Do You Ever Get a Photo You Can't Print?

[sanyasi]

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I have been printing photographs from a recent trip to Paris. There are two that are driving me nuts. They look great on the screen after working on them, but I simply can't produce a good print. I have recalibrated my monitor, checked printer nozzles, cleaned printer nozzles, and done just about everything imaginable, but the photographs don't look good when printed. In both cases, parts of the photo are essentially black/grey despite the screen showing color under those portions of the photographs. What I can't figure out is why 28 other photographs print fine--in other words, this isn't a screen or printer issue. It seems to be the nature of these two photographs. Has that every happened to others?

[Manoleica]

I have been printing photographs from a recent trip to Paris. There are two that are driving me nuts. They look great on the screen after working on them, but I simply can't produce a good print. I have recalibrated my monitor, checked printer nozzles, cleaned printer nozzles, and done just about everything imaginable, but the photographs don't look good when printed. In both cases, parts of the photo are essentially black/grey despite the screen showing color under those portions of the photographs. What I can't figure out is why 28 other photographs print fine--in other words, this isn't a screen or printer issue. It seems to be the nature of these two photographs. Has that every happened to others?

 

It happens, to avoid aggro I usually convert into B&W..

You could try looking at the image on another computer and printing

It on a different printer.. Regards, L.,

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[Jeff S]

Are the missing colors consistently the same, i.e., potentially from the same cartridge(s)?

 

Did you try different color management actions/settings? Different papers/profiles?

 

Jeff

[sanyasi]

Jeff:

 

Hard to say. I decided to use a matte photo rag for this project, something I haven't really used too much of. It is clear from soft proofing that you lose a lot of contrast with that paper--it is hard to get it back by making adjustments. Normally, I use Hahnemuhle FineArt Baryta, which proves to be a pretty robust paper in terms of preserving what I see on screen.

 

I had performed numerous screen calibrations, power cleanings, nozzle checks, pattern prints, head alignment checks, etc. I finally gave up when I was getting a consistent green cast to a sepia toned print on the photo rag paper. One final Baryta test showed that was also messed up.

 

After much wasted ink and paper, I am calling Epson today.

 

Thanks

[jaapv]

It sounds like the dreaded metamerism. Try changing the balance between the colour channels in that area - with luck it could produce an acceptable colour -albeit not quite the original one- that you can print.

I had the problem printing (impossible lavender colour) a Jacaranda tree. In the end I shifted it a bit to blue and managed to get something acceptable.

[honcho]

If your colour mangement is otherwise good (ie calibrated and profiled and correct profile conversion), check for out of gamut before print and try viewing prints under different light sources to rule out 'metamerism' (strictly, the wrong term)which usually only affects greys from light to dark, blacks and some darker colours.

 

You say that 'parts of the photo are essentially black or grey', depending on your current printer and inkset for some mechanical reason it may be something you have to live with on these two affected prints. If you can have prints made on another printer with the same paper or board, comparison might help you to eliminate or reveal the obvious questions over any colour management regime.

[sanyasi]

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I am now referring to another print from the one in my OP, which I am printing as a black and white--it gets the green cast. I did check gamut on other prints--not an issue, although it is clear the photo rag is far less robust than the baryta.