A more technical Photoshop problem

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

I've been subsisting on GIMP for years. However, recently, I've switched to using generic ink for my printer and the color reproduction accuracy went from acceptable to uh, tinted. So I trialled out Photoshop CS2 in hopes that its color management abilities would help me.

I don't have the ICC profile for the printer I use, much less my specific ink. But then, I'm not looking for perfection. I can't, using a LCD monitor and with light sources of different color temperatures in my room, I know perfect color matching is a pipe dream - but I was going for "some improvement".

I tried adjusting the gamma but the Adobe Gamma program suggests my gamma is more or less acceptable. So that didn't work from the start.

So I decided to manually create a color profile. I told my printer to print out a page with Cyan (theoretical Cyan at a Hue of 180 degrees), Magneta (300), Yellow (60), Cyan-Magneta, Cyan-Yellow, and Magneta-Yellow.

My cyan and magneta are more or less matching up with the default CMYK profile (US WebSWOPCoated). But my yellow ink is more like lime - far more greenish than the US WebSWOP. This is about right - all my pictures were getting this mysterious green tinge with the generic ink. It is so bad that my Magneta-Yellow test square, which should be red in a perfect world and is a not so vibrant reddish color in US WebSWOP, came out as an orange!

So I painstakingly and manually color matched each color, entering LAB values for all of them and creating a new color profile for my printer. I know it is not an exact thing but all I'm really hoping is to inform Photoshop that:
1) My printer's yellow ink is giving my pictures a greenish tinge.
2) If possible, try to realize my printer has a nasty tendency to print things too dark.

After entering all the LABs, I saved my profile, then loaded up a picture and activated the Color Proofing using my new profile, which AFAIK is supposed to simulate how my picture would come out of my printer. All I'm really sure of is that the Proof Simulation system reduced the saturation of green in my pictures - precisely the opposite of what I wanted it to understand and do...

What am I doing wrong? Any tips?

[Iceman]

I've been subsisting on GIMP for years. However, recently, I've switched to using generic ink for my printer and the color reproduction accuracy went from acceptable to uh, tinted. So I trialled out Photoshop CS2 in hopes that its color management abilities would help me.

I don't have the ICC profile for the printer I use, much less my specific ink. But then, I'm not looking for perfection. I can't, using a LCD monitor and with light sources of different color temperatures in my room, I know perfect color matching is a pipe dream - but I was going for "some improvement".

I tried adjusting the gamma but the Adobe Gamma program suggests my gamma is more or less acceptable. So that didn't work from the start.

So I decided to manually create a color profile. I told my printer to print out a page with Cyan (theoretical Cyan at a Hue of 180 degrees), Magneta (300), Yellow (60), Cyan-Magneta, Cyan-Yellow, and Magneta-Yellow.

My cyan and magneta are more or less matching up with the default CMYK profile (US WebSWOPCoated). But my yellow ink is more like lime - far more greenish than the US WebSWOP. This is about right - all my pictures were getting this mysterious green tinge with the generic ink. It is so bad that my Magneta-Yellow test square, which should be red in a perfect world and is a not so vibrant reddish color in US WebSWOP, came out as an orange!

So I painstakingly and manually color matched each color, entering LAB values for all of them and creating a new color profile for my printer. I know it is not an exact thing but all I'm really hoping is to inform Photoshop that:
1) My printer's yellow ink is giving my pictures a greenish tinge.
2) If possible, try to realize my printer has a nasty tendency to print things too dark.

After entering all the LABs, I saved my profile, then loaded up a picture and activated the Color Proofing using my new profile, which AFAIK is supposed to simulate how my picture would come out of my printer. All I'm really sure of is that the Proof Simulation system reduced the saturation of green in my pictures - precisely the opposite of what I wanted it to understand and do...

What am I doing wrong? Any tips?

Sounds like you answered your own question...

"I've switched to using generic ink for my printer and the color reproduction accuracy went from acceptable to uh, tinted."

Don't think you would need to go thru all the hoops you have to try to get the color accurate and you know color and the perception of such is subjective. :)

Ya get what ya pay for...almost sound like a problem with the printer...but I would not suspect that if with the ink you were using before was giving you good results....maybe needs a good cleaning.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Sounds like you answered your own question...

"I've switched to using generic ink for my printer and the color reproduction accuracy went from acceptable to uh, tinted."

Don't think you would need to go thru all the hoops you have to try to get the color accurate and you know color and the perception of such is subjective. :)

Ya get what ya pay for...almost sound like a problem with the printer...but I would not suspect that if with the ink you were using before was giving you good results....maybe needs a good cleaning.
I cleaned all the nozzles. It is the ink. It wouldn't have been so bad, except the printer drivers have no facility for color adjustment (there's one for Brightness, another for Contrast, and that's the end) like some do, so I'm forced to go for the vain hope of using Photoshop to at least predict where my colors will go.

[fatty]

Sounds like you answered your own question...

"I've switched to using generic ink for my printer and the color reproduction accuracy went from acceptable to uh, tinted."

Don't think you would need to go thru all the hoops you have to try to get the color accurate and you know color and the perception of such is subjective. :)

Ya get what ya pay for...almost sound like a problem with the printer...but I would not suspect that if with the ink you were using before was giving you good results....maybe needs a good cleaning.
I cleaned all the nozzles. It is the ink. It wouldn't have been so bad, except the printer drivers have no facility for color adjustment (there's one for Brightness, another for Contrast, and that's the end) like some do, so I'm forced to go for the vain hope of using Photoshop to at least predict where my colors will go.

I'm afraid I can't offer much insight on the Photoshop issue, but as someone who worked in the printer ink industry for a little while I am curious to know the details of the ink you are using. Are you just buying generic cartridges? If so, whose (e.g. Staples)? Are you having them refilled? Are you refilling them yourself?

EDIT: And of course, what make and model printer are you using?

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

I'm afraid I can't offer much insight on the Photoshop issue, but as someone who worked in the printer ink industry for a little while I am curious to know the details of the ink you are using. Are you just buying generic cartridges? If so, whose (e.g. Staples)? Are you having them refilled? Are you refilling them yourself?

EDIT: And of course, what make and model printer are you using?

Currently using a Lexmark X83, about 3 years old. No, I'm not using refilled catridges, just generics. I'd try and check on my cartridge details when I get home.