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getting prints to match what it looked like in the app


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[newbie]

I get the image to look how I want in the app but the printed output is much different. Darker and less contrast.

 

How do I calibrate my app, display and/or printer to get them to look more alike.

 

What would be an effective web search to find docs and tutorials on the subject?

 

BTW, I've got a Epson SC-P400 and have all the ICC profiles if they are involved.

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kenmckab...

Volumes could be (and have been) written on how to do this. I have struggled with it for years, probably a decade or more, and the more I learn about color the more I realize I don't understand. I have come up with a system that works for me, and which gives me results that are acceptable. The other thing to understand is that your prints will never match your screen exactly.

Buy yourself a display calibrator. I have a Spyder colorimeter, and this works pretty well. However, I've found (just recently, actually) that instead of using the Spyder software that's included with the hardware, using an open source (and free) application called DisplayCAL works much, much better. It's truly geeky, and takes some getting used to. But, it gives much better results.

The other thing I have chosen to do is to set a few other things differently than the "default" choices on the computer.

1) If you are concerned mostly with matching your monitor and your paper, then try setting the color temperature (the "white point") of your monitor to 5000K. The default value (the "native" value) for most LCD monitors is about 6500K - much more blue than the paper.

2) Set the brightness of your monitor to about 100cd/m2. Most monitors have a brightness in the range of 200+ cd/m2. This is too bright for getting accurate prints.

Note - your monitor will now look yellow and dingy. That's what you want. Trust me - you'll get used to it within a day or so. But if your monitor is too bright and too blue, you will over-correct your photos and your prints will look too dark and too yellow.

3) Leave the Gamma set to 2.2, which is the native gamma for most monitors.

Note - once you have done this, you should create a pure white document in Affinity Photo - just a fill layer with pure white. Now, hold up a piece of your favorite photo paper next to the monitor. If they look about the same, you've accomplished most of the task! Remember that what you see on the monitor as white is represented on paper as an area with no ink. It's just the color of the paper that is representing the white you see on your monitor. I've gotten best results from printing when the white on my monitor matches the white of a blank piece of photo paper!

You should also calibrate your printer. Most paper manufacturers will let you download printer profiles that are specific to the combination of paper and printer you're using. If you really want to match better than that, buy yourself a spectrometer+software calibration package for your printer. I have a SpyderPRINT which lets me create my own profiles for my printer and my paper. It is noticeably more accurate than the generic profiles from the paper house.

It's a pain in the butt, but your prints will thank you for it!

Affinity Photo 2, Affinity Publisher 2, Affinity Designer 2 (latest retail versions) - desktop & iPad
Culling - FastRawViewer; Raw Developer - Capture One Pro; Asset Management - Photo Supreme
Mac Studio with M2 Max (2023}; 64 GB RAM; macOS 13 (Ventura); Mac Studio Display - iPad Air 4th Gen; iPadOS 17

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Touching on what smadell said,

 

Years age, long before colour matching software and ICC profiles, when I was scanning photos for litho printing, I made up a document using some photos with a mixture of colours and skintones. I then had a proof made and adjusted my monitor until it looked like the prints.

 

Despite lots of calibration equipment and software since, I have never been able to improve on the results from that.

 

Makes you think ?

 

What I am saying is, start with the printer, you can't do much about that. Make some prints, adjust the monitor until it looks like the prints, and start with that. It is often the simplest way.

 

Starting with what you see on the monitor and trying to get everything to match that is back to front and next to impossible.

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

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