This is part 5 of a detailed Adobe Photoshop CS3 Epson printing tutorial — for printing Epson printers from Photoshop CS3 PS10 under Apple Mac OS X 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 OS 10.2, 10.3, 9.2, and earlier Photoshop CS1 CS2 8 7 6 printing: Main Complete Workflow Tutorial gballard.net

Epson Photo series inkjet printers are the recommended printer, including the Epson Stylus Photo 2200 2400 2100 R200 R220 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 OSX, but will port over to the Vista Professional Windows 2000 or XP Pro or Home Edition operating systems, and the Canon, HP, Lexmark printers.

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5) Setup Epson Print Utility Photoshop CS3:

For this example, a NO–COLOR–ADJUSTMENT workflow is outlined for Photoshop 10, Creative Suite 3 CS3.
For Macintosh Operating System 9 instructions.
For printing Photoshop CS 8 7 6 instructions from Mac 10.2, 10.3, 10.4.
For printing Photoshop CS2 PS9 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 changes with the printing CS3 interface:

• Print: Document (profile), aka Source Space (the document's present ColorSpace)
• Color Handling, "Photoshop Manages Colors" (uses Photoshop's CMS)
• Printer Profile, aka Print Space (the specific printer/paper/ink ICC Profile, the Target ColorSpace)
• Rendering Intent, Deals with out-of-gamut colors (try Relative Colorimetric and Perceptual)

Open Epson Print Utility: Photoshop> File> Print

Note: If your CS3 Print 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 below. I had to to use my Epson R220 printer in this tutorial because my 2200 would not turn on (so I through it in the trash along with my 7000 Epson printer...).

Be sure Color Management is selected (not Output):

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

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

Printer Profile: Select the specific printer/paper/ink ICC Profile, "SPR220 PLPP," for example, if printing to an Epson R220 printer, on Epson Premium Luster paper with Epson OEM 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 profile, load it here.

Rendering 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 window, click on Page Setup:

Confirm 1) Format for is set to your printer, and 2) Paper Size is correct, click OK.

Then double check Print With Preview settings again, then click on Print.

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

This No-Color-Adjustment workflow setting is the heart of this professional printing workflow. It shuts off the Epson Color Controls and the Apple ColorSync CMM. By this setting and "Photoshop Manages Colors" the Adobe ACE color management system is doing a straight SourceSpace-to-PrintSpace conversion.

Click on PRINT to print the image (unless you want to save the settings as a Preset..

To Save the settings as a Preset:

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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