Here's how: good color workflow with Photoshop, Windows, and Epson 1200/750

[William_Wood@sbphrd.com]

This posting will be useful to those who are running Photoshop under Windows,
and are not using a custom profile.  It explains the settings one should use to
get consistent and accurate prints (within the limits of the Epson print driver
without a custom profile, and assuming you are using Epson paper and ink) no
matter what color space you work in within Photoshop.

The key to a good color workflow is finding what settings to make in Photoshop's
print dialog (the one that comes up after you select File...Print from within
Photoshop), and also what settings to make in the Epson 1200/750 print driver
"Properties" dialog.  The goal is to produce an accurate print.  Since there are
many possible combinations of settings, producing many variations of prints,
this isn't easy to do unless you know what a good print should look like.  I
recently got WiziWYG, and produced a profile of sufficient quality, that I was
able to use prints made with the profile to judge prints made without it.  The
result is the following set of recommendations for those not using a custom
profile.  I have endeavoured to make this as accurate as possible - any mistakes
are due to the fact that I've only been able to infer what's happening from
extensive testing since the Epson print driver documentation is terrible in this
area.

Method 1:
This method should work for those with Windows 98SE and PhotoShop 5.5, which is
what I have.  It may well work for other versions of Windows/Photoshop - I
haven't tried it.

1) From Photoshop, select File...Print

2) In the initial Photoshop printer setup screen, set the Space to "RGB" and
check Printer Color Management (yes, set it ON.  This will cause the current RGB
working space to be imbedded in the image when it is sent to the Epson print
driver).

3) Proceed to the "Main" tab of the Epson printer driver properties; set the
Media Type to the correct setting for the paper you are using; set Mode to
"Custom"; press the "Advanced" button; set print quality to "Photo - 1440dpi";
set Color Management to ICM (this will cause the driver to convert from your
Photoshop RGB color working space (imbedded in the image, remember?) to the
printer's native color space).

4) press ok several times to print the image


Method 2:
Some people have said on this list and elsewhere that the Printer Color
Management check box does not do anything in the Epson 1200/750 driver.  This
may be true for earlier versions of Windows.  However, all is not lost.  An
alternative to Method 1, which does not use Printer Color Management, is:

1) From Photoshop, select File...Print

2) In the initial Photoshop printer setup screen, set the Space to "EPSON Stylus
Photo 1200", and UN-check Printer Color Management.  This will cause Photoshop
to convert from your Photoshop RGB color working space to the "EPSON Stylus
Photo 1200" color space, and NOT imbed that space in the image.  The Epson print
driver assumes that an untagged image is in this color space when the driver is
set to ICM.  In other words, if no profile is sent with the image (and it won't
be, since Printer Color Management is unchecked), and ICM mode is set in the
print driver, the Epson print driver assumes that the image is in the "EPSON
Stylus Photo 1200" color space!  Do you believe it?  (I would have thought it
would be sRGB - possibly, the driver assumes the "EPSON Stylus Photo 1200" color
space because when you install the Epson print driver, it associates the "EPSON
Stylus Photo 1200" ICM profile with the printer - a topic for further research!)

3) Proceed to the "Main" tab of the Epson printer driver properties; set the
Media Type to the correct setting for the paper you are using; set Mode to
"Custom"; press the "Advanced" button; set print quality to "Photo - 1440dpi";
set Color Management to ICM.

4) press ok several times to print the image

I have no preference for either of the above methods, however the first may be
preferable as only one profile conversion is being done (by the Epson print
driver, when it converts from your Photoshop RGB color working space to the
printer's native color space).  The second method involves two conversions - one
by Photoshop when it converts from your Photoshop RGB color working space to the
"EPSON Stylus Photo 1200" color space, and another when the print driver
converts from "EPSON Stylus Photo 1200" color spaceto the printer's native color
space (the two spaces are not the same - the native color space is what you see
when you print using No Color Adjustment).


Method 3:
What if you are not using Photoshop?  How do you get consistent, accurate
prints?  Very few programs besides Photoshop can imbed color profiles in the
image when they send it to the print driver.  If the print driver is set to ICM
per the above methods, and sees an untagged image, then per the above discussion
in Method 2 it will assume that the image is in the "EPSON Stylus Photo 1200"
color space, which is extremely unlikely to be the case!

1) From the non-Photoshop application, select File...Print

2) Proceed to the "Main" tab of the Epson printer driver properties; set the
Media Type to the correct setting for the paper you are using; set Mode to
"Custom"; press the "Advanced" button; set print quality to "Photo - 1440dpi";
set Color Management to sRGB.  This causes the print driver to assume the image
is in the sRGB color space, which is a good choice if you are not using a
program like Photoshop which allows you to work in alternate color spaces.

4) press ok several times to print the image


One final note.  My testing shows that the Epson print driver "ICM" Color
Management setting (used in Methods 1 and 2 above) works the same as the "Color
Adjustment" Color Management setting, in "Automatic" mode, with the sliders set
to 0.


-
Turn off HTML mail features. Keep quoted material short. Use accurate
subject lines. http://www.leben.com/lists for list instructions.