How are you printing with Photoshop?

I don’t know about all that, but in my experience, printing from Paintshop has much better quality than printing from Photoshop. Everytime.

"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message

Richard Dunlop-Walters wrote:

Photoshop’s printing quality is well known for being below par. The

reason

being that Photoshop wasn’t made with printing in mind, it was made for

the

design aspect. Try printing from a different application, like Paintshop

Pro

for better results.

Huh? In Photoshop you can print using color management with specific printer/paper profiles. AFAIK, in Paint Shop Pro you cannot…

—
Johan W. Elzenga jwe<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/

I have some tips on my web site about optimizing
your workflow for producing inkjet prints using
Photoshop. In addition there are some examples of
how doing it yourself can produce better prints than
your local photofinisher.
Look under the tips section on my home page.

Jim Dalton wrote:

Let me set the scene…

I take pictures on film and scan them into my computer with a Nikon Coolscan IV. Using Photoshop, I tweak the images to how I want them to look. Now, getting them to a final print is where the problem occurs…

I’ve tried burning the file to a CD and bringing them to Ritz Camera, but I am getting less than satisfactory results. In some cases, the results are pretty good, in others they are miles apart!
I am considering getting a photo printer and doing my printing from home. Print quality & longevity are TOP priorities for me.
Any help is appreciated and TIA.

Jim

—
Robert D Feinman

Landscapes, Cityscapes, Panoramas and Photoshop Tips
http://robertdfeinman.com

Richard Dunlop-Walters wrote:

"Johan W. Elzenga" wrote in message

Richard Dunlop-Walters wrote:

Photoshop’s printing quality is well known for being below par. The reason being that Photoshop wasn’t made with printing in mind, it was made for the design aspect. Try printing from a different application, like Paintshop Pro for better results.

Huh? In Photoshop you can print using color management with specific printer/paper profiles. AFAIK, in Paint Shop Pro you cannot…

I don’t know about all that, but in my experience, printing from Paintshop has much better quality than printing from Photoshop. Everytime.

Well, with all due respect, that’s probably because you have never found out what the real possibilities of Photoshop are in this respect… Because of its superior color management capabilities, Photoshop is clearly the better program for printing, but you do have to know how to work with it.

—
Johan W. Elzenga jwe<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/

Jim,

Can you add details to the scene? Exactly what is unsatisfactory about the prints you receive from Ritz?

Please consider when reading replies that you are *not* printing from Photoshop. Once you save the file as JPG or TIFF, burn it to a CD and take it to a lab for printing, Photoshop has left the building. Also, when having digital images printed at a lab color management is useless. Color profiles are only needed when preparing images for print on a press.

I’ll make a few assumptions– you edit (crop, color correct, burn, etc.) you images in Photoshop…otherwise you would make prints from negs. Ritz is printing your photos on the same machine they would use for printing negs and *not* their print-to-print or photoprinter.

Now, let’s try to find where the problem might arise. First, is the same person making your prints every time? If not that is the most likely cause of inconsistency. Next, are you consistent in the way you way you save your images? For example, are your photos the same size (4×6 for the Ritz Big Print) and same resolution? Are you saving your files as RGB or CMYK? Are you applying the proper amount of Unsharp Mask? If you answer no or ‘I don’t know’ then you need you need to take look at the way you are editing and and saving you files.

The settings I use when having a print made from a digital file are: Image Size: (The *exact* size of the print) 4×6, 8×6, 8×10, etc. Resolution: 300 ppi
Mode: RGB
Unsharp Mask: Amount: 90-125%, Radius: 1.0-1.3, Threshold:7-12 Save As:TIF

This always produces excellent results for me. Since you want only the best print you should seriously consider taking you files to a pro lab for printing. Ask them what file type and resolution they like and what other factors might degrade image quality.

-Cf

Jim Dalton wrote:

Let me set the scene…

I take pictures on film and scan them into my computer with a Nikon Coolscan IV. Using Photoshop, I tweak the images to how I want them to look. Now, getting them to a final print is where the problem occurs…

I’ve tried burning the file to a CD and bringing them to Ritz Camera, but I am getting less than satisfactory results. In some cases, the results are pretty good, in others they are miles apart!
I am considering getting a photo printer and doing my printing from home. Print quality & longevity are TOP priorities for me.
Any help is appreciated and TIA.

Jim

I take pictures on film and scan them into my computer with a Nikon Coolscan IV. Using Photoshop, I tweak the images to how I want them to look. Now, getting them to a final print is where the problem occurs…

I’ve tried burning the file to a CD and bringing them to Ritz Camera, but I am getting less than satisfactory results. In some cases, the results are pretty good, in others they are miles apart!
I am considering getting a photo printer and doing my printing from home. Print quality & longevity are TOP priorities for me.
Any help is appreciated and TIA.

Jim Dalton

===========================
Photoshop’s printing quality is well known for being below par. The reason being that Photoshop wasn’t made with printing in mind, it was made for the design aspect. Try printing from a different application, like Paintshop Pro for better results.
Richard Dunlop-Walters

============================
If the issue is color fidelity, how an image looks on screen and how it will print may be two totally different issues. Certainly the RGB output from your monitor cannot really show you what the printer’s CMYK output will be like, EVEN if you use CMYK mode in Photoshop. To get it right you have to use a combination of guesstimation, (kinda like putting "English" on your curve ball), with clear for-knowledge as to how your printer handles specific colors, and color correction . . . a tedious process at best, and one requiring a certain degree of expertise to get it right.

Illustrator has nice printing controls and if you have the program, you might consider printing your Photoshop images out of it. Bernie

Robert,

Your tips look good and I just love the photo on your home page. Nice work!

Flo

"Robert Feinman" wrote in message

I have some tips on my web site about optimizing
your workflow for producing inkjet prints using
Photoshop. In addition there are some examples of
how doing it yourself can produce better prints than
your local photofinisher.
Look under the tips section on my home page.

Jim Dalton wrote:

Let me set the scene…

I take pictures on film and scan them into my computer with a Nikon Coolscan IV. Using Photoshop, I tweak the images to how I want them to look. Now, getting them to a final print is where the problem occurs…

I’ve tried burning the file to a CD and bringing them to Ritz Camera, but I am getting less than satisfactory results. In some cases, the results are pretty good, in others they are miles apart!
I am considering getting a photo printer and doing my printing from home. Print quality & longevity are TOP priorities for me.
Any help is appreciated and TIA.

Jim

—
Robert D Feinman

Landscapes, Cityscapes, Panoramas and Photoshop Tips
http://robertdfeinman.com

"Richard Dunlop-Walters" wrote in message

Photoshop’s printing quality is well known for being below par. The reason being that Photoshop wasn’t made with printing in mind, it was made for

the

design aspect. Try printing from a different application, like Paintshop

Pro

for better results.

Bravo! you just gave the Dumbest Answer of the month!

Stephan

"Richard Dunlop-Walters" wrote in message

Photoshop’s printing quality is well known for being below par.

Is it? well that’s the first I have heard if it

The reason being that Photoshop wasn’t made with printing in mind, it was

made for the

design aspect.

Thats why it’s the industry standard then, with nearly ever professional photographer in the world using it.

Try printing from a different application, like Paintshop Pro for better

results.

I rather doubt that some how!
Maybe you coud explain exactly what is below par in PS rather than just making a general statement.
and what makes Painshop Pro better, some fact please!

We use PS7 and print out to a Epson Stylus pro7600 and the results are stunning.

I see some clarification IS in order here. <g>

The problem I am having is in getting uniform prints time after time. Knowing how extensive Photoshop is, I had wondered what others were using for their printing needs.

I’ve given up on calibrating for Ritz’s Fuji Frontier when they are constantly making "updates" to their system and offer no real means of monitor-calibration (like the old Trudy’s) for the digital consumer.

I did get close for a while there, I mean the enlargements were almost dead-on, but after they installed some updates one photo would look accurate while another would be miles off.

Since it’s a 45 minute to a Ritz location that has the Frontier, it just led to more frustration. So I decided to look into home printing.

I’m going to try the Epson 2200 for 14 days and see how that does. I read a lot of good stuff about the printer and I like the archival feature.

Jim

The inconsistency is introduced at Ritz Camera…

I alsp use a Coolscan IV which I profiled with Monaco. I use a Sony monitor which I also profiled with Monaco. I print to
an Epson 1280, and for that device, I use the profile which Photoshop furnished. I see very little insonsistency. While the
colors don’t always match, I get the same difference every time I print an image.

Jim
"Jim Dalton" wrote in message

I’ve tried burning the file to a CD and bringing them to Ritz Camera, but I am getting less than satisfactory results. In some cases, the results are pretty good, in others they are miles apart!

"Jim Dalton" wrote in message

I see some clarification IS in order here. <g>

The problem I am having is in getting uniform prints time after time. Knowing how extensive Photoshop is, I had wondered what others were using for their printing needs.

I’ve given up on calibrating for Ritz’s Fuji Frontier when they are constantly making "updates" to their system and offer no real means of monitor-calibration (like the old Trudy’s) for the digital consumer.
I did get close for a while there, I mean the enlargements were almost dead-on, but after they installed some updates one photo would look accurate while another would be miles off.

Since it’s a 45 minute to a Ritz location that has the Frontier, it just led to more frustration. So I decided to look into home printing.

I’m going to try the Epson 2200 for 14 days and see how that does. I read a lot of good stuff about the printer and I like the archival feature.

Jim

I like Quimage for printing. Over on rec.photo.digital newsgroup, there have been lots of glowing reports on it. There is a 30 day trial for download, but unfortunately, no freeware version. I liked it so much, I ended up purchasing it anyway.

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage/

Maureen

The inconsistency is introduced at Ritz Camera…

I alsp use a Coolscan IV which I profiled with Monaco. I use a Sony monitor which I also profiled with Monaco. I print to
an Epson 1280, and for that device, I use the profile which Photoshop furnished. I see very little insonsistency. While the
colors don’t always match, I get the same difference every time I print an image.

Which is what I really wanted. Rather than always playing catch-up. I’m looking forward to the arrival of the Epson 2200 on Monday.

Jim

Trying to print from Photoshop 7 on a Canon i850 has proved very frustrating!
If I print from Canon’s supplied software (Canon Easy-Photoprint) the photos print perfectly, but from PS they print as if some kind of ‘Find edges’ filter has been applied.
Has anyone else had this problem with this printer? Anyone know how to fix it? I’ve tried changing every relevant Photoshop setting I can think of and it’s driving me up the wall. It’s a brilliant printer so I’m sure the problem is with Photoshop 7, or with me…
TIA
Dave

Jim Dalton wrote in message

Let me set the scene…

I take pictures on film and scan them into my computer with a Nikon Coolscan IV. Using Photoshop, I tweak the images to how I want them to look. Now, getting them to a final print is where the problem occurs…

I’ve tried burning the file to a CD and bringing them to Ritz Camera, but I am getting less than satisfactory results. In some cases, the results are pretty good, in others they are miles apart!
I am considering getting a photo printer and doing my printing from home. Print quality & longevity are TOP priorities for me.
Any help is appreciated and TIA.

Jim

in article
wrote on 7/11/03 8:20 AM:

when having digital images printed at a lab color management is useless. Color profiles are only needed when preparing images for print on a press.

—-
This is totally untrue.
CMS is useful/necessary for output to ANY output device.

MSD

Jim Dalton wrote:

I’m looking forward to the arrival of the Epson 2200 on Monday.

I can recommend this webpage Jim:
< http://www.computer-darkroom.com/ps7_print/ps7_print_mac.htm>.

I have an Epson 2100 (the European name of the 2200) and my printouts are very close to what I see on my monitor when I softproof it on screen. Usually I use the Epson media profiles which in my opinion is fairly accurate. I let Photoshop (7.01) color manage as described on the above webpage (figure 6 on page 2) and turns color management in the printer driver off (No Color Adjustments).

—
Regards
Madsen.