Posterization? Canon Pixma Pro-100 with Canson Arches 88

[bchristianson]

Greetings!

I've run into issues with posterization and blotchy shadows with the Canon Pixma Pro-100 and Canson Arches 88. I love the paper, but I am having difficulties rendering the shadows properly. The gradation is off and they tend to take on a posterized look. I am printing through Lightroom, managing color profiles through the printer with the Arches 88 profile selected and using the recommended 'Fine Art Paper 1' media setting. The colors match well, but the shadows are struggling! I've never had this issue with other papers... Any ideas? Thanks so much!

Original file... The original image..

.Posterization in front, dark trees 

The print (crappy iPhone photo, hence the colors are whacky) showing the posterization in the dark foreground trees.Posterization in the sky

The print (again, crappy iPhone photo) showing the posterization in the sky. 

[jrhoffman75]

How does the image look if you softproof in LrC and chose simulate paper and ink?

And I always ask this, no insult intended - you confirmed that you are printing on the correct side of the paper?

[bchristianson]

I just tried printing with the Canon ColorSync as the color profile instead of the Arches 88. This eliminated the posterization problem, but the colors are just a bit off... This gives me hope that the paper is more than capable of rendering those shadow details nicely. Now I just need to figure out the correct profile!

[bchristianson]

Great questions! And no offense taken...

1) I've been soft proofing and simulating paper and ink. I've made soft proof copies of the image to life the shadows/blacks in an effort to improve shadow detail. This helped only slightly. The black still prints too strong, resulting in that posterized look.

2) Yes, I am printing on the correct side of the paper. 

Prints on Canon Pro Platinum turned out perfect, but I am really struggling with the Arches 88! I assume there is something I am missing in the color profiling, but can't seem to figure it out.

[bchristianson · Accepted solution]

Alright, the problem is solved! In case anybody else runs in this, this is what I did...

- THE PROBLEM: I was using the 'manage with printer' settings in the Lightroom printing module. In the print dialog box, I then selected the appropriate color profile and media type for the paper. This resulted in blotchy shadow details. No good!

- THE SOLUTION: I, instead, chose to manage the color in Lightroom, choosing the correct paper profile there and 'perceptual' as the rendering intent option. This resulted in a perfect print! No blotchy shadows.