Photo Safaris - Printing Images with an Epson 2200



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The Epson 2200 is one of the most popular—if not the most popular—photo printer available today. Its priced reasonably, is readily available and, combined with the right papers, its Ultrachome inks offer the most archival results possible. However, judging from the email I continually receive, there is quite a bit of confusion as to how to setup the printer for the best results. Heres the process for printing from Photoshop 7 or CS.

First of all Ill make two assumptions:

Youve calibrated your monitor. How can you make a correct print if you cant see a correct image to start with? Monitor calibration is essential in all digital darkroom work. Skip this step, and quality prints are pure chance.
Your image is exactly as you want it to appear. Youve done all the Photoshop work, plus youve resized the image to the correct output dimensions and resolution.

Okay, were ready to print. Select File > Print with Preview and this default window opens.

Check the Show More Options box, which expands the bottom of the dialogue box. The default setting that appears is Output but you should select Color Management from the dropdown list.

Now the Print with Preview window looks like this:

Here are some very important choices. Make sure the Source Space is set to Document, and the Document is the color space youre working in. This should almost always be Adobe RGB.

The Print Space is where many people make a mistake. The profile should be set to the profile of the paper you plan on using, not the monitor profile and not same as source. Where do you get these paper profiles? If youre printing to an Epson 2200, download the latest version of the 2200 driver and the PIM module. (Note: the latest PIM paper profiles are better than the earlier ones, so if youve owned a 2200 ever since they became available you should download the new profiles. These will install automatically when you unzip the file.)

Epson has just released new profiles for select papers. These can be found on Epson's web site through the "Drivers & Support" link to the 2200 printer. There is is PDF file that explains how to install these profiles. In Windows XP they go in the Windows/System32/Spool/Drivers/Color folder.

Lets assume Im going to print to my 2200 on Epsons Premium Luster paper, using the latest Epson profile. Click on the down arrow on the right side of the Profile box and select the correct profile from the list.

Here Ive selected the profile for the 2200 using Premium Luster paper using the Photo Black ink (thats the PK part of the profile name).

For Intent most of the time you should choose Relative Colormetric.

Now click the Print button in the upper right corner of the menu box. Since I have several printers connected to my computer I must select the 2200. Then click on the Properties button.

On the next window that appears, click the Advanced button.

And you finally arrive at a very important page where you set the paper size, type, orientation, and select the printer dpi. There is little reason to choose 2880 in my opinion, as I cant see the difference between it and 1440 dpi. Remember that this is the printer resolution—how small an ink droplet it makes—not the print resolution which you selected earlier in Photoshops Image Size dialogue box. You could also select High Speed under Print Options which means bi-directional printing. Make a print with this on and then again another with it off and see if you can tell the difference. If you cant, then having it on will shorten printing times.

Heres the menu window, and Ive marked the most important areas.

Click on ICM and select No Color Adjustment just below. This is where most people make their mistake. You have already set up color management in the Photoshop dialogue box by selecting a color space and a paper profile. You dont want the Epson driver to do it also or you will be double profiling.

If you know you will be making more prints using these parameters you can click Save Setting, give the setting a name, and then save it. When you want to use it in the future it will be listed in the Custom Settings drop-down menu. Just select it, and all your choices will be made automatically.

Click OK and youre printing.

Announcement: John's newest book, John Shaw's Photoshop Fieldguide, will be published next month. This is an ebook on CD, with step-by-step instructions on making prints using Photoshop and Epson printers. It will be available only from John's website, www.johnshawphoto.com.



	Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, Inc. P.O. Box 655, Vashon Island, Washington USA 98070 Phone: (206) 463-5383 Fax: (206) 463-5484 Email: info@photosafaris.com Copyright © 2008, Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, Inc.