[IanHoughton]

I started a thread elsewhere regarding some entries into a mono competition tomorrow. I'm trying to print them out tonight but keep getting a green colour cast. I've used the channel mixer to create the mono images from the colour originals and have printed them using the profile for the paper (Galerie Pearl). I've tried increasing the magenta and / or decreasing the cyan in the printer driver with very little results. I've now printed out using the profile and the grayscale setting in the printer driver with slightly better results. Am i negating all my work with the channel mixer (i thought this created better contrast in mono images) by printing with the grayscale setting. My printer is a Canon i6600D.

[dabhand16]

I remember a thread from some time ago regarding colour casts in mono prints. I think Rob eventually cracked it. I'll try to find it, but in the meantime, have you got the printer set up to be controlled by PS? That is, not set to auto correct.

If your printer is a two cartridge type, you might find yourself looking at a new printer soon.

[IanHoughton]

Originally Posted by Dabhand16

have you got the printer set up to be controlled by PS? That is, not set to auto correct.

No the printer profile for the paper tells you to select the option "Let the printer determine colours"

Originally Posted by Dabhand16

If your printer is a two cartridge type, you might find yourself looking at a new printer soon.

I hope not, i've only just bought this one !! It has 5 colour and 1 black cartridge and prints very good colour prints. This is the first time printing proper mono images, I understand that they can be very difficult to get right.

[fionaB]

i have a canon i9950 and I also get a green cast on most of my mono prints. i have the printer set to be controlled by PS........ havent a clue but it may be a canon thing. i have heard that although canon do supreme Colour prints Epsons may be better at mono.

Fi

[dabhand16]

Originally Posted by IanHoughton

No the printer profile for the paper tells you to select the option "Let the printer determine colours"



I hope not, i've only just bought this one !! It has 5 colour and 1 black cartridge and prints very good colour prints. This is the first time printing proper mono images, I understand that they can be very difficult to get right.

Does the paper profile say that letting the printer control the colours apply to mono as well a colour prints? Have you tried a print with the auto settings off to see if there is a difference?

[garys]

I have the same problem most of the time. I have a Epson r200 and if I set it to 'Black only" it seems to do alot better but I have to constantly tweak brightness and contrast.
Hope we get the post from Roy.

[IanHoughton]

Originally Posted by IanHoughton

No the printer profile for the paper tells you to select the option "Let the printer determine colours"

Sorry, checked again and it says "Let Photoshop determine the colours". Either way it makes no difference !!

[Dave Canon]

This is clearly a problem that many suffer from. For a 5 colour printer, using the black ink only avoids any colour cast but you will have no more than 50 grey levels which is not very good. Using all colours produces the more subtle tonals range but you risk colour casts. This is very critical on ink/paper combinations etc. I have found the results from my Epson 1270 alright when all colours are used for monochrome but not comparable with darkroom prints or specialised monochrome ink jet printers.

To overcome these disadvantages, I started using the duotone facility in Photoshop which intentionally adds one extra colour to you greyscale image. Duotone actually provides Tri -tone and Quadtone as well and invariably, I actually use tri-tone or Quadtone to create final print which is still monochrome but may be slightly warm or cool etc. Since I have been doing this, I have had resonable success in competitions.

I think a better solution would be a specialised Monochrome printer i.e. an Epson 2400 or older printers converted for Lyson or permajet small gamut inks.

If you are really stuck with a printer which cannot produce a good monochrome, why not go for sepia toned or similar. The problem is that humans can easily detect a very small bias from neutral grey but we have no such fixed reference about sepia toning so it does not need to be precise.

[garys]

Dave, do you know if the printing features you wrote about for PS are in PSE?

[Dave Canon]

No Duo-tone is not featured in Elements though it was available in earlier versions of PS; I think from about v6 onwards. However, you can easily apply general toning such as sepia toning in Elements. It does not need to be strong toning to overcome the colour casts that Ian mentioned.