Monday, September 12, 2016

Custom Printer Color Codes

I bought the new HP T120 printer specially to print 60" long photos. As can be seen in the previous post, the Monet garden came out pretty good. However, I did run across some limitations. The documentation did not support canvas media which is what I use. By not supporting a given type of media, that means that there aren't 'color codes' that tell the printer how to represent colors. In addition, the paper cutter wasn't powerful enough to cut the heavy cotton canvas I had been using. Information from another HP T120 owner indicated that he was able to use a lighter weight polyester woven material. I found that the cutter was able to trim this material. However, I was not pleased with the colors I was getting on a number of different photos. When reading a detailed article on printing in Outdoor Photographer, I ran across a discussion about 'custom color codes,' There are companies that can taylor your printer to your paper. They supply 'targets' that can be printed and sent to these folks which are scanned from which a digital file of codes is created. When the codes are installed on your computer, more accurate colors are printed. I tried several of these companies before I was satisfied with the results. Above is my latest print of the Chateau de Chambord which is framed and on my wall in my home.