Managing colors for perfecct printing not working

Question

Hi all,
I think I have tried everything and all my prints look exactly the same (different from what is on the screen) so if anyone could help, it would be great! (This is a thank you pic for all the people who came to my wedding!). In all the of pictures, it seems like there is too much yellow and they miss some of the saturation.
For this specific shot, the camera was a Digital Rebel XT. My printer is a Canon IP4300. My screen was calibrated with a Spider Express2 using a gamma of 2.2. Oh, my screen is a 23'' cinema display.
First try:
I used the Spider2Express color profile for my screen, in aperture I setted the color profile to system managed and in the printer setting, I disabled the color correction in the color option tab.
Second try:
screen color profile: Cinema HD
Aperture profile: system managed
disabled color correction
Third try:
screen color profile: Spider2Express
Aperture: Canon IJ Color printer profile 2005
disabled color correction
I also played with the black point compensation and it didnt change anything in the output.
Also, when I play with the onscreen proofing I cant see any changes between these profiles: spider2express, Cinema HD and the oen from the printer. If there is one, it is too small for me to notice.
Finaly, the print preview all look exactly as what was on the screen.
I really dont understant where the problem can be so any help would be great!

Answer 1

Hi Alan,
I'll give it a bash to help,
firstly you'll have calibrated your monitor with the spider express and it'll have created a profile. Your display should be set outside of aperture to use this profile. Go to system pref's, displays, select the colour tab and select the profile spider created. This gives your display the profile to use in all applications.
Next If your using photo paper there may be a profile for the printer / paper combination from the paper manufacturer, check their web site. I use Ilford and have downloaded the profile for my Canon i9950 & classic pearl and installed it. This profile then appears in the view, proofing profile within aperture. You should not really use on screen proofing untill after you've made all your image adjustments and then finally use on screen proofing to check for posterisation and colour saturation.
So now on to printing, Perhaps the profile you've downloaded suggests a default paper type to use such as (seeing as it's a canon printer) photo paper plus glossy or photo paper pro and if to use black point compensation or not. We need to keep these settings in mind when we enter the print menu. Best thing to do is copy the sample single image preset and rename it to the paper type and size your using. Then in the print settings for that newly created profile you'll see a button for printer settings, select it and you'll be presented with another menu for printer settings. In the 3rd drop down menu form the top select colorsync, color conversion = standard and quartz filter = none.
then select quality and media from the 3rd drop down and select the recommended paper type in the profile you downloaded (it's normally photo paper plus glossy) and change print mode to top quality photo.
Next again in the 3rd dropdown select colour options and set colour correction = none.
Next go to special effects and make sure no options are selected and click done.
You're back in the print menu, select the paper size you are using and the orentation. In the colorsync profile select the profile name for your paper and you may click black point compensation if required. Note the gamma setting usualy set at 1, and your print resolution, I normally have use best DPI selected. Now save this as the renamed paper type you copied at the start.
Next is to run off a test print making sure you select this new paper settings in the print window and see how it looks. If you notice it's a little dark go back and adjust the gamma to say 1.15 to 1.20 and try again. Don't forget to save your adjustments.
As you use different papers and sizes you create these settings and just simply select the required ones for the print size / paper type your using at print time.
This is how I work and it gives good results. Also if your getting dark results all the time consider reducing the lumanance of your display from a recomended 120 / 140 Cdm to something less like 90 / 100 cdm. The apple displays can run a little "bright" for printing giving the impression of dark prints when compared to the screen.
Best of luck
Eoin