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I calibrated my 2015 MBP using Apple's Expert Calibration method (as opposed to its default calibration method) in El Capitan. Should I set AP's Preference to the same name I gave it? Or something else? I only care for the photos I choose to print and I have a cheap little HP 3520 Deskjet printer so not sure it can be set to sync with my monitor.

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Hi PhotoNewbie,

 

As your HP3520 does not have any ICC profiles available from HP and I recommend leaving the profile to the standard sRGB within AP but use the calibrated profile name for the MBP screen colour.

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I calibrated my 2015 MBP using Apple's Expert Calibration method (as opposed to its default calibration method) in El Capitan. Should I set AP's Preference to the same name I gave it? Or something else? I only care for the photos I choose to print and I have a cheap little HP 3520 Deskjet printer so not sure it can be set to sync with my monitor.

 

Unfortunately, calibrating a laptop is for the most part a futile exercise.  Yes, it cannot hurt to calibrate to some extent using the eyeball method, which of course is what any strictly software based callibration is built upon.  However, even if you were to use the best hardware + software combo to calibrate a laptop display, it woud serve virtually no purpose.  Think of the word "laptop", probbaly the most unstable foundation for any display, let alone a "laptop computer" display.  I'm sure you have noticed that as your dispay is tilted either back or forward the actual onscreen image will become visibly different, especially as it pertains to density(lightness & darkness).  Of course this difference also appies to other image features such as overall colour balance and saturation.  The only way to overcome these anomalies would be to make sure you always leave the "laptop" on a "desktop" and that you sit at exactly the same angle each time you use the laptop.  Also, use a protactor to measure the angle of the disply tilt at time of calibration, in case you ever want to close the laptop.  When you open it again, use the protractor to reset the display angle.  Of course I do relaize that this probably sounds like an absurd overstatement of what's necessary in order to have a somewhat calibrated laptop display that is consistant.  However, it is not exagerated at all, as you will discover when trying to match your output/print to your display, something that is extremely difficlut even with a good stand-alone display that has been properly calibrated with the best hardware + software combo.  As I first mentioned, go ahead and calibrate with whatever software you chose, but do not expect miracles when it comes to printing.  I print for amateur and professional photographers and I see a lot of files from people who have never bothered to calibrate their disply, laptop or otherwise.  I know this because most standard(non-professional) displays are much too bright right out of the box.  In an endeavour to correct their bright images these folks tend to darken them in an image enhancement app such as AP or Photoshop.  When this happens, if they are not using a non-descructive method such as "Adjustment Layers", they are literally throwing away important image data that can never be retrieved.  Eventually, if these images are viewed on a properly calibrated display and lightened as necessary there will likely be a notciable amount of noise in the lower tones and especially in the shaodw areas.  Reason?...a lot of that data has been discarded, a very dangerous and image destroying practice.  Of course one very important way to overcome these destructive practices is to always work on a copy of the original and to always use "Adjustment Layers".  

 

Probably much more information than you wanted or possibly needed at this point, but perhaps something to chew on when you're wondering why your prints don't match your display.

 

Good luck with your printing  :) !¡!¡!          

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Thank you for the extra info. I am aware of most of it. I just wanted to make sure I didnt set anything that made my printing worse. I chalk up any poor printing issues that I have to the fact that it is a $69 printer but hey, it does function (and unfortunately, keeps on,LOL). Whether the fact that its a cheap printer is the issue or not, I'll keep thinking that until I get farther along in my photo journey and learn specifically what it takes to get better prints.

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