Why do bright colours look dull in prints? Printing bright colour art/text on cards and products.
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- Опубліковано 18 гру 2022
- Colours that look great on screen can look weak and lack contrast/brightness when printed, especially on cards and other non photo media. Use this printer test image, to test what colours your printer can manage and pick your colours from the print, not what they look like on screen.
This particular test image should be printed _exactly as you would print normally_. It is just a file with strong colours in it. This one is not meant as a general test of print quality.
So if you print your images from a phone - do just that
If you print images from Photoshop with profiles - do that
If you print from some design software with no special colour settings - do that
It is a test image to show the range of colours your printer can manage at your normal print settings, so you can compare the print to what is on the screen. It needs no extra or special colour management or profiles. Even phones and tablets should work with it
If you want test images to check more general print quality, use one of the ones from the test images page below.
All my test images [including this one] are at
www.northlight-images.co.uk/p... - Фільми й анімація
Thank you so much!! This video was clear, concise, and answered my question completely. Great work!
Glad it helped!
Thank you Keith. When trying to make bright colored text, contrast is as important as color value. Text is often out in the middle of a bright white area. The white area tends to wash out the impact of the text color. using a thin black outline of the text improves the perceived contrast for the text giving the illusion the text is brighter. Sometimes a shadow to lift the text off the page an also improve the perceived color. One size doesn't fit all. Enjoy your work!
Thanks - they are all good points for design.
I did this one because someone asked why their brightly coloured text on screen didn't look the same in print.
Only found you about 3-4 weeks ago and already learned so much and I think more importantly I have a better understanding of what and how I am trying to achieve in printing my photos.
Thanks - I really appreciate that!
great simple step. this shows the monitor/printer in a direct and useful way.
Thanks - glad it was of interest!
Thank you🎉
A very smart and simple solution ❤
Thanks!
Great info thanks! Downloaded the image!
Excellent - hope it helps you
Thank you! Very helpful.
Glad it was of use
This is so simple… yet so genius. I was doing a poor man’s version with swatches, but this helped me SO much. Since I’m trying to match a color as exactly as possible, I used my Swatchos with the color I wanted to help distinguish minute difference in the hues (bc holy colors Batman)
Glad it helped!
Awesome!
Thanks
Hi Keith, very helpful video!
Does the paper brand matter when making art prints? I have a pixma pro 200 and I’ve only been using canon paper.
No, not at all if it's a good one..
Remember that neither Canon or Epson make their own paper ;-)
I did a video recently about choosing paper suppliers.
Thank you
You're welcome
Sorry to be off topic.
Hi Keith would just like to say big thank you on your coverage regarding the p5000 I thought at one point I was the only person on the planet who owned one lol as no coverage apart from yours.
I did decide to buy when I first read your in-depth review awhile ago.
Cheers Jamie.
Thanks - I know Epson were quite keen for me to add some videos to the original review ;-)
Hi Keith. Is 2.30am and I'm watching you new videos 😁. I've watched all of them. I love the way you explain everything.
I was wondering if you could guide me on how I can print on some flat packed boxes (wife uses them for sweets) and this are 2mm thick.
I'm thinking to maybe get something similar to an Epson et 8550 with a posster board, cut a space into that board and put the box in there although the box is 2mm (at the bottom as is folded) and then try and figure it out where exactly to print on it the logo/image.
I hope this makes sense.
Thank you,
Thanks - my wife says too much listening to me is not good for your wellbeing... ;-)
2mm is perhaps a little thick for the 8550? - you'll need to check the specs (I have a video looking at printing on poster-board)
Making a print template is good, but will need real care to avoid head strikes
@@KeithCooper Hi. I've seen the 8550 video but that's not thick enough. Anything else that you can suggest please for 2mm (and more) thickness? Thanks
Sorry, nothing I've tested goes above 1.5mm in the specs
Thank you Keith. I've downloaded, saved and used many profiles, but never created a profile of my own, I'm assuming you would create a profile for each of the paper types you want to use ?
Yes, I'll create profiles for each paper I'm testing for a printer review.
That said, the approach in this video is specifically about just using the profiling target as a colour chart to see just what the printer/paper can manage.
This one is partly for all those printing who use no colour management ;-)
Hello Keith,
thank you so much for all of your very interesting videos!
I just got a Canon PRO -200 and your explanations about this printer
and printing in general helped me quite a lot in understanding this
complex topic.
Today I downloaded your colours_srgb-test image and was wondering why
you suggested not use colour management or profiles to print this image.
Do you need to specify the media type?
I used the Canon Pro Platinum Paper and i thought it would always be necessary
to specify the correct profiles in order to get correct colours for the paper you print on.
Thanks for your answer!
Thanks
The colour test images are always printed with colour management - it is only the special media test images which are printed without CM
The B&W test images are printed normally with CM or without if using a B&W print mode.
PS If you've found something on the site not saying this, please let me know and I'll correct it asap
@@KeithCooper Hi Keith, thank you for your answer.
I was a little bit confused about CM in the test image
"Colour target for checking your printer’s range of colours" (colours_srgb-test image) as you said "The test image should be printed exactly as you would print normally - it needs no special colour management or profiles. Even phones and tablets should work."
So is there a difference between the two test images "Media test image" and "Colour target for checking your printer’s range of colours" regarding CM? As I understand both images has to be printed without CM and Media Type.
PS: I printed the test image "Datacolor printer test Image" with CM
and i was very pleased with the result on my Canon PRO -200.
The key is 'as you would print normally'
So if you print from a phone - do so
if you print from photoshop with profiles, do that
I'll update the text to make all this clearer
@@KeithCooper
Thank you Keith, that was helpful.
I think all subscribers of your channel appreciate your quick replies - that is not a matter of course!
Hi. I wonder how about printing on colored paper? I noticed that the result is soooo low quality regardless of the printer I use. I have a pigment ink Epson L11160 A3 printer and on white is great but on colored paper is really bad regardless of the settings I choose. Have you even done printing on colored office paper? Great video, as always.
Thanks
The printer driver and internal firmware all assume a white paper. Remember that there are dots of ink on the paper and in between them clear paper.
It's actually very complex to print on coloured papers and there are commercial printers with white ink which address this precise problem for some uses.
If you also add the fact that coloured paper is unlikely to be correctly coated to take inkjet inks, results are even more likely to be poor.
@@KeithCooper Hi. Thank you for your fast answer. Yes, the result is bad. I was trying to save some ink if the background of the designs are already colored, but is not working well :) Lesson learned. I wish you a great day!
Thank you for posting these videos Keith, you have been a saviour to me since before I bought the Epson ET-8550. I illustrate my own cards in Procreate & wanted to produce some matching gift wrap but I can’t seem to get the colours to match between the 2 types of cards stock I’m using. I’ve done many test prints using CMYK & srgb & also using different file formats and they’re close but not quite close enough to be a matching ‘card & gift wrap’ set! I wondered if you had any thoughts on this? Hope you don’t mind me asking & thank you in advance!
A few thought - CMYK is almost always to be completely avoided unless you are doing work for commercial print and have a knowledge of why there are different 'types' of CMYK
Import the test file here into procreate - print it as normal. This will give you the range of colours that the printer can manage - use that print as a swatch sheet to find the colour in the file which produces the colour you want
Can't say much more since I use Photoshop for everything like this
Hi Keith, many thanks for your reply! Yes, I agree, I found CMYK just printed dull colours so srgb was the way to go! I've downloaded the printer swatch test sheet you've shown in thus video so I'll try it out and hopefully that will help me achieve some consistency. I've used the exact same colours in procreate across all my media so I wonder if it has to do with the variations in cardstock? Not sure if that would affect it. More testing needed I think! Thanks again, your message is much appreciated!
Glad to help - remember that every media is different - this is why colour profiles are used for images. Software like procreate just doesn't 'do' proper colour management.
Of course very few suppliers for card offer profiles and relatively few people using a package like that want to use Photoshop - this is why I did this particular video. It absolutely isn't what I'd ever do, but if it works and is easy for people then it's worth a try ;-)
Thanks Keith! I need to fully learn about colour profiles, that may help somewhat. There's so much to learn! Perhaps I could try Photoshop too. Im super happy with the cards I illustrate & print at the moment so at least u have that! Maybe I'll do giftwrap in a contrasting colour so it doesn't have to match! 😂
This may help. It's the colour management chapter of Martin Evening's excellent book on Photoshop for Photographers
Since you mention Photoshop [version does not matter] this may be what you want...
www.photoshopforphotographers.com/pscs3/download/PSCS3_colmanage.pdf
Hi. Am i missing something please? I've downloaded the colour chart from your link but where do I see the reference numbers please?
You open the file and measure them in whatever editing application you are using.
There are no absolute numbers to give out. The whole point of this process is that it matters not what software or device you are using.
You print the image, open the file and choose what colour in the image matches the print patch you want. That measured colour in the file is then applied where you want it.
This is a deliberately imprecise technique aimed at people using ipads and the like or with no real knowledge of colour management
I see now. That makes sense. Thank you.
Hello Keith, Very interesting channel! Im looking forward to look through your videos. Well.. What if one was to go the other way? I print 60doublesided color pages in ink, to make 120page comicbooks, And I want ofcourse strong colors, But not always.& also.. I want to use minimal ink.. I am now studtying how tho make room between the pixels with still keeping the image sharp,, Maybe you have som tipps on how to go about such goal?
Thanks - Pick your paper, ink and software with care ;-)
Other than that, it's not the sort of printing I do, so I've not much of use to suggest I'm afraid
Merry Xmas 🎄🎆
Thanks - and to you!