Problems printing color photos in black & white

[adriannepifer]

I edit my pics in adobe and use an epson stylus photo2200 printer. I'm having a problem converting color to b/w. It looks fine on computer screen, but when it prints they come out with a slight pink tone. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[David]

Hi Adrienne - I've encountered the same problem using Canon S9000 printer which runs with a continuous ink system of Lyson inks. There is a noticeable magenta cast. I've put it down to the inks and possibly an inappropriate icc profile. I've also noticed that the cast seems to fade with time. However, if any others on this site can throw further light on the matter I'm sure we would both benefit.

Cheers

David

[dendrophile]

Hi,

Does the Epson 2200 give you an option for (advanced) black and white printing? This is an option in the printer driver on Epson printers I have used. I wonder if the epson driver knows that you are wanting a black and white print, whether it'll use only the black inks. Looking at http://www.luminous-landscape.com/re...pson2200.shtml here is one report that seems to think the b&w printing is superb.

Sorry to ask questions back, but are the inks still in date? Is the paper still in date? Have you chosen the correct paper type in the printer driver. Is the photo you are printing black and white (in photoshop) or RGB?

Matching what you see on screen with what you get out the printer is a subject that must have had millions of words written for it. Calibrating everything just takes time.

-Dendrophile

[Daniel Salazar]

It looks fine on computer screen, but when it prints they come out with a slight pink tone. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Hi, what I could observe after creating my own printer profiles is that when you have a printer with a narrow color gamut is that when profilen B/W some tones are printed pink, therefore I might think that is a printer problem.

Nevertheless, it could also be a profile problem, however when there is a profile problem, then the pictures should get a color cast over the whole picture.

[Bill44]

More of a brag than a solution to your problem. A few weeks ago I purchased a Canon MP980, and for B&W work it has a Grey cartridge to work with the Photo Black cartridge. The colour cartridges are excluded from the print.

[Geoff F]

Like David, I use a Canon 9000 and also find that it tends to be a bit high in magenta; but most printers are bit too strong in one colour and the effects can vary between different papers.

I found the only answer for B&W was to do a little manual tweak of colour intensities but it does take a bit of initial experimentation to work out the optimal settings. Assuming that monitor calibration is correct and there isn't a printer nozzle problem. Transfer of colour information between monitor and printer can also be a problem if they aren't both talking the same 'language' so check colour profiles and paper type settings.

Also try different colour methods. I usually find that the Windows ICM settings work better than the printer Auto control which tends to produce oversaturated colours.

[Colin Southern]

I edit my pics in adobe and use an epson stylus photo2200 printer. I'm having a problem converting color to b/w. It looks fine on computer screen, but when it prints they come out with a slight pink tone. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Welcome to the the CiC Forums - great to have you with us

Thought #1 ... if you're not using a calibrated and profiles monitor then it could be that the problem is in the displaying of the image and that the printer is just doing what it's told. You might like to get a print printed commercially (with "no adjustments") to see if it's any different.

Thought #2 ... Many printer drivers have options to change the amount of ink used - if so, tweaking these might help.

The ULTIMATE solution is to purchase screen and printer profiling equipment such as the Spyder II Elite (which I use) or ColorMunki - they're not cheap, but they do allow you to fix the problem once and for all, AND ensure accurate colours and levels.

If all else fails, add an HSB (Hue-Saturation-Brightness) Layer, and bias the image towards green slightly (green offsets magenta).

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Colin

[shreds]

More of a brag than a solution to your problem. A few weeks ago I purchased a Canon MP980, and for B&W work it has a Grey cartridge to work with the Photo Black cartridge. The colour cartridges are excluded from the print.

For truly great b/w prints I think Bill44 has hit the nail on the head here. You need a printer that is built for b/w and uses only b/w or grey cartridges. There are a few models around now that are adopting the principle of a number of black/grey cartridges only so that casts are eliminated entirely.

[wilsondesign]

Hello All. Has anyone found a solution other than photo-shopping every image?!
My greys come out PINK PINK PINK. on any paper.

HELP!

[Dave Humphries]

Hello All. Has anyone found a solution other than photo-shopping every image?!
My greys come out PINK PINK PINK. on any paper.

HELP!

Hi Wilson,

Assuming you're not ignoring a printer ink low warning, and have tried cleaning the heads, etc.

Have you confirmed the images don't look pink on another monitor/computer?

If you have a one monitor, one screen, one printer set up and have a faulty or mis-calibrated monitor, (too cyan) you could be making them pink, but they look ok on screen.

Can you post one here in a reply using TinyPic?

Welcome to the CiC forums from ...

[Colin Southern]

Hello All. Has anyone found a solution other than photo-shopping every image?!
My greys come out PINK PINK PINK. on any paper.

HELP!

Just to expand a little on Dave's reply ...

You really need to work out if it's the image that's wrong and the printer is doing as it's told, or if it's the image that's correct, and it's the printer that's misbehaving.

First step is easy - just convert any document to grayscale and print it (make sure you CONVERT the image to the sRGB profile (don't ASSIGN a profile) ... if it's got a pink cast then it's not the image.

Assuming that it is the printer, first step is to make sure that all nozzels are firing ... so see if it has a nozzle check function or worse case, create a document with highly saturated magenta, cyan, and yellow panels and see how they print.

If all is good with the printer then you probably just need to have a profile created for the printer (a profile is like a correction table) ... you can do this yourself if you want to invest in some hardware - or - you can pay companies to make one for you.

Hope this helps

[Shadowman]

A few of the members have already stated this but most photo printers have a black cartridge addition that is mostly used for text. If you use a six or whatever number of colors your printer has, the printer will try to get a correct mix of colors (usually a dark grey) to mimic black ink. It is possible that if you don't have a black ink cartrige, your printer is mixing reds and greens and possibly a third color to simulate black.

[Shadowman]

I checked the Epson website and this is what should have come in the box.

What's in the Box?
•Epson Stylus® Photo 2200 ink jet printer
•One cyan ink cartridge (T034220)
•One light cyan ink cartridge (T034520)
•One magenta ink cartridge (T034320)
•One light magenta ink cartridge (T034620)
•One yellow ink cartridge (T034420)
•One photo black ink cartridge (T034120)
•One light black ink cartridge (T034720)
•Roll paper holder accessory
•Automatic paper cutter accessory
•Printer documentation
•CD-ROM containing printer software (Windows® and Macintosh®)
•Cable NOT Included

A few of the members have already stated this but most photo printers have a black cartridge addition that is mostly used for text. If you use a six or whatever number of colors your printer has, the printer will try to get a correct mix of colors (usually a dark grey) to mimic black ink. It is possible that if you don't have a black ink cartrige, your printer is mixing reds and greens and possibly a third color to simulate black.

[wilsondesign]

see page 50. http://files.support.epson.com/pdf/p...&pagemode=none
go to ICM and check "no color adjustment".
in a PC it is hard to get to. you have to go to "setup" lower left corner then "preferences" (it will warn you not to)
dig around for color management check "ICM" then "no color management"

it's in the owners manual , but Why!?
Shouldn't the printer print halfway decently by default? I have had this printer for 6 years and haven't used it much because all the grey is pink! (WAS)

[wilsondesign]

Thanks fdor the help- I went to the owner's manual and found a ridiculous answer that solved it- I think.
The difference is night and day (see below) what was suposed to be 40% grey came out 40% red untill i checked ICM "no color managment"
It's still printing dark, but i'm going to try epson paper next.

thanks all

[Colin Southern]

Shouldn't the printer print halfway decently by default? I have had this printer for 6 years and haven't used it much because all the grey is pink! (WAS)

It doesn't quite work that way, for a number of reasons. Not sure what program your doing the printing from (I use Photoshop CS4) - but if it's a colour management aware program then you need to let it do it's thing; if the program thinks it's doing the colour management and the printer things it's doing the colour management then in essence you have a double-conversion happening, with unpredictable results.

Additionally, your program sends info to the printer telling it how much "red", green" and "blue" ink to use - problem is, nowhere does it define what those shades of red green and blue are - then the printer converts them to a CMYK "equivalent" - and in your case a double conversion thrown in for good measure - and things start to drift.

At a bare minimum, you need to have the correct profile for the ink / paper combination that you're using - along with the correct settings both in your application & printer driver - and if you want to go a step further then you need to have a custom profile made for you (or make them yourself - they're a little time consuming, but not hard, once you have the equipment).

Perhaps see how you go with what you've discovered so far and if you're still not happy then come back to us with more detail, and we'll help you work through it from there

[kevinf]

If you are printing photos that are entirely grayscale then the correct answer is to set the print driver to "grayscale" or "black and white (photo)" or some variation of that. If you are trying to print a color image with true grays that have a cast you need to profile the printer and calibrate your monitor and work in a color managed environment such as photoshop.

This is a good place to start: http://www.drycreekphoto.com/

[eNo]

No complaints when I do Costco prints: $1.50 for 8x10 and $3.00 for 11x14. Color sometimes is an issue, but B&W is always spot on, including with Sepia.