Hi;
I started playing around with a canon Pixma 8750 Printer; to hang some prints at home and give to family members. The first print I tried to make was for an old frame I have and want to keep: 395 x 300 mm.
I put the image through soft proofing (made a rookie mistake there) and then ran the printer setup: Fed it an A3+ paper (Super A3) and in my print-module I set it the cell height to 39,5CM and the width to 30. I take the Margins all the way down to the lowest value and press print.
The print comes out, too red and too big 304mm wide and 399mm high. The color problem I figured out, I had to tick the ‘color/intensity Manual adjustment’ box in the setup of the printer (at least I think, will get myself some 10x15s of the same paper to test).
When reviewing my settings I noticed I had the option ‘borderless printing’ ticked too. When hovering over there it says the image will be enlarged slightly to create a borderless print. Is this the cause of my problem? I’d assume the printer/lightroom/computer is smart enough to realize I’m printing an image at an expected size on a paper that is ‘too big’ anyway (so there will be a border whatever you do) and then overrule that setting?
For domestic prints, don’t worry about color profiles or setting any other micro-detail. Just crop the photo to the same aspect ratio. Do not bother calculating the print size vs pixel size. Use all the resolution your photo has, and the RIP and print process will do the rest for you.
For a good quality print, use photo paper, gloss or mate, but the specific settings will depend on the printer itself and from which software you are printing too.
I work in the printing business for large format vinyl, paper and mesh prints. I rarely worry about a photo color profile. Even with a big printer and RIP software, the images are printed with great colors.
And this reminds me, set your monitor colors to neutral. Do not use “warm” or “cold” color schemes in the monitor menu. Use your operating system color calibration utility and you"re set.