I've been trying to print neutral b&w photos from Photoshop (Stylus Photo EX, Epson Photo paper) with little luck. I've tried both rgb and grayscale files. I've searched many forums/sites, and short of using special ink/media, can't seem to find a good answer. Anyone out there have any secrets/techniques/luck? Thanks.

-- Ringo Santiago (ringos@asheragency.com), June 23, 2000

Answers

Ringo, We need a much more detailed explanation of what you are trying to do in order to help. Which version of Photoshop are you using, which printer are you printing to. If you are using an Epson printer then you need to send it a RGB file, but you will probably need to do some major tweaking of your printer profiles. This is really not terribly difficult, but it will take some time and materials. Whoops, see that you are using a Stylus EX. Epson is the best going. If you have Photoshop 5.0.x or higher then be sure that you run Adobe Gamma to set your monitor. From this point you need to modify your printer profiles to match your monitor view. Go to http://www.adobe.com and navigate to the user-to-user forums. You will have to register, but it is well worth your time to post questions such as this there. These, as am I, are professionals dealing with these issues each and every day, and you will find a tremendous amount of useful information on this site Fred

-- fred (fdeaton@hiwaay.net), June 23, 2000.

One quick thing that comes to mind is that in some cases you need to make sure that the printer driver is set for color, not black & white output as you would expect. This can make a HUGE difference depending on the way grays are rendered compared to strictly using black ink droplets. Give it a try -if you haven't already.

Good Luck!

-- Gerald M. Payne (gmp@francomm.com), June 23, 2000.