I'm fairly new to color management, but so far, it's been a NIGHTMARE. I'm hoping I can get some guidance on what to try next 😃
I'm not printing photos, I'm printing digital artwork. Each piece has a limited color palette, close to 10-15 colors. I thought that would make it easier, but it doesn't seem like it so far. I did what I think a lot of new people do - made something in photoshop, printed it out, and despaired at the color discrepancy. I started researching color management, learned about ICC profiles, but couldn't find any for my printer (an old Brother office printer). I decided to buy a ColorMunki Photo so I could calibrate my monitor and my printer. I also purchased some Canon Semi-Gloss 8x10 photo paper, three different types of sticker paper from onlinelabels.com, cause I figured the ColorMunki would solve all my color problems.
I got the ColorMunki, profiled both devices, and did a few test prints. They weren't any better than the ones without a profile - different, but not really better. I was getting closer results printing from Chrome without any color management on some pieces!
I posted on Reddit, and the general consensus was my printer just wasn't up to snuff. I'd been eyeing the Pixma Pro 100 for more than a year, it was on sale, so I bought it. Profiled it, printed, and the results were again slightly better, but still not good.
I did some more research and came across DisplayCAL, which is a more detailed version of the ColorMunki default software? Again, I saw a slight improvement.
I'm now looking at getting a new monitor, but this is getting INSANELY expensive, and I'd like to be sure I've exhausted all other options first. A new monitor is looking like it'll be $400+, and not as large as the one I'm currently using. I really like my current monitor. I've got a show in two weeks. Right now, I'm doing guess and check color correction, just so I have SOMETHING printed to sell. I've used over half my original pack of 50 paper on this, but at least it's pretty cheap on Amazon right now.
The prints tend to come out much darker and less saturated than they appear on screen. I was able to get the largest improvement yet by turning my monitor brightness and contrast down very low (it actually makes it difficult for me to use the monitor for anything other than color correcting at these settings), much lower than the PhotoMunki was saying they should be, using either version of the software.
I've profiled both my monitor and my printer dozens of times. I really have no idea what to try. Whatever I do, it seems like my monitor is displaying colors that my printer just won't print.
Other info:
- We bought daylight balanced bulbs for my workroom, it can be either SUPER bright, normal indoor lighting, or dark. Makes little difference.
- I've tried setting the image mode to both RGB and CMYK and haven't noticed a difference.
- I've tried using Edit > Convert to Profile - Adobe RGB, sRGB, the printer profile from the ColorMunki, the default Canon 100 profile.
- Uninstalled f.lux after realizing I forgot to deactivate it during one of the monitor profiling attempts.
