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Print Colours not true in All Programs on My MacBook Pro

Hi:



I'm having colour issues with printing in all programs.


The colours are muted and dark. Eg. Royal Blue becomes a Denim Blue. A bright pink become a dusty rose. Reds are orange. Lime Green becomes Forest Green.


I have an HP 7500A printer. I experinced this difficulty with my old printer when I first got my Mac the printer was blamed and as it was 10 years old and dying I accepted that. Now my brand new printer has the same issue.


I've change the printer profiles in Pages and General CKMY is closest to true it reduces the muting but the colours are still dark and the shades are off. It slows the printer big time. Automatic or Vendor is awful the colours are so far off.


The issue is worse on my own Mac specific creations but is persistant through out all programs iPhoto, Pages, Safari, Adobe Elements 9, Mail etc.


I've been working with HP and they can't figure it out. They have sent me a new print head and are sending me another one. Uninstalled and reinstalled the printer software.


I've quereyed help and looked through system settings etc and can't see where to fix or change the colour settings with in the Mac itself.


😕 Can anyone out there shed some light on this.


Pantheria

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.8), Snow Leopard

Posted on Jun 21, 2013 5:33 PM

Reply
35 replies

Jun 22, 2013 8:26 AM in response to Old Toad

Thanks Old Toad.


When I went in to ColorSync today to take a screenshot the profiles are all there it's weird. the only HP profiles are for the fancy photo and brochure papers.


I will be uninstalling and reinstalling all the software and drivers for the printer. HP wants me to wait until the new printhead is installed. When I went to their webpage lastnight I discovered they no longer have drivers for

Mac OS X 10.6.8. I may have to bite the bullet and upgrade to Mountain Lion.


Pantheria

Jul 3, 2013 4:57 PM in response to Pantheria

Hi:


I posted this in the Mac book Pro Forum as well. I started here so felt I should update this one aswell.


I upgraded to Mountain Lion and HP sent me a new printer. Neither solved the issue. I still get dark, muted shades when I print. As I showed in the post above.


Can anyone walk this Mac green horn through resetting my colour palletes on my Mac Book Pro. That is all I can think of unless someone has a better idea. Sledge hamer is looking very good right now.


All day yesterday at an internet cafe downloading Mountain Lion then the subsequent updates. Today installing the new printer downloading all it's software, drivers and updates.


All I want to do is print my creations the way I create them with the colours at least reasonably true.


😟

Jul 4, 2013 6:26 AM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad wrote:



I still get dark, muted shades when I print.


Change the color profile to sRGB on one of those photos and try printing again. I've read that CMYK tend to print dark and muddy on inkjet printers.

Hi Old Toad:


I did as suggested. It did improve the vibrancy the prints are not nearly as muted or dusty. The colours however, are even darker then before. 😕


This is now this and This is nowthis Purples, and Pinks and blues are off but the greens seem to be the most off from the original shades.


Pantheria

Jul 4, 2013 9:29 AM in response to Pantheria

Lets go back to the begining


For iPhoto you must use RGB color profiles - not CYMK

This is the color profile fo the photo - not the color profile you are printing with - you can see the color profile by exporting the photo nad using the inspector in Preview


And I note in your screen shot you have slected Adobe RGB - Adobe RGB does produce dark prints with muddy colors


And the other issue is the color calibration of your screen -- if it is wrong you will never get what you want - your computer does not "look" at yoru photos and print them like that - you look at them by using one profile to display on a light based system and a totally different profile and conversion system creates the image for the dye based printing


Try a new photo taken using sRGB and the default setting for your display and printer and see what happens -- often "bad" colors are a function of user fiddling too much and using all default setting is better - expecially if you are not an expert and do not have professional calibrating equipment


LN

Jul 4, 2013 9:30 AM in response to Pantheria

Chacning the printer profile to sRGB doesn't change the profile that is embedded in the image file.


You can change the profile with ColorSync Utility or download and this Automator workflow app, Convert to JPG and Embed sRGB profile, whic is downloadable from Toad's Cellar.


Export a photo to the desktop using File ➙ Export ➙ File Export and Size = Original. Unzip the app and drop the file on the app. Import the converted file into iPhoto and try printing again.

Jul 4, 2013 10:00 AM in response to LarryHN

Hi LarryHN:


Please note the Adobe selection is automatically highlighted when I open the widow and is not saved. I have to choose to keep any of these profies as defaults unless I have selected them as defaults which I have not.


I may be new to the Mac but I am not new to printing. I did desktop publishing for many years. I no longer do it as a business just for the pleasure of creating. I merely printed from each of the profiles to see if any would improve the colour. The CKMY was closest to true.


As noted earlier the issue is systemic throughout all programs not just iPhoto and this thread was posted here by accident and I have posted as well in the MacBook Pro forum.


I know nothing about calibrating the screen colours as far as I know I haven't attempted to. I did go in and view the profiles in Colour Sync but changed nothing as I was unfamiliar with it and didn't know what to change or how.

Jul 4, 2013 10:19 AM in response to Old Toad

Hi Old Toad:


As I noted to LarryHN.


This issue is systemic in all programs not just iPhoto.


I haven't attempted to change anything in Color Sync as I wasn't sure what to change or how to change it. I did look at it as noted earlier to see what profiles where available. I noted when I was in Color Sync previously there was an option for darker or lighter. Couldn't find that option when I upgraded to Mountain Lion.


I am not entirely green I have had my Mac and {wouldn't go back} now for a little over two years. It does take some getting used to. I am not afraid to explore and look through things but when I don't have and idea what I'm looking for or what needs changing it makes it challenging to say the least.


When I got the MacBook Pro and the old printer had colour issues. I was told it was my printer {which was aged and tired}. When that printer finally died and I got this one. My Mac is now off warrenty and the issue is much worse then it was with the old printer.


The Mac @ Works store where I bought this is now closed down. There are no Mac tecs close here now. I haven't checked the web site for that recently so there may be one.

Jul 4, 2013 10:26 AM in response to Pantheria

And the results of this test?


Try a new photo taken using sRGB and the default setting for your display and printer and see what happens -- often "bad" colors are a function of user fiddling too much and using all default setting is better - expecially if you are not an expert and do not have professional calibrating equipment

LN

Print Colours not true in All Programs on My MacBook Pro

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