Blacks shifting to greenish under daylight?

MichaelKnight

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A few weeks ago I bought an Epson Ecotank L3060 all-in-one printer.For a while it's photo printing was very good.I was looking at the prints in my room under artificial lighting and I have 4 different lighting types in my room, photos were looking very good(at least to me) under all of them.

But then I looked at them when I was near a window in daylight and I noticed greenish tint in places where it should be black and gray tones(not black and white picture). Also I noticed that in general the blacks were not dark much,they were like very dark blue under artificial light and greenish under daylight.I was printing the photos using Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper and selecting the setting " Epson Premium Glossy" under printer settings. Then I tried changing setting to "plain paper" and printed on a Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper again. This time blacks were darker, they were "black like blacks" and didn't shift colors under daylight.

For example, I think blacks should have no green tint on this photo(original):

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/351468503628-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

But when I print this photo using "Epson Premium Glossy " setting, in the printed photo the mask on the lady's face has greenish tints when I look at it near a window in daylight, but there is no greenish tint when I look at it under artificial lighting in my room. Also note that although under daylight there are greenish tints on her mask on her face(on printed photo), I perceive no greenish tone on the black tube/bottle even under daylight.

I wondered if I was perceiving the greenish tint wrongly.To be sure, today I asked to my mother that what color the mask on the lady was,on the printed photo,under daylight.She said "black", then I asked if she was seeing other colors too, then she said "gray" , and I asked if she was seeing any other color on the mask and she said "green"...

How can I solve this problem without using "plain paper" setting and buying another printer?
 
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stratman

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It sounds like you are describing Metamerism or Pseudo-Metamerism, where a color on the printed page may change (color cast) depending on the light source.

Read the following for a description and potential soluions: http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/Metamerism_Article

Are you using OEM Epson ink specific for your printer?

Have you tried different papers?

You've already noticed how changing the paper type to Plain Paper, which alters how the ink is laid down on the paper, can affect color cast issues.

FYI -- Optical Brighteners added to some papers an complicate Metamerism: https://www.hunterlab.com/blog/colo...rightening-agents-in-paper-color-measurement/
 

Ink stained Fingers

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You always should judge print quality at daylight, or only at artificial light with a high CRI - color rendition index - and a defined color temperature, or at most using a fluorescent daylight tube, that will show you the problems with the blacks but otherwise not give you a correct color balance.
The printer in glossy mode is mixing the dark/black tones only with the CMY colors not using the black ink but as you found out already how you can make it look better
Then I tried changing setting to "plain paper" and printed on a Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper again. This time blacks were darker, they were "black like blacks" and didn't shift colors under daylight.
Use the 'matte' paper setting, that will use as well the black ink, and it should look o.k.
The printhead Epson is using in this printer model is widely used since years like in office type printer as the WF2010W which all used 4 pigment inks or 3 dye inks CMY and a pigment black , and since such pigment black ink as a matte ink is useless on glossy papers. Epson just continues to use these basic driver settings for the color/ink use even if the printer now uses CMYK dye inks altogether. You have the same effect/secret driver limitation with other printers, combos and ITS-L series printers as well using this printhead, just use the matte paper selection instead of a glossy setting.
Some of the effects had been discussed in this thread
https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/can-durabrite-printers-be-used-for-photo-printing.10972/
with the essence to use the matte paper selection to get the black ink printing
 
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MichaelKnight

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Thanks for your answers.

Are you using OEM Epson ink specific for your printer?
I am using the inks which they installed when I bought the printer.(they are supplied by Epson)

Have you tried different papers?
Tried using Hp Premium Glossy photo paper , I don't remember if blacks looked green under daylight or not but under artificial light they were not looking like real blacks, instead more like a dark blue.

Ink stained Fingers, thanks for your explanaiton,also I have looked at the thread you mentioned and I think both your explanation and the thread explain my problems with blacks and the solution(or semi-solution,to use "Epson Matte" setting), thank you.
 
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MichaelKnight

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I asked Epson support again and tried to tell them but they don't accept it.They say that it's printhead should be cleaned by their technical service.

I want to post here the photos which I printed, both original and after-print(then took a photo of the photopaper using my smartphone,under daylight) but how can I post those photos without breaking forum rules? I mean I am not the owner of the photos(one of them is a photo of Brad Pitt and Angelina) and in another forum a moderator had deleted my post cause of that(it was a different photo and I had a bit different problem with my printer).
 
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Ink stained Fingers

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you may take a photo yourself, e.g. without persons, your garden, pets, your car, landscape, city view whatever showing the problem you have with the printer, it doesn't need to win a contest for this purpose
 

MichaelKnight

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Ok, I cropped some parts of a pic of my family(I removed my family from the photo actually by dividing the photo), taken at a hotel, I didn't take the photo but we bought the photo, so we are the owner of the photo.

The original photo:
http://www.filedropper.com/originalphoto_1

The photo after I printed to a Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper using "Epson Premium Glossy" setting and then scanned with the same device:
http://www.filedropper.com/problem2


If you compare these photos,I think the problem in the second photo is obvious but if you can't notice it I will tell, from my perception. (I don't want to tell it now cause I don't want to affect you)

Also I chose this photo cause the problem is visible and I had already printed that photo, I don't want to use more ink(because it seems like I will send this printer to Epson technical service,I am still writing emails/receiving emails from Epson support)
 
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Ink stained Fingers

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I can't download the problem2 image, please rather upload the images here directly, you have an easy function
'Upload a File' available, you upload the file (s) and you have the choice whether you don't show them in your text but just a download link is visible or show a thumbnail or the complete image.
 

MichaelKnight

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originalphoto.jpg
problem2.jpg


Thanks for your answer,here they are.
 

Ink stained Fingers

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you are right, the 2nd print does not look good at all. But please clarify some details -

you purchased picture 1 , as a copy, on paper 4x6" whatever by a party photographer
and did you get the image file, the .jpg file as well with this deal ?
And you printed that .jpf file yourself which got that bad as you show above.
Or did you scan that 1st image to duplicate by printing it another time ?
And then scanning this print again to show how bad it looks ?
I'm jsut trying to understand how many copy/print/scan activities that image went through ending up like this.

That 2nd image, the scan above, does not have a correct white balance, skin colors are not correct etc
and the black level is not correct, it is not a black at all.

Are you printing private images regularly ? And how do they get ? Which inks are you using - those which came
with the printer ? Are you using any photo editor to do something with your images - cropping, sizing, levelling the
horizon, changing colors or any other fancy stuff ?
I think we need to identify and separate possible causes - an issue with printer/driver/color settings or with the
scanner - white balance , color adjustments and black level during or after scanning.

So I would recommend to start off with a little test print
like this one , everybody would have a similar idea how a print should look like

http://books.outbackphoto.com/DOP2010_03/printer_tests/PrinterEvaluationImage_V002_aRGB.jpg

right click the image and do a 'save as' (under Windows)

this should show the color balance of your printer, and how the black looks - neutral or with a tint,
and you may test a glossy paper setting and the matte paper setting - with a glossy paper - 4x6" would most likely
suffice for a first assessment.
And then such print could serve for a test with the scanner as the 2nd step, the printing again the scan image file and comparing.
 
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