in non-critical installations from now on.
(I mainly work with high-end printers and reprographic installations - but have a number of photographic studios and ad agencies, wanting a better color management).
Thanx
John Philip
 
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