color management through Lightroom

[Billson]

I'm using Lightroom and getting poor results from my new iP8720 printer.  How do I turn off color management in the printer?

[ebiggs1]

I don't have that model printer but I have several Canon photo printers.  In each case there is a software setting.  You just have to go through your manual and find it.

A couple of things first though as I personally do not like the way LR prints.  You are using Canon brand ink, not any off brand stuff?  Never, never use use off band ink in a Canon photo printer.  Use should use Canon papers, too.  At least until you get is set up the way you want than you can branch out into other papers like Red River.  A top brand of papers.

And last you are using the correct ICC profile?  Very important, always!

[Billson]

Thanks for your helpful reply!  I have a Dell XPS15, which has one of the new high-res screens, and I've calibrated it to greyscale, correctly, I think.  I'm shooting RAW with a new Lumix GX7 camera.  I'm a very amateur photographer and much of this is totally new to me.  I'm still learning LR, and I don't even dare look at PS yet.  In Lightroom, I picked ProPhoto as a color space.  When I go into printer properties for the iP8720, it says the ICC profile is srgb with calibrated display profile 3.ICC.  There's a list of profiles I can pull down, and I have absolutely no idea which one to pick.

[ebiggs1]

 A couple more things here.  Calibrating your monitor, first you don't need any additional gadgets to do this.  You are not a commercial shop, right?  The most importan things are contrast and brightness and gray-scale.  Get these right and all else will be fine.

Use sRGB in LR, too.  There isn't any reason to send colors out of the range of the printer.  The printer will just ignor them.

The ICC Profile MUST match your paper.  What paper are you using?  If it is Canon paper, recommended, there is a Canoon profile for it.

And lastly, it is not possibile to match every single color you are seeing on your monitor.  You are comparing light to pigment and the two ain't the same.

And now really last, get the flesh tones looking good.  People notice this most.  If you are a white person this is a little easier than if you happen to be a black person.  There are just so many shades of darker skined people than lighter ones.  I find it the most challenging and the most rewarding when they look at the photo and say "Wow".

[Billson]

Thanks again, ebiggs1.  So just keep it simple, don't get too ambitious, and pay attention, right?

[ebiggs1 · Accepted solution]

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