Printer Test Strip

Here's the printer test strip I made to compare different printer and program settings. Numbering from left to right:
1. No Color Management (ICM setting) This one is over-saturated and too dark. Doesn't look like her. Oddly, several people liked this one best.
2. Photoshop Elements control (Adobe RGB Gamma 2.2) This has a much better skin tone, my favorite.
3. Printer Control (Adobe Vivid) This is pretty, but has a slight bluish cast.
4. Printer Control (Auto Enhance) This is slightly darker than #2, but acceptable.
5. Monitor adjusted to match #4. Too washed out.

PSEs color management tools were helpful, but I had to do a lot of cross-referencing to understand the terminology. Little by little it's beginning to sink in.

Digital Photo Printing for Amateurs

I've learned so much from the Photoshop Elements class I'm taking at Hithergreen, but it bugs me that I have to work so darn hard to get good prints. I've been studying books and online and now I know enough to be dangerous, but still struggling with consistency. I shared what I've learned yesterday with the Digital Photography Forum at the Center. Here's a chart I made. The prints are 10.5 x 8. The top row shows what happens when you use cheap paper and the wrong print setting--you waste a lot of ink that soaks into the paper. The middle row shows printer control on better paper. I oversaturated the one on the right to see what would happen. Eeek! On the bottom row I used Photoshop Elements color controls on Office Depot Laser/injet Presentation Paper and Epson Ultra Premium Luster Paper, my favorites. The last print is the best and shows more detail than any of the others.