Services

Custom Printer Profiles

We are pleased to offer an affordable Custom Printer Profiling service to other photographers and digital artists.

The goal of printer profiles are to have your prints match what you see on your monitor. A profile will direct your printer to print to a known standard. If your monitor is not well-calibrated, printer profiles will not help, see step one. While there are generic or canned profiles available for most printer and papers types the way to get the most accurate prints is by using a custom profile for each ink & paper type you use with your printer. We feel this is extremely important if you are selling your prints.

Profiling Options:

Generally most will create profiles for the D50 (indoors) viewing situation. Some might want to get the profiles targeted for D65 viewing light (outdoors). This is why we supply you both profiles for the same price.

What printers we profile:

The Gregtag Macbeth software and hardware we use can profile any printer. Printers from Epson, Canon & HP seem to be the ones we get the most requests for.

How to order:

Our price is - $50 per profiled target (Printer/ ink/ paper combination) You will receive both a D50 & D65 profile for each target.

FREE email technical support for 25 days from profile delivery date.

NO REFUNDS – Producing a printer profile is a service. Once created the work is done and is not something that can be returned. If there is a problem with the profile we will re-create it from the original supplied target once for free. If the problem is the result of a bad target, we cannot be responsible for this. In this case the customer would be changed for re-creating a new profile(s)

We cannot do special tweaking to profiles, this would require us to be on site with the printer.

You have only the license to use the created profile on your printer and are not allowed to distribute it in any way.

Steps to follow:

1. Profile your Monitor

A printer profile is not wrong just because you see a very different result on paper vs on the screen. We would not recommend purchasing custom printer profiles if you can’t profile your monitor. We recommend the Gregtag Macbeth Eye-One Display for profiling just your monitor.

2. Download targets

Download and print one of the inkjet targets below. The targets come in two variations. Please only send one set:

a) 2 targets to be printed on 2 letter sized papers (A4 targets ZIP file)

b) 1 target to be printed on one A3 sheet of paper (A3 target ZIP file)

If you are using a Dye-Sub printer please contact us for the target to use for these printers.

3. Printing the Targets

First make sure your printer’s nozzles are clean, by do a nozzle check, and the insure the print print head is properly aligned. After you print the target(s) you should redo the nozzle check. If it is not correct destroy the target(s) you just printed, clean the heads/nozzles and start again. Should an ink cartridge run out while printing your target(s) you need to change it and print a new target. Discard the one that was in process when the ink ran out. Skipping these steps will cause your profile to be inaccurate and the only way it can be corrected is by starting over with the profiling procedure, which will require re-payment also.

We are only describing the way to use the targets with Photoshop and the Epson drivers. Other programs and print drivers are similar. If you use a RIP then you have to follow the instructions, which came with your RIP.

This is very important. Do not change the targets in any way (no resizing, no change of DPI, etc.). Don't color manage while loading these targets into Photoshop (ie: no profile assignment or conversion). The prints have to be made in landscape mode so that 100% of the target is printed on the paper.

In the print driver select a paper that is exactly the paper you are using (in case of Epson papers) or one which comes close.
REMEMBER (write down) these settings for all targets you print! You will need to set the print driver to the same settings for use with your profile(s)

In the advanced dialog we recommend using the following options, however you may use any setting you like. Printer Color Management must remain OFF "No Color Adjustment":

1440/2880 DPI (might be lower if you aim for speed, but a profile made for 1440 will not work for 720 and vice versa.
High speed off
REMEMBER (write down) these settings too for all targets you print! You will need to set the print driver to the same settings for use with your profile(s).
Tip: Use the “Save Settings” option to save these setting for recalling in the future.

3b) Settings in Photoshop

Then use as target profile "Same as source" in Photoshop (You find the dialog in Photoshop under the menu item "Print with Preview"):which means that Photoshop is not doing any profile-to-profile mapping and print the target as is.

Print a target for each paper type you want a profile created for. Re-adjust the print driver settings as necessary for each paper type. Remember a target created for Premium Luster paper will not print correct on other papers.

4. Payment and Sending the Targets

We accept Payment either by Paypal or by enclose a check or money order with targets. All funds need to be in U.S. Dollars. Checks & money orders must clear before profiles will be produced. Checks & money orders should be made out to Bill Tucker. The button below will allow you to send your Payment via PayPal.

Make sure your e-mail address in enclosed with the targets as e-mail is how we will deliver your profiles.

Send the printed targets to us by U.S. Mail (best in a stable mailing tube or well protected, write "do not bend" on the envelope). Also write which paper, printer, ink (matte or photo black), DPI was used at the bottom of each sheet of paper (also 1of2, 2of2 if you use two letter sized prints). You can also use Post-it Notes for notes as to what paper is what. Write the note first then attach to back of print.

Note: Do not write on the back, left or right side of the target! Do not roll thicker fine art papers (e.g. watercolor paper) otherwise we have a hard time due to curl. Do not use staples or paper clips!

Also it is a good idea to send me a short e-mail that the target prints are in the mail. That way we can notify you if they should not arrive.
Here is our mailing address:

Bill Tucker
P.O. Box 495931
Port Charlotte, FL 33954-5931

If you're needing to send by courier (UPS, FED-EX, DHL) contact us first for an alternate shipping address.

5. Creating the profiles

When we have gotten both your payment and your printed targets we will create the profile(s) requested and send them back to you by e-mail.

If the print is of poor quality or we encounter other problems we will contact you also by e-mail.

6. Using the profiles:

Put the profiles into your WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\color (PC) or ColorSync (Mac) folder and restart Photoshop. For each paper ensure that the printer driver settings are EXACTLY the same as at the time of printing the targets.

Now you enable color management in Photoshop and use your new profile.
as print space / printer profile. Note the difference in the Print with Preview screens from above and below. These were taken different versions of PhotoShop. The one below is the most current from CS2.

While monitors require re-calibrating fairly often this is not true for desktop inkjet printers as long as the inks and papers are staying consistent. It is however important to keep the heads clean and in alignment. As the print head wears or any major repair (like a head replacement) you will need to have new profiles created.