Proof setup for Enhanced Matte paper
Printing in Color on the Epson 9600
jump to
Color Management: Photoshop : : : [color profiles] [soft proof] [adjustments]
Sharpening : : : [copy merged] [unsharp mask] [blending mode]
Color Management: Epson Drivers : : : About Profiling
and Intent
COLOR MANAGEMENT : Photoshop (CS2)
Open up your file on the Macintosh attached to the 9600 (Daumier)
If prompted to assign a profile, check “Discard the embedded profile
(don’t color manage)” and click OK
Assign & Convert Color Profiles
Manually assign a profile by doing the
following:
Click on Edit > Assign Profile
Choose a profile that looks most like what you think looks the best.
Convert the profile to the working space by doing the following:
Set print profiles by doing the following:
Now that you have worked with your color profile and set up a soft proof, you are free to edit (using adjustment layers, so as not to permanently lose data) for the best color, saturation, etc.
Throughout working, be sure that “Proof Colors” in the View menu is checked, so you will be making adjustments appropriate for the paper type.
Be sure there are no unwanted white or black lines along the border of your image; they give a false histogram reading and waste ink.
When you have edited and are satisfied with the look of your image, you will want to sharpen it to preempt any blurring that might occur on the printer. To accomplish this:
This pastes a copy of your image, merged with the adjustment curves, on top of the other layers. On this layer, you will apply the Unsharp Mask filter and make some changes to enhance the image’s sharpness.
To use Unsharp Mask successfully, use the following guide when deciding on your settings. These are just suggestions, not hard and fast rules:
ALL IMAGES:
Amount = 100%
Threshold = 4
60-100MB IMAGES:
Radius = 4 to 9
30MB IMAGES:
Radius = 2 to 5
1MB IMAGES:
Radius = .3 to 1.5
With the above guidelines in mind, then,
on your new layer:
On Layers palette, set the Blending Mode (default = Normal) to Luminosity
Set the Layer opacity to somewhere between 60 and 100% opacity.
Loading and Setting Drivers for Sheet Paper
On printer control panel (the right side of printer) select “Sheet” as
paper source. Then, from Photoshop choose Print With Preview and click page
setup. Be sure you select the correct paper and size:
Color Management with Epson Drivers
Back on the main Print Preview screen, under the Color Management drop down, be sure that “Document” is selected in Source Space. “Document” should say Adobe RGB (1998) -- you’ll need to reassign your color profile if it does not.
In “Print Space,” “Profile” should list the paper profile and color intent that you set up during your soft proofing setup.
You may also uncheck “Center Image” in the position region and drag the image where you wish to conserve paper. Be sure that you leave a .2 inch border in both the top and left boxes.
Click Print-- you are not actually printing, but launching Epson’s print
driver dialog box.
In the printer dialog box, make sure that the printer selected is Epson Stylus
Pro 9600.
The settings for the "Main" tab are pictured below:
In "Advanced", choose the following settings:
Click the "Paper" tab, and choose "Sheet":
You’re ready to print.
About Profiling and Color Intent
When you choose between Perceptual and Relative Colorimetric, what are you
really doing? To put it simply, you are dictating to the printer or computer
how it should handle the shifts in color
palettes. When you convert to a profile, some of the information in the original
file might be lost. Here’s how different intents handle this:
Relative Colorimetric: deletes all colors which are not included in the output device color space.
Perceptual: moves colors that are outside the output device color space to analogous points inside the color space, which can flatten the image and destroy saturation to gain shape.
Saturation: best suited for synthetic images, as it maintains colors at all costs—you would never want to use Saturation on a photographic image.