Harman paper profile issue??

pauld

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I have just received a sample of Harman baryta gloss paper for use with my Canon P9000 mki. Have downloaded the profile and installed. On soft proofing in LR5 it looks sort of misty/soft when compared to Canon Pro Platinum/Hahnemule pearl and on print lacks the clarity and seems to have a very slight magenta tinge. Every one raves about this paper so i am obviously doing somethihg wrong. Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
The first thing I would do is re download the profile, making sure it's the correct one. OK may sound stupid, but you first need to eliminate the blindingly obvious. If you still have similar results print your test image using the 'PRINTER option rather than a profiled output. OK it may not be 100% accurate, but it will tell you if the profile is clipping the colours in the print.

You should also check the printer settings in LR just to make sure you are not double profiling. Probably not as you get good results with other paper, but its worth checking.
 
John

Thanks have now tried two profiles to no avail but will re download. On the gamut check in s/p there is no issue. Printer route is a good idea. Have been trying a range of papers and Canon's own is looking the best with Hahnemule pearl close of course my printer is dye inks so perhaps not surprising.
 
Paul
Just had a look at the the Harman profile and compared it to Hahnemula Fina Art Pearl. The gamut of Harman paper is smaller than that of the Hahnemuhla paper. The Ilford Gold Fibre Silk is bigger than both of them. OK one point is that the Ilford paper profile is for my Epson 2880 printer, so that may not be a 100% reliable comparison.

STOP PRESS

Just downloaded the Ilford profile for your printer and it's very similar. You might want to try the Ilford paper, but from past experience the gamut is similar to the Hahnemula product, but there is a slight difference in surface texture. I preferred the Ilford surface, but there wasn't much in it

Hope this helps a bit

John C
 
John

Will have a look but still cannot figure out why it seems soft. The Hahnemuhle Baryta is at the other extreme and looks great except for the magenta cast, now if i could get rid of that..
 
Paul

You might want to have a look at the printer options in Lightroom. Try selecting a print dpi of 720. Most printers have a natural resolution of around 720 or 1400 dpi. If your machine is similar than keeping the the printing resolution at a multiple of 360 make things easier for the interpolation part of the printing software. Although to be honest I don't think this should really affect the apparent sharpness. The other adjustment to do is set the print sharpening to High. I don't think their is much difference between low and medium, so High should help. You could also try changing the type of paper surface you select. Try Matt and Lustre options. Generally these control the ink laydown. It may be that the Harman paper is being "over inked " If none of these help the I'm afraid I'm out of ideas. You could try contacting Harman direct and see if they've got any sugestions. Alternativly stick with the papers that give you good results.

The problem with generic profiles is just that. They are generic. There will always be some slight variation with them, some will be worse than others. An option would be to have a custom profile made. There are several companies that for a small fee produce them for you. Someone like the imaging warehouse, based just outside Stratford upon Avon offer this. You simply buy a book of vouchers, and they will produce custom profiles for you. There web site is here http://www.theimagingwarehouse.com/. I've not used them but they seem to do a good job from what I hear. There are probably others who offer the service

The other option , and this depends on the cast you have is to put a small offset into you print output. Now this works provided it's only a small cast, and is overall not limited one part of the image. i.e highlights. With the image on the screen compare it to the print, and adjust the screen to match the print. ( don't save anything) . Now apply an equal but opposite correction. For example if you need ( in Lightroom) a -10 correction on the green/magenta tint control to match the print. change this to a +10 . I'd suggest you do this either using a virtual copy, or preferably to the soft proofed copy.

Ideally getting your printer profiled ( and it's not that expensive) is the ideal way to go, but whilst you are experimenting with papers the colour correction method may be the easiest option

John C
 
Cheers John much food for thought here ...i am actually thinking of changing my printer from dye to pigment ink mainly because of B&W. The PRO 9000 has served me well and does excellent colour gloss prints but working with non Canon papers it does not seem to produce the same quality, it is of course about 6 years old - so debating EPSON or new Canon. Of course second hand printers are worth even less than camera bodies :)
 
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