perhaps amateur question. But I'd love to get the right answer.

[LFP26]

I print with the Epson 9900 and use a Lacie324 - If I was a bigger business I would look into a spectrometer. but for now manufactures icc's seem to be working well. I am self taught, and this is my 1st question.
I'm a small "boutique" printer, I typically work with photographers. or painters who want reproductions. I print predominantly in adobe98. or use what their embedded profile srgb. I have not had a problem reproducing images that match monitor, or originals in these cases. Yet, last week I had someone want prints from files that they were painting within Photoshop. They color pallets were BRIGHT C/M/Y (examples from the eye dropper 89:254:255/255:95:247/255:254:88) When I soft proofed (he wanted a bright hot press rag) everything was out of gamut. The color shift was drastic.

My question is. What options are there for me to reproduce this colors? Any advice would be appreciated.

Luckily, this artist didn't choose these colors on purpose and didn't know the difference from his laptop to a print. He liked the prints, I let him pick the options from different rendering intents. But incase I run into this again either with him or someone else I'd love the input.

thank you,

 

[maas]

A monitor is a device that works by light and the dynamic density range of a light driven device like a monitor is far greater than ink on paper, The image needs to be simulated on screen for its intended output device because that's where you are working – hence why it's important to work on a calibrated monitor, you may be able to borrow a spectro form a print shop nearby (most of us are a friendly bunch), your client most likely is using colours that are outside of your printable gamut

 

[rich apollo]

If it's out of gamut, then it's out of gamut. You're running up against the physical limitations of the device.

By the way, you can get an i1Display Pro for $270. That's not a lot of scratch for display accuracy.

 

[LFP26]

Thank you for your reply. You guys are a friendly bunch. And just help narrow down the troubleshooting. I actually am working with a calibrated monitor I use the Lacie Blue Eye Pro. The monitor out of box is great. It's pretty spot on. I also also used the Gratagmacbeth i1 before I had the Lacie monitor. The Lacie has saved me hours or time and product. This is the 1st job I've done with these out of gamut colors.
thank you again for your time maas

 

[LFP26]

Thanks for responding. I'm pretty much where you are. If it's out...it's out. But I had to throw the question out there for myself. I do have the Lacie Blue Eye Pro. and the greatamacbeth i1 i bought like 6 years ago(waste) The monitor has been amazing wish I bought it a long time ago. It's accuracy is worth the $$.
Thank you again for your time rich apollo

 

[Correct Color]

The question I'd have is what profile you were using to soft proof.

It's all well and good to have a profiled monitor, but if it's only half the equation, and really in many ways the lesser half. In order to soft proof correctly, you need to have a properly profiled monitor, yes, but you also need a profile of the printer you're using, printing on the media you're using. And, of course, it needs to be a good profile, and accurate profile.

I describe monitors to my clients as windows, and monitor profiles as window cleaner. Properly done, monitor profiles just allow you to look through the window to see correctly what you're doing. However, note that done incorrectly, they can have the effect of cleaning a window with a dirty rag, and actually make you worse off than you were before you started.

I checked your colors using a couple 9900 profiles I've made on various media and didn't see a huge shift with any of them. The cyan dulled back a bit on all media, and the yellow and magenta to a lesser extent on smaller gamut media, but on larger gamut media, the magenta and yellow moved hardly at all.

If you're really serious about large format color reproduction, the first thing to understand is that in large format inkjet printing, profiles are everything. The better and more accurate your profiles, the better and more accurately you'll print.


Mike Adams
Correct Color