Printer Profiles & A Green Cast

[ShaneS]

I am trying to print a black and white image but there is a green cast to it when printed. I must have gone wrong somewhere but I can't figure out where...

I took my image into CS5 and edited it to my liking. It is a black and white image accomplished via a layer in CS5 (so I am in RGB). After completing the editing I made a duplicate of the image, flattened it and switched to proof colors. I made a couple of further adjustments until the images matched and when I was happy then I assigned the profile to the image. That is when I noticed that the image had a green cast but I thought that could just be my monitor so I converted to a JPEG anyway and sent it off to Costco for an investment of $1.50 thinking that I would take my chances.

Lo and behold I just picked up my image and it does have a green cast and matched the image on my monitor with the assigned profile (good news in that respect).

That brings up two questions:

1. Did I do something wrong in my PP or print set up?
2. If not, how do I get rid of the green cast? Nothing that I have tried seems to work

Thanks in advance for your help.

[revi]

If you assigned the print profile to the image, that could explain the cast:
the profile is a device profile, used to adjust any image before sending it to the device.
When you assign such a profile to an image permanently, the image will be corrected permanently.
Sounds what you want, no?

No, as the correction will be applied again before printing the image, so it will be applied twice:
you have applied it once, by assigning the profile to the image. That gives you the colours for an ideal device. Then
if you send the image to the printer, the profile is applied again, to make sure that the colours you want (as defined by the profile assigned to the image)
are corrected for printer deviations...

In your case, the printer would have a tendency to add a magenta cast. By adding a bit of green, the device profile exactly compensates for that cast.
If you apply the correction twice, you end up with a green cast...

From your post, that seems to be the case:

(...) switched to proof colors. I made a couple of further adjustments until the images matched and when I was happy
then I assigned the profile to the image.
That is when I noticed that the image had a green cast (...)

So, from what I see, you caused the green cast by assigning the printer device profile to the image.
To get rid of the green cast, try assigning a standard colour space profile to the image (sRGB is probably the best choice in this case),
and never assign a device profile to an image. You should be able to see if it works in your proofing.

As the final print corresponds to what you saw on the screen, your setup seems to be OK.

Regards,

Remco

[Manfred M]

Shane - I think Remco is correct in his assessment as to the cause of this problem.

I had a similar issue with images that I print on my Epson 3880; B&W prints had a slight greenish cast when I set things up to let Photoshop manage the colours. I did some searching on the internet and the advice came back to have the printer manage colours and the problem went away. If you have embedded a colour space (sRGB?) and the printer is using this (which appears to be the case as you are seeing this issue in soft proofing), getting the green cast in the print is not at all surprising.

[ShaneS]

Just to clarify, I should make my adjustments in 'proof colors' mode and then simply save as a high quality JPEG before sending to Costco?

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this Remco and Manfred! The doubling up of the profile bit makes sense now but it seemed logical at the time to edit then assign.

Live, learn and be thankful for places and people like this

[Manfred M]

I personally find that soft proofing is less useful than doing a test print, as it is only an approximation of what the final product is going to look like.

What you should do is ensure that there is no colour profile embedded in the image you are sending of to Costco to ensure that it is not applied to the B&W image. If you are doing colour, I would ensure that the image is converted to sRGB and the appropriate profile is embedded in the file.

DryCreek is the best source for the profiles for Costco printers, and on the occasions that I print at my local store, this is where I get the printer profile data:

http://www.drycreekphoto.com/

[Mike Buckley]

the final print corresponds to what you saw on the screen

I would say that that was more a stroke of good luck than anything else. That's because Shane has no control over what happens at Costco with regard to their use of paper and printer profiles. This success story also speaks well of Costco at least this one time.

One reason I like using MPix, which is probably more expensive than Costco, is that you can purchase their electronic file and a print of it. The cost is nominal, especially considering that you need to purchase it only once. If their print looks essentially the same as the display of their electronic file on your monitor, you know that prints that they make of your electronic files will look as you intend. That's the next closest thing to ordering a test print of your own file, as Manfred suggests.

[ShaneS]

Mike;

(repeat of Manfred above sort of - test printing is cheap at Coscto )

It may not be as much of a crap shoot as you suggest. Costco provides printer profiles that you can download from Dry Creek Photo for any store (http://www.drycreekphoto.com/icc/Pro...rofiles.htm#HI) and use to profile your images. They also offer a 'do not adjust (color manage) my file' option when you send the file in electronically.

The profiles are updated quarterly for most machines and it appears I have to update the profile that I was using so thank you

I do however realize that I may not be getting the best quality print from Costco but it the lo cost makes it a good trade off for me at this point.

[Manfred M]

Mike - I know a pro who uses Costco for a lot of his "regular" print work because of their low cost and good quality. The only downside to Costco is the limted papers / paper finishes that they use (matt and glossy).

This is probably why I don't use Costco a lot; I tend to prefer a lustre finish in my prints.

[Mike Buckley]

It is good to know that Costco is so reliable.

[ShaneS]

Manfred - my local Costco offers only Glossy and Lustre (no Matte) so you might want to see if this is a change since you last looked or if a different Costco in your area has that option.

I will work on the file again tonight and report back when I get the print.

Interesting discussion and all because of what I have now dubbed 'my alien print'