lasers

as in laser printers?......

b

Professional colour calibration uses a device that attaches to the monitor, which you probably can't afford.

If you are using Photoshop, there is an Adobe calibration tool which should be installed in your Control Panel (on windows). On OSX, there is a calibration tool built into System Preferences (under Displays>Colour).

In the end, though, the best thing is going to be printing proofs to check the colour. Even professionals have to do that.

you can go to proof setup in photoshop(i think it is in the view tab) and set it to moniter rgb, i found this setting to be closest to print output.

i was told the printers us cmky so i've been in that setting....

yeah, i also am aware that printers use cmyk color rather than rgb, however, i havent found a closer match for my moniter than the moniter rgb setting, maybe yours is different since they all seem to differ slightly.

I have this problem- I complained at my office until I was given access to the coveted marketing printer.

One thing I have noticed is that ink is absorbed in different ways depending on the paper stock. This has an effect on the contrast of the image.

your screen is rgb. your print is cmyk.

so even when you are looking at your file in cmyk mode, it is an approximation, a cmyk preview.

also, different printers, different paper are different so you should print proofs first. sometimes you can print a series of swatch samples from your work to test without wasting the ink for a full print...

true, a laser video projector would be the best, but it sounds like your interested in something you can bind.

bRink is absolutely right, the "cmyk file" that your may be looking at on your monitor is an approximation and will always be different from what you print because rgb and cmyk conversions are nominal at best. it has to do with absolute colour space(for the nerds out there).

something i keep in mind is that photographs convert from rgb to cmyk print better than pure colours-pure red for example. Also, each print process has its own particularities(digital powder toner printing, inkjet and laser printer) and its own way of converting and interpreting the data that your computer sends to it. you best option is to get to know your printer as bRink suggests. good luck.

my printer has a pantone sample swatch and said to use the cmyk codes on those for the extra graphics...i have a green band at the bottom of the sheets and they come out really dark and some of the other reds/greens appear dark also...... not sure how to adjust since they are all photographed images anywyas....... might see if he can turn the brightness up a bit or something..... i have 16 sheets per set to print

b

When I started to control my own printing, I found myself bumping up brightness and/or contrast fairly often. that would probably help somewhat, though it wouldnt guarantee more vibrant colours. Inkjet printers do a pretty good job of representing rgb colour(especially 8 colour) but true blues, emerald greens and optically pure red lies outside of (cmyk) print capabilities. also, a lot of pantone colours lay outside of what colours cmyk can represent accurately.

RGB


CMYK



using a superbright, glossy paper might help too.

thanks....

you also want to make sure that your monitor is calibrated properly...we got this for our office and it seemed to help some:
http://www.gretagmacbeth.com/index/products/products_color-mgmt-spec/products_cm-for-creatives/products_eye-one-display.htm

I find that the software color-correction Adobe Gamma (comes with PShop) gets you pretty close on a CRT monitor.

Other than that, you should invest in hardware color-correction. I have and like my Gretagmacbeth Eye-One but have heard good things about the inexpensive Pantone Huey.