Printing in Color on the Epson 9600

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:

Manually assign profile

Click on Edit > Assign Profile

Choose a profile that looks most like what you think looks the best.

• Start at the top and work your way down, quite often you will find that one of the top four is best.
• Make sure you do not choose a printer profile
• Click “OK”

Convert the profile to the working space by doing the following:

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• Click on Edit > Convert to Profile
• In the Destination Space window, choose Adobe RGB 1998
• Engine should be Adobe (ACE)
• Intent: choose either Perceptual or Relative Colorimetric, whichever looks the best (for a more detailed explanation of what’s happening in this step, see “About Profiling and Intent” at the end of this document)
• Check “Use Black Point Compensation”
• Click “OK”
• In the bottom left of the status bar, click the black triangle display “Document Profile” to view profile

Setting up Soft Proof

Set print profiles by doing the following:

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• Click View > Proof Setup > Custom
• Under Profile choose the profile for the paper type you are using (example: Pro9600 Enhanced_Matte_MK)
• Under Intent choose either Perceptual or Relative Colorimetric
• Check “Use Black Point Compensation”
• Click “OK”

Editing Your Image

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.

Compensatory Sharpening

Copy Merged

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:

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• Select your topmost visible layer
• Click Select > All (Ctrl-A)
• Click Edit > Copy Merged (Shft-Ctrl-C)
• Click Edit > Paste (Ctrl-V)

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.

Unsharp Mask

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

Unsharp Mask settings for 5 MB file

With the above guidelines in mind, then,
on your new layer:

• Click Filter > Unsharp Mask
• Dial in your settings according to file size
• Click OK

Adjust Blending Mode

On Layers palette, set the Blending Mode (default = Normal) to Luminosity

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Set the Layer opacity to somewhere between 60 and 100% opacity.

Printing

Loading and Setting Drivers for Sheet Paper

On printer control panel (the right side of printer) select “Sheet” as paper source:

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• Load sheet paper into printer
• In Photoshop, click File > Print with Preview
• Click “Page Setup” on the right side of the dialog boxFormat for: set to Stylus Pro 9600 (Sheet)
• Paper Size: Your paper size
• Choose either landscape or portrait, whichever makes the best use of the paper
• Click OK

Loading and Setting Drivers for Roll Paper

Printing on roll paper is identical to printing on sheet, with the exception being you may need to set up a custom paper size according to which roll you are using.

On printer control panel (the right side of printer) select “Roll Auto Cut” as paper source

• Feed roll paper into the printer
  
• In Photoshop, click File > Print with Preview
  
• Click “Page Setup” on the right side of the dialog box; check the "Paper Size" drop-down. If there is a preset roll size (scroll to the end of the drop-down list) that meets your needs, you can skip ahead to Color Management : Epson Drivers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Click on the "Settings" drop-down and choose "Custom Paper Size" which opens this window:
  
  
  
  
  
• Click the "New" button and fill in the following information:
  
  
  
  
  
  • Height - dependent on size of your image
  • Width - the width of the roll (usually 24")
  • Descriptive name of custom paper size (seen here as 24" roll 10" tall, avoid things like 'joe' and 'myroll')
  • Click SAVE
  • Click OK
    
• Set your new custom paper size in Page Setup dialog box:
  
  
  
  
  
• Choose Landscape or Portrait, whatever uses the paper most efficiently.

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.

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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 field is populated with the Stylus Pro 9600 (Sheet)

There is a drop-down menu that lists the different areas of the print dialog box. In the example below, "Color Management" is selected:

• Under “Color Management,” you simply want to click “No Color Adjustment.”

In the drop-down menu, choose "Print Settings."

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• Choose a “Media Type” that corresponds closely with your paper profile (i.e. Premium Semigloss, Glossy Photo, etc.).
  
• Leave “Ink” set to Color/ B&W Photo.
  
• Click on the “Custom” radio button in the Mode region of the box.
  
• Under Print Quality choose the highest for the paper type (some will be grayed out because they will not give good results on the chosen paper type)
  
• Microweave, Super, and High Speed will all be checked automatically.

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.