Prints Looking Muddy and Dark - Why is That?
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My prints don’t match my monitor? They look muddy and dark! And I have calibrated my monitor and profiled my printer! Why is this colour management thing not working?
We often hear this type of complaint and statement. Do not worry, you are not alone in making these comments.
But why is this happening? Ok, settle a little, and let's discuss what could be going on here.
What does colour management do and provide?
It can be easy to generalise, point and wag the finger and say I told you so, but first understand that colour management (CM) is an ‘enabling’ technology.
CM enables the above scenarios and but usually requires some input and decision making from you.
AND, importantly, CM will NOT fix BAD colour. If your image capture is under exposed, dark, CM will not fix it, BUT it will communicate the under exposed, dark capture accurately.
CM enables accurate and predicable colour communication, device to device. Fixing bad colour is up to you or someone with image retouching skills, etc.
Just because you have calibrated your monitor and using an ICC profile for your printer output does not guarantee predictable colour.
Yes, but why are my prints looking muddy and dark?
It could be your expectations, combined with a few other things.
Calibrating your monitor is the first step, but this should be done with the correct settings in mind for what you are trying to produce. Settings such as monitor brightness, colour temperature and gamma will all have an influence on the final calibration result. AND, yes you should use a monitor calibration solution from a reputable manufacturer.
Are you looking to obtain a good match between your monitor and your printed output?
You cannot just hold your print next to the monitor and look back and forth to see whether their is a good colour ‘match’ or not. You need to put on your thinking cap, apply some ‘science’ and have realistic expectations about the results that can be achieved.
As stated, properly calibrating your monitor is the first step - but this is just the first step. You need to ‘tell’ your monitor how you would like to print your image - this is called soft proofing. In PhotoShop you would use the View -> Proof Setup option. This will provide options for setting the correct print profile, rendering intent, white point simulation, etc. The same settings used to print your result.
In addition to this you will need to use an ISO 3664 viewing system to confirm your actual print result with that of the monitor soft proof (monitor print simulation).
What!! I hear you exclaim, I need to spend more money?
Well monitor to print colour ‘matching’ does not just ‘happen’. Think carefully what is going on here.
You are viewing a printed result from reflected light, and this lighting should be made up of the same properties as the measurement for your ICC print profile, which is D50 (daylight spectral quality at a correlated colour temp of 5000k).
Then on the other hand you are looking at a monitor, with the displayed image. The monitor is made up emissive RGB light.
We are talking about TWO different viewing and lighting events here and we are trying to TRICK the brain the visualise, check and analyse the result. AND we want both these to look the same or colour match!
This is where we need to have realistic expectations!
CM has enabled soft proofing since ICC profiles became the standardised way for devices to communicate colour.
Soft Proofing is not perfect - it has improved markedly in recent times, but time, equipment, set up and some expense is required in order to achieve an acceptable result.
Are your prints really that muddy and dark? Some point to consider…
We have not covered all the details here but we feel that the fundamentals of soft proofing and printed result expectations should now be a little clearer.
For more information on setting up your Colour Management system, on site Colour Consulting and Colour Management training contact us at info@colourgraphicservices.com
We often hear this type of complaint and statement. Do not worry, you are not alone in making these comments.
But why is this happening? Ok, settle a little, and let's discuss what could be going on here.
What does colour management do and provide?
It can be easy to generalise, point and wag the finger and say I told you so, but first understand that colour management (CM) is an ‘enabling’ technology.
- CM enables proof to print ‘matching’ or monitor to print ‘matching’
- CM enables predictable colour conversion (think RGB to CMYK or CMYK to RGB, for example)
- CM enables predictable colour print output (such as RGB photo print, digital production print, wide format signage and display print, offset and flexo print to name a few)
- CM enables RGB capture to monitor colour predictability.
CM enables the above scenarios and but usually requires some input and decision making from you.
AND, importantly, CM will NOT fix BAD colour. If your image capture is under exposed, dark, CM will not fix it, BUT it will communicate the under exposed, dark capture accurately.
CM enables accurate and predicable colour communication, device to device. Fixing bad colour is up to you or someone with image retouching skills, etc.
Just because you have calibrated your monitor and using an ICC profile for your printer output does not guarantee predictable colour.
Yes, but why are my prints looking muddy and dark?
It could be your expectations, combined with a few other things.
Calibrating your monitor is the first step, but this should be done with the correct settings in mind for what you are trying to produce. Settings such as monitor brightness, colour temperature and gamma will all have an influence on the final calibration result. AND, yes you should use a monitor calibration solution from a reputable manufacturer.
Are you looking to obtain a good match between your monitor and your printed output?
You cannot just hold your print next to the monitor and look back and forth to see whether their is a good colour ‘match’ or not. You need to put on your thinking cap, apply some ‘science’ and have realistic expectations about the results that can be achieved.
As stated, properly calibrating your monitor is the first step - but this is just the first step. You need to ‘tell’ your monitor how you would like to print your image - this is called soft proofing. In PhotoShop you would use the View -> Proof Setup option. This will provide options for setting the correct print profile, rendering intent, white point simulation, etc. The same settings used to print your result.
In addition to this you will need to use an ISO 3664 viewing system to confirm your actual print result with that of the monitor soft proof (monitor print simulation).
What!! I hear you exclaim, I need to spend more money?
Well monitor to print colour ‘matching’ does not just ‘happen’. Think carefully what is going on here.
You are viewing a printed result from reflected light, and this lighting should be made up of the same properties as the measurement for your ICC print profile, which is D50 (daylight spectral quality at a correlated colour temp of 5000k).
Then on the other hand you are looking at a monitor, with the displayed image. The monitor is made up emissive RGB light.
We are talking about TWO different viewing and lighting events here and we are trying to TRICK the brain the visualise, check and analyse the result. AND we want both these to look the same or colour match!
This is where we need to have realistic expectations!
CM has enabled soft proofing since ICC profiles became the standardised way for devices to communicate colour.
Soft Proofing is not perfect - it has improved markedly in recent times, but time, equipment, set up and some expense is required in order to achieve an acceptable result.
Are your prints really that muddy and dark? Some point to consider…
- Use a good standard evaluation test image to colour analysis
- View and look at the printed result in isolation of the monitor under the correct viewing conditions (ISO 3664) - if not available use daylight but not direct sunlight
- What are settings used for monitor calibration? Your monitor may still be too bright to enable soft proofing
- Does your software allow for an accurate print simulation on the monitor? Photoshop and Acrobat have functions for this
- Where is your monitor placed? (Not placed in from of the window) Is it the brightest thing in the room?
- How much influence is there from ambient light and brightly coloured walls, furnishings?
- Am I wearing a brightly coloured top which is reflecting ‘colour’ onto the print?
We have not covered all the details here but we feel that the fundamentals of soft proofing and printed result expectations should now be a little clearer.
For more information on setting up your Colour Management system, on site Colour Consulting and Colour Management training contact us at info@colourgraphicservices.com
