First a little history lesson.....
There was a time, long ago that printers had ribbons and used dot matrix printing to create tiny dots that, when looked at, were readable. Sometimes they were BARELY readable, however. Changing ribbons and printing wheels to change type face was a chore.
Then, in 1984, the first laser printer that used toner cartridges came into being. Quickly, no one wanted a dot matrix printer anymore. The laser printer caused ink powder from the toner cartridge to fuse onto the paper where the program told the printer to leave ink. The output was much clearer and much more professional in appearance. Very soon, dot matrix printers became known as "door stops".
By 1990, inkjet printers that used drop-in ink cartridges became readily available and very reasonable prices. These inkjet cartridges were very easy to change without any fuss. The cost to the user, compared to the laser toner cartridge, was significantly reduced.
So now it starts getting pretty cool....
Today, inkjet printers using ink cartridges are so affordable that every computer owner can afford to own their own printer that is capable of using photo quality inkjet cartridges or for less expensive printing, ink cartridges that are remanufactured or "generic" or non-original manufacture. These inkjet cartridges can even be refilled in many cases to save even more money.
The price of the machines themselves has dropped by buckets and what they can do is way cooler than ever before. Not only can you print but also scan, fax (many do PC-Fax which I’ll get to later), copy, make your morning coffee, take out the garbage (ok not those last 2). Combining this many tasks obviously reduces the number of different machines in your home/office but in addition there’s only one manual you have to completely ignore instead of many (for the guys reading this). The PC-Fax thingy I mentioned Id actually like to discuss a little more about because I personally find this a fantastic feature. Basically it means that your printer/fax/everything else talks directly to your computer allowing you to send and receive faxes without any visible signs of paper involved. For example if anyone was crazy enough to want a copy of this article faxed to them I could do it directly from my computer without having to actually print anything out.
When using inkjet cartridges that are photo quality, it is sensible to use photo quality paper for your printing. This ensures the best quality print out resulting from your inkjet photo quality cartridge. While these inkjet cartridges will print on regular paper, it is a waste to place the more expensive ink cartridge into your printer and then print on plain non-glossy paper.
For every day printing in black and white or even in color, remanufactured or non-original inkjet cartridges work great and save money for you in the long run. As a general rule of thumb, you need to purchase twice as many black inkjet cartridges because there is, on average, more black printing needs for the average person.
Nowadays manufacturers are including more and more technology into their cartridges and trying to convince you that their ink has that extra special something. Epson uses DURABrite ink, HP uses Vivera ink and the list goes on. If you ever get bored and feel the need to work yourself into a frenzy just try surfing some of the major sites to compare exactly what one manufacturers ink does compared to the next. If you come away from this sane you’ll definitely know a lot more techie sounds words than you need to know now or in your next lifetime.
Many of the latest ink cartridges have cool gizmos in them like small chips designed to monitor the ink levels and tell you when its time to reorder and even little LEDs for those of you who want their printer to light up like a disco. The idea of the chip sounds great but there are cases where the chip is telling the printer to stop working too soon or even to not work at all if the cartridges inside are not original (there’s been at least one of the major players recently sued over exactly this). To try and counter this a ‘chip resetter’ can be purchased which basically tells the chip to do as its told and keep on printing regardless of how much ink it thought was left in the tank. As far as the issue with these chips and non original cartridges is concerned its actually illegal for a chip to stop your machine working on this basis but apparently this hasn’t deterred a few of the big boys. Whether a chip resetter will fix this problem is uncertain.
No one knows what will come next in the world of printing. Just as the dot matrix printer long ago became a door stop (mostly that is), it is possible that within the next decade a new, less expensive, more user-friendly printing method that is even more cost effective than inkjet printers using drop-in ink cartridges will become archaic. For today, inkjet cartridges in low-priced printer provide the average household with all the affordable printing from their inkjet printer they need.
Whether you want to print graphics, brochures, or just letters, there is a printer that uses inkjet cartridges for you. Choose inkjet cartridges that meet your printing needs at affordable prices.
Bottom line is yep your ink cartridges are getting more high tech and cooler (heck in the old days theres no way your cartridge would actually light up with pretty colours for you and tell you when its about to run dry). The future is certainly going to be interesting seeing what comes next.....
Showing posts with label inkjet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inkjet. Show all posts
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Basics of RGB and CMYK for ink jet printing at home
In the world of home ink jet color printing, there is some confusion concerning CMYK color and RGB color. Many photo enthusiasts don't realize what kind of color space their digital cameras output and are confused when it comes to printing images off of their home ink jet printers. They hit print and wonder why the printed image looks different from what they see on their monitor.
CMYK is the color description representing printed material, short for the colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Mixing these 4 colors together in different amounts give you the millions of colors that reproduce the colors in printed material. These are actual inks used in printing the images you see in color magazines and books. RGB is the color description for images viewed on your computer monitors, short for Red, Green, and Blue. RGB color is actually light, and mixing different levels of these light colors
creates the millions of colors that come from your computer monitor. All websites and nearly everything you see on your computer monitor is RGB unless the images have been converted to the CMYK color space.
When you print your images on your ink jet printer from your computer, your printer prints the image using CMYK inks. Viewing your image in RGB and then printing it out in CMYK may not yield the results you want. Programs such as Adobe Photoshop will convert your image from RGB to CMYK or vice versa. Some printers require the image to be CMYK before you can print the image correctly. Some printers don't print the image correctly if the image being printed is in RGB space.
A good reason for printing with a CMYK image is to see your image in CMYK color before printing. When an image is converted to CMYK from RGB, there may be some color changes that are noticeable in the image. The reason for this is because many colors in RGB cannot be reproduced using CMYK inks. That is why it is always a good idea to convert your image to a CMYK color space before printing. You could notice significant color changes to your image, especially in the very intense color areas of your image. Some of these intense color areas may appear less intense or very dull once converted. With photo editing software, you can go in and fix these trouble color areas to your liking.
Many ink jet printers on the market today actually print directly from an RGB color image. And converting the image to CMYK may cause it to print incorrectly. You will need to determine what color space your ink jet printer supports. The packaged software usually will give you a hint regarding color spaces. If there is no option to convert the color space from RGB to CMYK, most likely, the printer will print directly from an RGB color source. Usually, the higher end ink jet printers deal with the CMYK color space as consumer level enthusiasts don't even know these color spaces exist. New higher end ink jet printers, however, are now printing directly from the RGB color space as there is a wider spectrum of color that can be reproduced in RGB compared to CMYK color.
If you visit the website, Instantimagers.com, the 'Framers' and 'DVD Cover & Disc Art' designs are provided in both RGB and CMYK color spaces. Comparing the RGB and CMYK images side by side, you'll notice there are color differences. This is due to some RGB colors not being available as a CMYK converted color. Both versions are provided because not all printers are alike. Some tend to print better with one color space. Many of CMYK printed designs have been manipulated further after conversion to match more closely the colors from the RGB color space as many of the colors in some designs did not covert seamlessly.
If all this seems confusing, not to worry. The key thing to remember is to print using RGB color if your printer and software support it. Let the software and the printer worry about getting the colors right. If you are more experienced with photo color correction and want more control over the color of the image, print in CMYK. You'll actually be manipulating and printing the image in the color space your ink jet printer's inks are using. You will be able to see the limits of the CMYK printing color spectrum right on your monitor. Getting color right with RGB and CMYK is totally different from calibrating your printer to match the colors on your monitor. That is actually the second step in getting the best color out of your prints. Understanding the difference between RGB and CMYK is the first step in getting the best print outs on your home ink jet printer.
CMYK is the color description representing printed material, short for the colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Mixing these 4 colors together in different amounts give you the millions of colors that reproduce the colors in printed material. These are actual inks used in printing the images you see in color magazines and books. RGB is the color description for images viewed on your computer monitors, short for Red, Green, and Blue. RGB color is actually light, and mixing different levels of these light colors
creates the millions of colors that come from your computer monitor. All websites and nearly everything you see on your computer monitor is RGB unless the images have been converted to the CMYK color space.
When you print your images on your ink jet printer from your computer, your printer prints the image using CMYK inks. Viewing your image in RGB and then printing it out in CMYK may not yield the results you want. Programs such as Adobe Photoshop will convert your image from RGB to CMYK or vice versa. Some printers require the image to be CMYK before you can print the image correctly. Some printers don't print the image correctly if the image being printed is in RGB space.
A good reason for printing with a CMYK image is to see your image in CMYK color before printing. When an image is converted to CMYK from RGB, there may be some color changes that are noticeable in the image. The reason for this is because many colors in RGB cannot be reproduced using CMYK inks. That is why it is always a good idea to convert your image to a CMYK color space before printing. You could notice significant color changes to your image, especially in the very intense color areas of your image. Some of these intense color areas may appear less intense or very dull once converted. With photo editing software, you can go in and fix these trouble color areas to your liking.
Many ink jet printers on the market today actually print directly from an RGB color image. And converting the image to CMYK may cause it to print incorrectly. You will need to determine what color space your ink jet printer supports. The packaged software usually will give you a hint regarding color spaces. If there is no option to convert the color space from RGB to CMYK, most likely, the printer will print directly from an RGB color source. Usually, the higher end ink jet printers deal with the CMYK color space as consumer level enthusiasts don't even know these color spaces exist. New higher end ink jet printers, however, are now printing directly from the RGB color space as there is a wider spectrum of color that can be reproduced in RGB compared to CMYK color.
If you visit the website, Instantimagers.com, the 'Framers' and 'DVD Cover & Disc Art' designs are provided in both RGB and CMYK color spaces. Comparing the RGB and CMYK images side by side, you'll notice there are color differences. This is due to some RGB colors not being available as a CMYK converted color. Both versions are provided because not all printers are alike. Some tend to print better with one color space. Many of CMYK printed designs have been manipulated further after conversion to match more closely the colors from the RGB color space as many of the colors in some designs did not covert seamlessly.
If all this seems confusing, not to worry. The key thing to remember is to print using RGB color if your printer and software support it. Let the software and the printer worry about getting the colors right. If you are more experienced with photo color correction and want more control over the color of the image, print in CMYK. You'll actually be manipulating and printing the image in the color space your ink jet printer's inks are using. You will be able to see the limits of the CMYK printing color spectrum right on your monitor. Getting color right with RGB and CMYK is totally different from calibrating your printer to match the colors on your monitor. That is actually the second step in getting the best color out of your prints. Understanding the difference between RGB and CMYK is the first step in getting the best print outs on your home ink jet printer.
Are Inkjet Printers the right choice?
Inkjet Printers are not only getting better but they also becoming less expensive with time. A branded inkjet cartridge can cost you $30 or more and if your printer uses a multi-color ink cartridge system ink costs could easily $1000 to replace all inkjet cartridges for your entire inkjet printer.
The growing business of inkjet printers has brought about additional benefits to them. Manufacturers have built their business around the supplies rather than the printer itself. They have made the inkjet printers an inexpensive commodity sometimes selling them at lower cost or may be even less thereby making long term profits from inkjet printers.
An Inkjet printer uses a unique printer mechanism, which provides quality printing. They transfer tiny droplets of ink directly to the page. This is the reason why you will find most photo printers are inkjets. If you want to print photos at home, photo inkjet printer would probably be a perfect choice. For instance, if you want to print few photos, few e books or print any other project work an inkjet printer would help your cause. Inkjet printers are far less expensive than laser printers.
Tips to keep your inkjet cost low
•When you print inter-office, personal or draft documents use the “draft” and “grayscale” option. This can help you save a lot on black and color ink.
•Purchase generic cartridges made for you printer as they can be purchased at half the price.
•Purchase a cartridge refill kit as they are have an excellent quality and cost low.
•Always purchase your cartridge in bulk as this can help you bring down the total cost.
•Purchase remanufactured cartridges made for your printer
•Order you inkjet cartridge online to save time and money. Now days many online outlets do not carry the generic version and costs are normally lower.
The growing business of inkjet printers has brought about additional benefits to them. Manufacturers have built their business around the supplies rather than the printer itself. They have made the inkjet printers an inexpensive commodity sometimes selling them at lower cost or may be even less thereby making long term profits from inkjet printers.
An Inkjet printer uses a unique printer mechanism, which provides quality printing. They transfer tiny droplets of ink directly to the page. This is the reason why you will find most photo printers are inkjets. If you want to print photos at home, photo inkjet printer would probably be a perfect choice. For instance, if you want to print few photos, few e books or print any other project work an inkjet printer would help your cause. Inkjet printers are far less expensive than laser printers.
Tips to keep your inkjet cost low
•When you print inter-office, personal or draft documents use the “draft” and “grayscale” option. This can help you save a lot on black and color ink.
•Purchase generic cartridges made for you printer as they can be purchased at half the price.
•Purchase a cartridge refill kit as they are have an excellent quality and cost low.
•Always purchase your cartridge in bulk as this can help you bring down the total cost.
•Purchase remanufactured cartridges made for your printer
•Order you inkjet cartridge online to save time and money. Now days many online outlets do not carry the generic version and costs are normally lower.
All About Dye-Sublimation Printers
Dedicated photo printers differ from all-purpose printers as they are designed to print photos only, as opposed to text or graphics documents in addition to photos. They are generally compact in size and lightweight, and some models even feature batteries that allow you to print without the need for an outlet. Most photo printers, including dye-sublimation (or dye-sub) printers, are built around a thermal dye engine, though there are a few that feature inkjet technology.
For many years, dye-sublimation printers were specialist devices used in demanding graphic arts and photographic applications. The advent of digital photography led to the entry of this technology into the mainstream, forming the basis of many of the standalone, portable photo printers that surfaced in the second half of the 1990s.
The term "dye" in the name refers to the solid dyes that were used in the process instead of inks or toner. "Sublimation" is the scientific term for a process where solids (in this case, dyes) are converted into their gaseous form without going through an intervening liquid phase.
The printing process employed by true dye-sublimation printers differs from that of inkjets. Instead of spraying tiny jets of ink onto a page as inkjet printers do, dye-sublimation printers apply a dye from a plastic film.
A three-pass system (featuring solid dyes in tape form on either a ribbon or a roll) layers cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dyes on top of one another. The print head on a dye-sub printer uses tiny heaters to vapourise the dye, which permeates the glossy surface of the paper. A clear coat is added to protect the print against ultraviolet light. Although this method is capable of producing excellent results, it is far from economical. Even if a particular image does not need any one of the pigments, that ribbon segment is still consumed. This is the reason it is common for dye-sub printer compatible paper packs to contain a transfer film capable of producing the same number of prints. In addition, dye sublimation inks need a paper that allows the ink to remain on the surface of the paper.
Nowadays, a number of inkjet printers on the market are capable of deploying dye-sublimation techniques. The cartridges in such printers spray the ink, covering the page one strip at a time. The print head heats the inks to form a gas, controlled by a heating element that reaches temperatures of up to 500° C (higher than the average dye sublimation printer). A big difference in the results with dye-sublimation technique is that because the dyes are applied to the paper in gas form, they do not form distinct dots with a hard edge like inkjet printers. Instead, the edges are softer and blend into each other easily. Additionally, the infusion of the gaseous dye into the paper yields a more colour-fast picture.
Comparing Dye-Sublimation Printers and Inkjet Printers
Although it is difficult to point out every possible advantage and disadvantage when comparing inkjet and dye-sub printers, the following list mentions the major points that apply to most people printing photos at home.
Advantages of Inkjet Printers over Dye-Sub Printers:
· Prints are very precise with sharp edges
· Latest models offer incredible detail that exceeds most dye-sub printers
· Variety of papers/surfaces available—including matte, luster, glossy.
· Not locked in to one manufacturer's paper
· Some archival inkjets can produce prints that long-lasting
· Most inkjets can print on many different surfaces that are designed to accept ink, including CDs, CD inserts, envelopes, etc.
· Inkjets have a considerably larger colour gamut and usually produce more vivid photos than dye-subs
· Easier to obtain large format inkjets that can print 11x14, 13x20 sizes, or larger
· Inkjet printing is often cheaper than dye-sub printing
Inkjet Printer Disadvantages:
· Often much slower than dye-sub printers
· Most non-archival inkjets produce prints that fade a little (sometimes a lot) faster than dye-sub prints
· Print heads sometimes clog and require cleaning, or even replacement
Advantages of Dye-Sub Printers over Inkjet Printers:
· Very fast
· Relatively maintenance-free
· Smooth with no dot patterns visible, even under magnification
· Produce excellent shadow detail in dark areas where some inkjets may be "blotchy"
· Prints are usually more durable and more waterproof than inkjet prints
· For many viewers, dye-sub printers produce photos that look and feel more like real photographs due to the smoothness of the prints and the absence of visible dot patterns
Dye-Sub Printer Disadvantages:
· Consumer level models often smear high contrast edges (like a black square on a white background) to some degree, making charts, graphs, and line art look a little less "precise"
· Dye-sub prints typically only last as long or slightly longer than a good non-archival inkjet printer and are generally not considered "archival"
· Paper type selection is very limited and while dye-sub printers produce excellent glossy photos, most fall behind or do not even offer the option of matte prints
· Dye-sub printers use an entire page and an entire page worth of ribbon even to print one small wallet size photo
· Pages cannot be normally fed through the printer twice to fill more of the page as they can in inkjets
· Dust can sometimes get inside and cause vertical scratches on prints
· Dye sub printing and the cost of paper and toner (ribbon) is often higher than inkjet printing
Few Popular Models of Dye-Sublimation Printers
Canon Selphy CP710
Dye-sub printer for 150x100mm photographs
Samsung SPP-2040 photo printer
Dye-sub printer with 300x300dpi resolution
Samsung SPP-2020
Digital photo printer that produces 100x150mm snapshots
HiTi Photo Printer 641PS
Dye-sub printer for 152x102mm photographs
Sony PictureStation DPP-FP30
A user-friendly dye-sub photo printer
Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock 6000
A dye-sublimation printer for compatible Kodak cameras
Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock 6000
A dye-sublimation printer for compatible Kodak cameras
Olympus P-10 Digital Photo Printer
A dye-sublimation printer that prints straight from your Olympus digital camera
Polaroid PP46d photo printer
A dye-sub photo printer
Olympus P-440
Dye-sub printer capable of printing A4 photographs
Sony DPP-EX50
Dye-sublimation photo printer
For many years, dye-sublimation printers were specialist devices used in demanding graphic arts and photographic applications. The advent of digital photography led to the entry of this technology into the mainstream, forming the basis of many of the standalone, portable photo printers that surfaced in the second half of the 1990s.
The term "dye" in the name refers to the solid dyes that were used in the process instead of inks or toner. "Sublimation" is the scientific term for a process where solids (in this case, dyes) are converted into their gaseous form without going through an intervening liquid phase.
The printing process employed by true dye-sublimation printers differs from that of inkjets. Instead of spraying tiny jets of ink onto a page as inkjet printers do, dye-sublimation printers apply a dye from a plastic film.
A three-pass system (featuring solid dyes in tape form on either a ribbon or a roll) layers cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dyes on top of one another. The print head on a dye-sub printer uses tiny heaters to vapourise the dye, which permeates the glossy surface of the paper. A clear coat is added to protect the print against ultraviolet light. Although this method is capable of producing excellent results, it is far from economical. Even if a particular image does not need any one of the pigments, that ribbon segment is still consumed. This is the reason it is common for dye-sub printer compatible paper packs to contain a transfer film capable of producing the same number of prints. In addition, dye sublimation inks need a paper that allows the ink to remain on the surface of the paper.
Nowadays, a number of inkjet printers on the market are capable of deploying dye-sublimation techniques. The cartridges in such printers spray the ink, covering the page one strip at a time. The print head heats the inks to form a gas, controlled by a heating element that reaches temperatures of up to 500° C (higher than the average dye sublimation printer). A big difference in the results with dye-sublimation technique is that because the dyes are applied to the paper in gas form, they do not form distinct dots with a hard edge like inkjet printers. Instead, the edges are softer and blend into each other easily. Additionally, the infusion of the gaseous dye into the paper yields a more colour-fast picture.
Comparing Dye-Sublimation Printers and Inkjet Printers
Although it is difficult to point out every possible advantage and disadvantage when comparing inkjet and dye-sub printers, the following list mentions the major points that apply to most people printing photos at home.
Advantages of Inkjet Printers over Dye-Sub Printers:
· Prints are very precise with sharp edges
· Latest models offer incredible detail that exceeds most dye-sub printers
· Variety of papers/surfaces available—including matte, luster, glossy.
· Not locked in to one manufacturer's paper
· Some archival inkjets can produce prints that long-lasting
· Most inkjets can print on many different surfaces that are designed to accept ink, including CDs, CD inserts, envelopes, etc.
· Inkjets have a considerably larger colour gamut and usually produce more vivid photos than dye-subs
· Easier to obtain large format inkjets that can print 11x14, 13x20 sizes, or larger
· Inkjet printing is often cheaper than dye-sub printing
Inkjet Printer Disadvantages:
· Often much slower than dye-sub printers
· Most non-archival inkjets produce prints that fade a little (sometimes a lot) faster than dye-sub prints
· Print heads sometimes clog and require cleaning, or even replacement
Advantages of Dye-Sub Printers over Inkjet Printers:
· Very fast
· Relatively maintenance-free
· Smooth with no dot patterns visible, even under magnification
· Produce excellent shadow detail in dark areas where some inkjets may be "blotchy"
· Prints are usually more durable and more waterproof than inkjet prints
· For many viewers, dye-sub printers produce photos that look and feel more like real photographs due to the smoothness of the prints and the absence of visible dot patterns
Dye-Sub Printer Disadvantages:
· Consumer level models often smear high contrast edges (like a black square on a white background) to some degree, making charts, graphs, and line art look a little less "precise"
· Dye-sub prints typically only last as long or slightly longer than a good non-archival inkjet printer and are generally not considered "archival"
· Paper type selection is very limited and while dye-sub printers produce excellent glossy photos, most fall behind or do not even offer the option of matte prints
· Dye-sub printers use an entire page and an entire page worth of ribbon even to print one small wallet size photo
· Pages cannot be normally fed through the printer twice to fill more of the page as they can in inkjets
· Dust can sometimes get inside and cause vertical scratches on prints
· Dye sub printing and the cost of paper and toner (ribbon) is often higher than inkjet printing
Few Popular Models of Dye-Sublimation Printers
Canon Selphy CP710
Dye-sub printer for 150x100mm photographs
Samsung SPP-2040 photo printer
Dye-sub printer with 300x300dpi resolution
Samsung SPP-2020
Digital photo printer that produces 100x150mm snapshots
HiTi Photo Printer 641PS
Dye-sub printer for 152x102mm photographs
Sony PictureStation DPP-FP30
A user-friendly dye-sub photo printer
Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock 6000
A dye-sublimation printer for compatible Kodak cameras
Kodak EasyShare Printer Dock 6000
A dye-sublimation printer for compatible Kodak cameras
Olympus P-10 Digital Photo Printer
A dye-sublimation printer that prints straight from your Olympus digital camera
Polaroid PP46d photo printer
A dye-sub photo printer
Olympus P-440
Dye-sub printer capable of printing A4 photographs
Sony DPP-EX50
Dye-sublimation photo printer
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
10 Ways To Make Sure Your Image's Bright Red Is Bright And Red
Article Body:
Graphic designers, photographers, publishers and computer users at large: they all rely on their digital equipment being capable of rendering colours right. But the sad truth is your colours will differ depending on the output device. A monitor's red is not the same as an inkjet printer's red. Besides, what is "red"?
Here are 10 things you can do to make sure red is red, no matter which device has to render it.
1. Buy a good monitor. OK, this is an open door, but by "good" i mean a monitor that you can calibrate. That rules out all the office monitors, the Apple Cinemas and leaves you with LaCie 300 range and Eizo ColorEdge products.
2. Buy a good calibration and profiling application. Even if you can't afford an Eizo ColorEdge, buy Color Solutions' basICColor Display. This software comes with a high-quality GretagMacbeth Display 2 colorimeter (called the "Squid 2" by Color Solutions), and has a feature called "software calibration". The latter calibrates any monitor by storing the calibration data (the Tone Response Curve) in the video card's lookup tables. The only requirement: your video card should support it. ATI's Radeon range supports this.
3. Calibrate and create a colour profile for your monitor once a month. Calibration is different from profiling. Calibration means the colour lookup tables in the monitor are put into a known state, while a profile merely describes the monitor's perception of colours. With calibration you tell the monitor that it must render "pure red" by setting its colour channels in a certain manner. The profile you create will tell your image editing software, or graphic design application that pure red for this monitor means a specific mixture of its colour channels.
4. Buy an inkjet printer which has non-clogging printheads. Ideally, printheads should never clog. If they do, you can rest assured your colours will come out awful. If they don't, you can still have bad colours, but now at least you can something about it. Good printers are a bit more expensive than the bottom-price inkjet printers you can buy these days. Think of paying something like 200 USD at a minimum. For top-notch printers like the HP Photosmart Pro B9180, expect to pay 700 USD.
5. Drive your inkjet through a Raster Image Processor. Many high-end printers support a RIP, but not all RIPs are created equal. EFI makes good RIPs, as do the vendors that develop more expensive RIPs for large format printers. EFI has a decent RIP, with support for ink limiting, black start setting, etc, for a very decent price. It's the EFI Designer Edition.
6. Profile your printer and use that profile with your RIP to get accurate colours, and save money on ink consumption. Through the profile settings, you can actually determine how much ink gets sprayed onto the page. For some paper types, you can save a lot of money by setting ink limiting optimally for your printer.
7. Use established equipment such as X-Rite/GretagMacbeth or Barbieri to generate your CMYK printer profile. You should create a profile for every paper not supported by your printer manufacturer. If you must use your printer in RGB mode, you can do with less expensive profiling systems. The best way to ensure a good quality profile is made when you don't have the budget to buy a system that costs a few thousand dollars, is to appeal to a remote service such as Thinck.com's.
8. Use an image editing application such as Photoshop, which has a "softproof" feature. To softproof means that you'll be able to visually determine an image's colours on-screen with enough accuracy to be confident the colours will match the printed output. Softproofing is never one-on-one, but can come very close, and is another way of saving money by saving on both wasted paper and ink.
8. When editing your image, set the grey balance first. Select a neutral grey area in your image (if you took a photo, you'll remember what was grey, and if you don't, there are almost always objects that must be grey) and set this area as your neutral grey tone. In Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you do this by selecting the Levels or Curves tool, selecting the grey eyedropper in the dialogue window, and clicking with this tool in the neutral area of your image.
9. If your image has a warm tone to it, e.g. because it was shot at dusk or with tungsten light and no flash, you can neutralize colour casts somewhat by choosing an area that is not exactly neutral but more towards the warm tone of the image. As long as the area is greyish by nature, the image will adjust accordingly.
10. Be careful with setting Saturation levels too high. If you boost saturation, you're also bossting colour inaccuracies. You can boost the saturation of your image when you're sure it is colour-accurate.
These and many more tips, tricks, and tutorials, but also product reviews and in-depth technology and methodology background information is available on IT-Enquirer.com. IT-Enquirer is an online magazine aimed at creative professionals. It contains articles for beginners all the way up to experts in the field.
Graphic designers, photographers, publishers and computer users at large: they all rely on their digital equipment being capable of rendering colours right. But the sad truth is your colours will differ depending on the output device. A monitor's red is not the same as an inkjet printer's red. Besides, what is "red"?
Here are 10 things you can do to make sure red is red, no matter which device has to render it.
1. Buy a good monitor. OK, this is an open door, but by "good" i mean a monitor that you can calibrate. That rules out all the office monitors, the Apple Cinemas and leaves you with LaCie 300 range and Eizo ColorEdge products.
2. Buy a good calibration and profiling application. Even if you can't afford an Eizo ColorEdge, buy Color Solutions' basICColor Display. This software comes with a high-quality GretagMacbeth Display 2 colorimeter (called the "Squid 2" by Color Solutions), and has a feature called "software calibration". The latter calibrates any monitor by storing the calibration data (the Tone Response Curve) in the video card's lookup tables. The only requirement: your video card should support it. ATI's Radeon range supports this.
3. Calibrate and create a colour profile for your monitor once a month. Calibration is different from profiling. Calibration means the colour lookup tables in the monitor are put into a known state, while a profile merely describes the monitor's perception of colours. With calibration you tell the monitor that it must render "pure red" by setting its colour channels in a certain manner. The profile you create will tell your image editing software, or graphic design application that pure red for this monitor means a specific mixture of its colour channels.
4. Buy an inkjet printer which has non-clogging printheads. Ideally, printheads should never clog. If they do, you can rest assured your colours will come out awful. If they don't, you can still have bad colours, but now at least you can something about it. Good printers are a bit more expensive than the bottom-price inkjet printers you can buy these days. Think of paying something like 200 USD at a minimum. For top-notch printers like the HP Photosmart Pro B9180, expect to pay 700 USD.
5. Drive your inkjet through a Raster Image Processor. Many high-end printers support a RIP, but not all RIPs are created equal. EFI makes good RIPs, as do the vendors that develop more expensive RIPs for large format printers. EFI has a decent RIP, with support for ink limiting, black start setting, etc, for a very decent price. It's the EFI Designer Edition.
6. Profile your printer and use that profile with your RIP to get accurate colours, and save money on ink consumption. Through the profile settings, you can actually determine how much ink gets sprayed onto the page. For some paper types, you can save a lot of money by setting ink limiting optimally for your printer.
7. Use established equipment such as X-Rite/GretagMacbeth or Barbieri to generate your CMYK printer profile. You should create a profile for every paper not supported by your printer manufacturer. If you must use your printer in RGB mode, you can do with less expensive profiling systems. The best way to ensure a good quality profile is made when you don't have the budget to buy a system that costs a few thousand dollars, is to appeal to a remote service such as Thinck.com's.
8. Use an image editing application such as Photoshop, which has a "softproof" feature. To softproof means that you'll be able to visually determine an image's colours on-screen with enough accuracy to be confident the colours will match the printed output. Softproofing is never one-on-one, but can come very close, and is another way of saving money by saving on both wasted paper and ink.
8. When editing your image, set the grey balance first. Select a neutral grey area in your image (if you took a photo, you'll remember what was grey, and if you don't, there are almost always objects that must be grey) and set this area as your neutral grey tone. In Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you do this by selecting the Levels or Curves tool, selecting the grey eyedropper in the dialogue window, and clicking with this tool in the neutral area of your image.
9. If your image has a warm tone to it, e.g. because it was shot at dusk or with tungsten light and no flash, you can neutralize colour casts somewhat by choosing an area that is not exactly neutral but more towards the warm tone of the image. As long as the area is greyish by nature, the image will adjust accordingly.
10. Be careful with setting Saturation levels too high. If you boost saturation, you're also bossting colour inaccuracies. You can boost the saturation of your image when you're sure it is colour-accurate.
These and many more tips, tricks, and tutorials, but also product reviews and in-depth technology and methodology background information is available on IT-Enquirer.com. IT-Enquirer is an online magazine aimed at creative professionals. It contains articles for beginners all the way up to experts in the field.
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