how to color match with home printer?

[menace]

So I have these decals from a machine that I want to reproduce--they are about postage stamp size adhesive glossy prints (drop targets on a pinball machine) my problem is that I can't match the red color.  if i take a drop of the red ink it's very close but when it prints a scanned image of the decal it comes out orangey--so the computer is converting the color to something off.  My question is what settings do i need to adjust in photoshop so that the real world color can be produced by the printer (hp 5550)--currently the colorspace is rgb if that helps.

[Vigo]

There are two method I have done to color match.

The first way is to adjust the color balance on the printer. I think you go to your printers and faxes folder in the control panels. right click your printer and go to properties. HP printers usually have some sort of "color management" adjustment setting. I play with those settings and use a trial and error way to adjust the color...

I know there are professional kits that you can but that gives you a bunch of swatches and imagery to print and it tells you what to adjust based on what colors are off, but I never botherd buying anything like that.

The second method, since you have photoshop, is to just adjust the colors on the image. in photoshop, got to Image>Adjustments>Color Balance and adjust colors levels from the sliders. Since you will probably save time and money by just eyeballing it up, I would use a color wheel to guide you in the process.



you said that you image was "orangey", just go the opposite direction on the color wheel and make it more violet colored. Hopefully this will balance it out to a red color. I think...it's been a while for me.


Also, check your ink levels. low ink can screw up your color balance as well.

[releasedtruth]

Well, first off your colorspace needs to be CMYK. When you're working with print, throw out rgb entirely. You may have to set up a color bar to match it. Start with the color you think it is visually, then make a graduated series of bars that are darker by shades and print them. Make sure you're printing on similar medium too. You'll be able to find the closest match and fine tune. A little tedius, but home printers aren't the most accurate printing blind.  Add a little more black every time to the bars if you've maxed the magenta. It could be a little more crimson than your eye would tell you.

[Vigo]

good point with the cmyk. to adjust to cmyk in photoshop, go to Image>Mode>CMYK

[menace]

I tried the cmyk--came out orange--changed the red into the magenta--came out purple orange.  So I taked to my buddy at xerox--said that red is hardest color to do since alot of companies use a lithographic process to get it (i.e. machine is loaded with premixed dye of ther appropriate color)  going to keep trying different color combos as per the color wheel (thx for posting that!)

[PoDunkMoFo]

Don't convert to CMYK (that's only if you are printing on an offset press).  An inkjet printer actually has a larger gamut (color range) than an offset printer.  By converting to CMYK you may be throwing out color possibilities.

Do a search for and download a color chart, pantone if possible.  Import the chart into whatever app you will be printing from and print the red tones.  Use the eyedropper to copy the value in the chart you liked best to the image you will be printing.  As someone said use a similar paper to what your final print will be.

[odysseyroc]

for CMYK, the closest to "pure" red is 100m100y. From there you need to decide whether you want to shift toward magenta or orange. Red pretty unruly in CMYK, I've had jobs come back from the printer and half the run was orangy, the other half was more violet.