I'm new to printing photos. I have calibrated my iMac 27” with a SpyderExpress3 but I'm hesitant to drop $300-ish on a printer calibrater for my printer (old Canon S9000). I bought Office Depot Premium Photo Paper (4x6). I read that a paper profile is somehow helpful but can't find a profile for this paper. Hell, if I found it, I wouldn't know what to do with it!
Anyways, when I go to File, Print Image, I don't have clue as to what Color Profile I should choose. Any suggestions? Printer managed? Photoshop 4? I have no clue. Thanks so much in advance.
Spartacus,
I’m not a big printer myself (I leave “real” printing to the pros at my lab), but I can somewhat answer these questions for you.
The profile for specific printer paper can usually be found on the manufacturers website, if it’s a pro-grade paper. Your Office Depot Premium is probably not quite at that caliber, plus since it’s a generic (non-printer) manufacturer’s paper, I doubt you’d find profiles for it as it’d have to be profiled against a series of printers.
If you look at your printer’s website though, you’re more likely to find profiles for that printer—and for paper made by that manufacturer. That’s what you want to locate—it’s a combo package; printer + paper.
Once you’ve installed them, the usefulness is in “soft proofing”, or Onscreen Proofing. From the View menu in Aperture, select Onscreen Proofing, and from the menu underneath that, Proofing Profile, locate the profile for the printer and paper you’re printing to. This will simulate on-screen what the printed page will look like. Simulate with a capital S, big “air quotes”, and a bowlful of caveat.
Remember that even the best calibration in the world can only take you so far. The screen is a transmissive device (I think that’s the right word—the screen is generating and transmitting light) and print is reflective (light bounces off the paper; without external light, the paper is just black). Plus, the screen is RGB, while the ink on the paper is CMY, CMYK, or possibly more ink colors. You’re basically asking a block of tofu to look and taste like a steak dinner. It’ll never be quite the same.
And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m suddenly hungry…
PS—for the Print dialog, leaving it at Printer Managed has always worked well for me.
-J
@PhotoJoseph
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I did a Google search for “Office Depot Premium Photo Paper canon s9000 printer profile” and found this link http://www.wandb.com/icc.htm which appears to have a profile for Office Depot Premium Photo Paper on Canon S9000 printers. I have no idea how good it is since I don’t have the same printer or paper to try it. I guess it would be worth trying since it’s a free download.
If you download the profile, it goes here: /Library/Colorsync/Profiles
That’s the System Library starting at the root of your boot drive, not your user folder unless you only want it available from a single user’s account.
Thomas
Thanks Thomas! I was going to google it myself but thought “no way there’s a profile for that…”. Guess you showed me ;-)
@PhotoJoseph
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I find that trying to answer other’s questions about Aperture here and on the Apple forums has helped me learn allot about the application. It’s a way to explore Aperture outside my normal use.
Thomas
Thomas,
Absolutely. It’s the same for me… if someone asks a question here I don’t already know, it’s time to go-a-diggin’!
Thanks for being a part of the “family” :-)
@PhotoJoseph
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Phenomenal input, Thomas and Joseph. Thanks so much. I hope one day I’ll have enough Aperture knowledge to actually contribute!
How important is PRINTER calibration to my issue? (my printer went unused for a number of years)
Spartacus,
Our pleasure to help.
I could be wrong, but I think “printer calibration” is just profile creation. I don’t believe anything changes in the printer itself; it’s just what the printer is told to print.
@PhotoJoseph
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Thanks so much. I ended up buying Canon-branded photo paper and the colors “magically” came out great. My only problem no is I have small bands on the picture. Perhaps my print heads needed cleaning. I’m absolutely amazed that this ‘ole printer’s color is still so good!
Spartacus,
Yeah… good paper makes a big difference!
The banding is probably due to clogged print heads. Run a cleaning routine and that should clear the heads. You’ll be able to see in the test printout if it works or not. Also when you replace the print cartridges, the heads are part of the cartridge so you’ll have new clean heads then.
@PhotoJoseph
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