Printing, Part Five

Or everything I've learned about getting consistent color with Photoshop, a PowerBook G4, and an Epson R1800.

(See also: part one, part two, part three, and part four.)

Viewing the Print

This is the fun part. You have made a photograph, worked on the image, and made your print.

Once the printer finishes its work, however, yours isn't done. At least, that is, if you are particular about print quality.

I mentioned that prints should dry flat for a day or so before you allow anything to contact the print surface. You should also allow the print some dry-down time before judging its quality. Inks can undergo subtle color shifts while drying, so let the print rest a bit.

View your prints under diffused, full spectrum light. While this seems complicated, for me it means I wait until daylight before making final decisions about print color or quality. Because I do most of my printing at night, I'm depending on artificial light, light that tends to be a little too warm (more red than blue) and not quite bright enough. My prints always look different in daylight. What looked like pure black under a halogen light shows subtle detail in afternoon light. Consider the quality of light where you are doing your printing.

Also be aware of the differences between viewing a print on a monitor, which produces light, and viewing the same print on paper, which reflects light. Neither on-screen images nor printed images should be critically viewed in dim light or bright direct light. The luminous nature of the display and the reflective nature of the printed image will both look off in these conditions; another good reason to withhold judgement until you have the benefit of good illumination.