This is part 5 of an extended Adobe Photoshop CS2 Epson printing tutorial — for printing Epson printers from Photoshop CS2 PS9 under Apple Mac OSX TIGER 10.4 and PANTHER 10.3 — if you just landed here, please go to the main tutorial for the complete color management workflow, and printing under OSX 10.2, 10.3, 9.2, and earlier Photoshop CS1 8 7 6 printing: Main Complete Workflow Tutorial gballard.net

Epson Photo series inkjet printers are the recommended printers, including the Epson Stylus Photo 2200 2400 2100 R200 R300 R320 1280 1270 R800 R1800 R2400, and Epson Stylus Pro 4000 4800 7800 9800 7000 7600 7500 10000. The Epson Stylus C66, C88, C86, C62, C60, C80 are not "Photo" series printers and may not have the color management options available to use this workflow.

This is outlined for Mac OS, but will port over to the Windows 2000 or XP Pro Vista or Home Edition operating systems.

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5) Setup Epson Print Utility Photoshop CS2:

For this example, a NO–COLOR–ADJUSTMENT workflow is outlined for Photoshop 9, CS2 under OS X.
For Macintosh Operating System 9 instructions.
For printing Photoshop CS 8 7 6 instructions from Mac 10.2, 10.3, 10.4.

No–Color–Adjustment workflow turns printer color management (and ColorSync) off and sets Photoshop's "Adobe (ACE)" CMS to perform the required SourceSpace–to–PrintSpace Conversion.

Here is the short answer for the new CS2 interface:

• Print: Document (profile), aka Source Space (the document's present ColorSpace).
• Color Handling, "Let Photoshop Determine Colors".
• Printer Profile, aka Print Space (the specific printer/paper/ink ICC Profile, the Target ColorSpace).
• (Printer) Color Management, NO COLOR ADJUSTMENT.
• (The old Same As Source equals CS2 Print With Preview> Options> Color Handling: No Color Management).

There seems to be other generic drivers available in Print SetUp, so confirm you have the true Epson driver:

Open Epson Print Utility: Photoshop> File> Print With Preview

Note: If your CS2 Print With Preview window doesn't look like the lower picture, you may be using the GIMP driver, in which case you will need to delete the GIMP printer and SetUp the Epson printer. Here is a download Gimp-Print Uninstaller link gimp-print.sourceforge.net. You may also be using the Epson CUPS driver, be sure to use only the true Epson driver, as pictured here:

Check Show More Options> Color Management:

Print> Document: Will note the Tagged, Embedded space, AdobeRGB (1998), for example. In other words, it will note the Document's present ColorSpace, SourceSpace.

Options> Color Handling> Let Photoshop Determine Colors: Will set the printer driver up to let Photoshop color management system CMS do a straight DocumentProfile-to-PrinterProfile conversion.

Options> Printer Profile: Select the specific printer/paper/ink ICC Profile, "SP 2200 Premium Luster_PK," for example, if printing to an Epson 2200 printer, on Epson Premium Luster paper with Epson OEM Photo Black ink set. 1270, 1280, 1290, 2200, 3000, 7000, 7600, 9600, 10600 all have their own specific profiles for their OEM papers and ink sets. If you have a custom ICC profile, load it here.

Intent> Relative Colorimetric (or Perceptual), Black Point checked.

• Perceptual rendering intent performs a color compression and is best suited for images with saturated colors — Perceptual compresses the source gamut to fit the target gamut.
• Relative Colorimetric performs no compression and it is suited for all images — Relative Colorimetric clips the source gamut to fit the target gamut.

The CS2 Print With Preview settings may be made sticky by pressing the Mac/Option or Windows/Alt key so that the Done button changes to Remember (thanks to Ian Lyons).

From Print With Preview, click on Page Setup:

Confirm Format for is set to your printer and Paper Size is correct, click OK.

Then double check Print With Preview settings again, then click on Print (in Print With Preview)

Next click on Copies & Pages and drag down to ColorSync:

In this No-Color-Adjustment workflow, these ColorSync settings are turned off in the following Color Management panel. I only include ColorSync panel here as a reminder that ColorSync is irrelevant in this workflow.

Next, click on ColorSync and select Print Settings:

In Print Settings, select the exact MEDIA TYPE you are printing to, or as close as possible, match the type of paper surface you are printing to.

Next click on Print Settings and drag down to Color Management:

Select NO COLOR ADJUSTMENT, then PRINT.

Note: PRESETS may be saved at this point to save the entire maze of print settings, and reloaded later in one shot. Be very sure ALL THE SETTINGS have been saved completely, and reload correctly — these settings have a nasty nature of reverting to default and changing without notice.

Also, saved Presets have become corrupted for some users.
If a preset isn't printing correctly, trash the Preset and test without using a preset (thanks to Ian Lyons).

Return to the MAIN NCA TUTORIAL workflow or continue reading.

What is happening with No Color Adjustment:

Photoshop's Adobe (ACE) Color Management System (CMS) is Converting the document's present ColorSpace directly into the Target ICC Profile entered in Print WIth Profile> Color Management> Options> Printer Profile (i.e. the Target Profile).

In other words:
The Epson Color Management (and ColorSync) are OFF, and Photoshop's Adobe (ACE) CMS is Converting the source file's ICC profile directly into the ICC Profile or ColorSpace entered in Epson's Printer Profile.

Adobe's genius Russell Brown has produced free movies QuickTime tutorials for Epson Stylus 2200 Printing (MAC ONLY!) halfway down his linked Tips page, including: "Printing from Photoshop CS" - "Printing from Adobe Illustrator CS" - "Printing from Adobe InDesign CS" - "Printing from Adobe Acrobat."

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What is happening with No Color Adjustment:

Photoshop's Adobe (ACE) Color Management System (CMS) is Converting the document's present ColorSpace directly into the Target ICC Profile entered in Printer Profile.

In other words:
The Epson Color Management (and ColorSync) are OFF, and Photoshop's Adobe (ACE) CMS is Converting the file directly into the ICC Profile or ColorSpace entered in Epson's Printer Profile.

Note:
If after confirming The Chain, the Epson is still printing bizarre, try:

• Running Epson Head–Cleaning routines until it prints a clean test pattern.
• Running Epson Nozzel–Alignment routine to ensure proper alignment.
• Ensure the Epson's hardware lever is not set to thick (for thin paper).
• Get a Good File (for testing).
• If you are stuck using non-Epson paper or non-Epson ink, you are wasting your time and money....

Return to: Main Epson/ColorSync/Photoshop Tutorial gballard.net

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