baffling image question

[David Loveless]

Just to clarify...

Your problem is that the color on your screen is not what you're
getting from the printer, right?

If so, read on. If not, this is all just FYI.

As you probably know, your monitor uses RGB and your printer
(probably, there are a few RGB printers) uses CMYK. Because those are
different color spaces/gamuts, you *cannot* 100% accurately reproduce
the color on your screen on your printer. It is just impossible.
However, you can get extremely close.

More than likely, either the color profile used by your monitor or the
color profile that is used by your printer is off. Both your printer
and your monitor are probably using default profiles provided by the
manufacturer. You can, however, contact your printer manufacturer and
request a monitor profile customized to that printer. If they don't
have one, you may have to do some searching, but most major printer
manufacturers spend a great deal of time and money making sure they
have good profiles available for their users.

Once you get the new monitor profile, you can apply it to your monitor
by going to the Display Properties dialog (right-click your screen and
select Properties). Go to the Settings tab, click Advanced, and then
select Color Management. This should open up your profiles.

Click the Add button, browse to the new profile, and Add it. The new
profile will match the color space available on your printer to the
color space on your monitor. WARNING: CMYK is a smaller color space
than RGB. You *are* going to notice some color shifts on your monitor.
However, most of your colors will have little to no change, and, more
importantly, you'll get the exact some colors on your printer that you
see on your monitor.

This should fix your problem. If not, there may be a problem with your
printer (dirty heads, age, calibrations are off, etc.), and that will
require some professional assistance. But most, if not all, color
shifts are caused by the difference in your profiles, not by the
printer.

Good luck!

Dave, the color-blind color dude!