After ColorMunki Calibration

[stratman]

Color management, as you might surmise by now, is not an easy task. Proper profiling of the printer, inks and paper only gives one side of the equation.

There is also profiling of your monitor, which may or may not be receptive to proper profiling and/or be old enough that profiling will continually diminish in its effect - and this is on top of the weekly to monthly repeat profiling to counter drifting of the monitor hardware over time. Then there is the basic need to match lighting in your computer room when profiling and then that same light condition when using the monitor for soft proofing.

There is also profiling of the camera, if you want to go full tilt at color management.

Regardless, you must use the same inks, paper, printer and ICC printer profile as when the ICC profile was made. Deviating from any of these parameters will throw your color management and the resultant printed image may lurch in directions you may not like.

Depending on your hardware and ability to manipulate software, you may never get WYSIWYG from your monitor and prints, but you can come close enough to be satisfied. This is a complex process and will require you to read much and experiment if you want to extract performance from your equipment.

Fortunately there are some shortcuts besides using all OEM products or making your own ICC printer profiles (which requires a different ColorMunki package). Precision Colors offers for download at no cost ICC printer profiles for their inks matched with specific printers and papers. You can see these profiles for you printer on their web site. Also, paper manufactures, such as Red River, may offer ICC profiles for their papers, but these usually are designed around OEM inks.

 

[PalaDolphin]

Good points @martin0reg.

And I just discovered one more important factor: my apartment has no decent lighting. The only white light (and I say that assuming it's 5500K because I cannot find the specs on it) is the flashlight by Duracell, Durabeam Ultra 350:
https://www.amazon.com/Duracell-DuraBeam-Flashligh-Batteries-Included/dp/B06VV61765/ref=pd_sim_468_6

After viewing test prints under that light, I've come to the conclusion that my printer is perfect; that none of the lighting in my apartment even comes close to adequate for displaying photos. I used test prints, including the Printer Evaluation Image pics.paladolphin.com/samples/PrinterEvaluationImage_V002_ProPhoto.tif that @jtoolman provided which bypasses the whole monitor/image editing/web browser viewing thing and tests your printer alone.

So, the Pro-100 works, the monitors look perfect, I just need to purchase and install studio quality track lighting in key areas of my apartment. The money pit.

 

[The Hat]

I find all this colour profiling and matching way over my head, in fact it’s totally beyond me, when all you want to do is to make a beautiful print, don’t think first just keep things simple.

New comers start out by ploughing a whole field when all they need is a simple vegetable patch for family, try to stay in your own garden and keep it friendly keep it close.

When I saw the two test prints that @PalaDolphin listed in post #1, ironically, I taught, yes, he’s nailed it, brilliant he’s hit the ground running, then stupidly realising they were the originals and not printed from his machine at all.

The basic thing is to start at the beginning and do absolute nothing with your printer, just make a test print, like the two posted above allowing the printer to do all the hard work, try being a passenger and not the Captain, do nothing.

You should only set the Media to whatever type of photo paper you’re using, and Feck the ICC profiles and Monitor adjustments, just print and enjoy the moment, do that for a week or so, there is plenty of time to think about ways of improving your knowledge and editing skills using these first few test prints as you guide.

I can’t figure out photography at all, someone goes to the trouble of capturing a most idyllic scene, then edits the hell out of it in LightRoom to make the print look like something fictional that came out of The Disney Cartoon Studios.

Lighten up guys, it’s not a camera, and the children won’t go to sleep hungry, if you can’t manage to master your printer instantly, it’s supposed to be an enjoyable experience not a nightmare, that’s my take on it...

 

[Roy Sletcher]

I can’t figure out photography at all, someone goes to the trouble of capturing a most idyllic scene, then edits the hell out of it in LightRoom to make the print look like something fictional that came out of The Disney Cartoon Studios.

So true - So many crank up the saturation, hit the HDR button to the max. So that all the high saturation colours are out of gamut and eventually everything looks radio active. Next step is to complain the print does not look like the monitor.

I know, I know. I am a grumpy old man.

rs

 

[apetitphoto]

I know, I know. I am a grumpy old man.

rs

Never apologize for being a grumpy old man. We've earned it.

 

[The Hat]

Never apologize for being a grumpy old man. We've earned it.

Says a man with attitude, and a shillelagh to back it up...

 

[PalaDolphin]

I think beginning photographers get a little crazy with the clarity, vibrancy, and saturation sliders when they first get into Lightroom (Lr). I know I did.
I won an award for this, my first HDR:
Title: Atomic McDonald's
Category: Night Scene

 

[stratman]

I think beginning photographers get a little crazy with the clarity, vibrancy, and saturation sliders when they first get into Lightroom (Lr). I know I did.
I won an award for this, my first HDR:
Title: Atomic McDonald's
Category: Night Scene

Somebody has the Midas touch!

PS The price of gas sucks at the Holiday gas station.

 

[PalaDolphin]

Somebody has the Midas touch!

Why thank you.

 

[stratman]

Why thank you.

Were you inspired by the "golden arches" of McDonalds? I am.