Top 5 Printmaking Tips,Tricks,Techniques – June ’11

by Paul Morales on July 1, 2011 · 14 comments

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In this article we will discuss the most frequently asked questions when troubleshooting prints that did not come out properly. If your print has head strikes, banding, or inaccurate color look here…

1. My last print has head strikes. What caused this to happen and how can it be avoided?

Head strikes- When the print-head comes into contact with the media being printed. This appears as smeared ink in a particular spot on the print.

Head strikes can be caused by several things. To understand what a head strike is, let’s first address what causes this to happen. If the head height (or platen gap) is not set properly to accommodate thicker media, this could cause a head strike. If there is a strong curl to the media you are printing on, this could also cause a head strike as the media surface may be raised inside the printer. Though more common on a solvent printer, if the media is not loaded correctly the pinch rollers can cause the media to skew or create waves in the media. These waves could come in contact with the print-head causing a head strike.

To combat these issues, a simply approach can be made to avoid/eliminate head strikes:

  • Check the thickness of your media and raise the platen gap/head height accordingly.
  • If the media has a strong curl to it, feed the first few inches to avoid the curled leading edge.
  • On a solvent printer, be sure to adjust the heaters according to the needs of the media. Too much heat in the earlier stages of the print may cause the media to buckle. This is especially true with adhesive vinyl and heat sensitive materials.

2. My black and white prints have a Magenta/Cyan cast. How can I fix this?


Usually when this happens it is assumed that the ICC profile being used is not accurate. Sometimes this is the case. But in other cases you could have missing nozzles in the print-head. With regular printing and down time (without any cleaning procedures completed), every printer will get clogged nozzles over time. In some cases, you may have an entire channel clogged and therefore not printing. This would absolutely cause a color shift on your prints as black typically is printed with a process (using Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black ink versus only Black ink). If all of your nozzles are firing and you’re sure that you have a working profile, check the file in Photoshop. If you see the cast on screen you can convert the file to grayscale and save a copy. This eliminates the color values in the file and allows the profile to interpret everything in the image as black or shades of black. If you still see a color cast, chances are you may need a new ICC profile. It’s always good to calibrate your printer and insure a perfect nozzle check before creating a profile as this will insure accurate output from the profile.

3. My print shows visible banding. How can I get rid of it?

Banding- When print head passes don’t line up properly and create lines in the print. When the passes overlap this creates dark lines. When there is a gap between the passes this creates white lines.

There are 3 main types of banding that one might see in a print. Most people refer to lines in the print as banding. But the appearance of the lines will tell you not only what is causing the banding but also how to fix it. First off, these lines typically appear left to right when standing in front of the printer. Dark lines or white lines are caused by inaccurate feeding of the media being loaded. A standard print-head pass covers 1 inch (8 pass=8 print-head passes to cover 1 inch of media). If the media is not fed properly the head passes could be overlapping each other or be too wide to line up properly. When the passes are overlapping, this causes dark lines going across the media. When the passes have a gap between them, you will see white lines in the print. This is actually an absence of color! To adjust this quickly and easily, run a paper feed adjustment on your printer. This function comes standard on almost every Epson, Canon and HP printer and is typically performed on the printer console itself.

Missing nozzle- A nozzle that is clogged and not firing.

Deflecting nozzle- A nozzle that is firing but not at the correct angle. A deflection can be created by a partially clogged nozzle that affects the angle of the ink being fired.

One other cause for banding has actually been described above: missing nozzles. But deflecting nozzles can also cause banding. Most nozzle prints are in a stair-step pattern when looking at each individual nozzle. Any nozzles you see that are firing but out of this pattern are deflecting. A light cleaning will normally take care of this, but if you find multiple deflecting nozzles in one color (and a cleaning does not correct them) run a small print with a solid color that best represents the nozzles in question. For example, this is most common in the black ink channels so run a small print of solid black and this should correct the firing of the nozzles. This type of banding is usually only noticeable in 1 particular color (dark areas caused by black deflecting nozzles; a red area could be a combination of Magenta and/or Yellow). Examine your prints closely (or with a loupe/magnifier) and you can correct these issues once they arise.

4. My print has noticeable ink artifacts in certain colors. How can I adjust this?

Ink artifacts- Any un-natural color output including: patches of color appearing blotchy; ink pooling; over-saturated tones and highlights; and blown out areas.

These issues are usually caused by an excess of ink saturation. Each media you print on has a certain amount of ink that it can handle before there is too much. Various ink artifacts are most noticeable in solid colors. The green swatch above shows ink pooling in the weaves of the canvas. Be sure to use an appropriate media type that outputs only the necessary amount of ink for the particular media. If there is no media type that handles this perfectly, experiment with adjusting the Color Density (for Epson). Lowering the color density will effectively lower the overall ink load until you have a setting that works. This setting can be found under the Paper Configuration window in the Epson driver.

5. My print has lost detail in shadows and dark areas. How can I fix this?


If you notice a loss (or lack of) detail in shadow areas or dark areas of your print, first make sure that you have the proper ink load applied (see above tips). If the media settings are good, it may be time to get a new profile. The ICC profile controls how color is output, but it will also smooth out gradients, brighten up darker areas and tone down lighter areas of the print. At Breathing Color we offer free custom ICC profiling for all of our products. If the existing profiles you have are no longer giving you the results you need, or you just purchased a new product and want a profile, give us a call today and we can take care of it!

If any of the above tips remind you of an issue you’ve ran into with your prints, please post a comment below.

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Paul is Breathing Color's technical support specialist and field engineer for solvent printer installations. He is very experienced in color management and has in-depth knowledge of Epson, Canon, HP, Roland and many other large format printers. With an extensive background in printing and production, he understands the issues facing photographers and print studios, and he loves to help.

  • Artisticprinting

    These tips are relevant but very basic. 
    I have an issue with 7 or 8 printers, the Epson Stylus 1270, which have served me well for art cards and the like for about 10 years, but suddenly quit outputting any ink onto the paper. 
    The printer still accepts the command and the head moves back and forth as if it were printing, but no ink on the paper. I have cleaned the nozzles, stripped the head down and flushed the nozzles, and installed the head in another printer where it worked perfectly. Finally I installed a new head  into the same printer and again it moves as if printing, but not  a speck shows on the paper. The nozzles are not firing. 
    Can this be repaired? I love these old printers, they do such good work.

    Thanks,
    George Kovacs
    Bridgenorth Artistic Printing

    • http://www.breathingcolor.com Paul Morales

      Thank you for the response George. That is a very interesting situation you have run into. You did a very good and thorough job troubleshooting the issue and confirming that the print-head itself is not the problem, not to mention trying a new print-head. The ink delivery system may be the source of the problem. The ink delivery system is basically the ink lines that run from the ink cartridges to the print-head. If the ink lines are not charged and filled this would prevent ink from firing through the print-head (even a new one). If the lines are filled then there must be something else mechanically that is preventing the ink from firing. Perhaps in this case your question would be best answered by Epson tech support. Epson’s direct number for tech support is (562) 276-1305. They are open 6am-6pm PST.

    • http://www.breathingcolor.com Paul Morales

      Thank you for the response George. That is a very interesting situation you have run into. You did a very good and thorough job troubleshooting the issue and confirming that the print-head itself is not the problem, not to mention trying a new print-head. The ink delivery system may be the source of the problem. The ink delivery system is basically the ink lines that run from the ink cartridges to the print-head. If the ink lines are not charged and filled this would prevent ink from firing through the print-head (even a new one). If the lines are filled then there must be something else mechanically that is preventing the ink from firing. Perhaps in this case your question would be best answered by Epson tech support. Epson’s direct number for tech support is (562) 276-1305. They are open 6am-6pm PST.

  • Fwbrombergjr

    Had a really weird thing happen the other day. I was doing a portrait session for a couple. She was wearing a suit that was magenta in color, but leaning toward pink.  I did a series of head shots. Then, I did a series of 3/4 body shots with her and her husband.  There was no change in lighting, exposure, white balance or anything, except I changed from an 85 mm lens to a 55 mm lens.

    When I printed, the head shots came through true color from subject to monitor to printer.  On the 3/4 body shot, the suit turned a bright red.  It looked fine on the monitor, but I had a fairly dramatic color shift through the printer.

    What did I goof up on?

    I am printing on an HP Z3200.

    • http://www.breathingcolor.com Paul Morales

      Assuming you had no change in print settings/profile settings, it looks like you did everything accurately. While I cannot speak of color variances between lenses (haven’t heard of that ever being a problem), I can say that you may be a great candidate for X-Rite’s Color Checker Passport: http://xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?id=1257&catid=28&tab=videos&_kk=ColorChecker%20passport&_kt=98de7276-5566-42a4-ad35-d7221d0703fe&gclid=CPz58f7q6qkCFQQ_bAodRB4eXw

      This will allow you to profile each photo shoot so that the output matches regardless of lighting conditions, lenses, etc. Here is a short video with photographer Seth Resnick explaining how he uses it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q89NW8jtn_8&feature=player_embedded

      Combining this with your on-board profiling and you should have great prints that match. We sell the Color Checker Passport so if you would like more details please give us a call at (866) 722-6567.

  • Brad Grigor

    Regarding tip 5 (lost detail in shadow areas), while a bad profile might do this, I don’t think this effect is necessarily the fault of the profile. Matte finish media such as Lyve canvas and Elegance Velvet paper tend to print darker even though the colours are fine and the effect is more noticeable on low key images. Check the histogram of the image before printing. If it contains a lot of pixels in the shadow area, try adding a slight boost to the mid-range with a Curves Adjustmenet layer (e.g. 121>135) and run a proof of the dark area. This adjustments increases the “slope” of the dark half of the histogram, increasing the output detail in that region. If the shadows are still plugged, drop a point in the Curves Adjustment layer in the shadow area in question and nudge it up 2 steps, Then run another proof. Compare the printed density of the proofs to the density on screen (with the Curves Adjustment Layer disabled) and you’ll find this adjustment can bring back much of the lost shadow detail without affecting the overall printed density of the image.

    • http://www.breathingcolor.com Paul Morales

      Awesome tips Brad! That is definitely a great approach to specifically target the issue. Your suggestions are great for Intermediate to Advanced users, but I feel that even novice users could follow these tips and get great results. I suppose by comparison a new ICC profile would be a quick remedy, but the purpose of my suggestion was to have it apply to every image printed and not just an individual image that needed adjustments. Perhaps combining your tips with a new profile would produce the best possible results.

      I really like that you have found a great solution, AND without affecting the ink density!

  • Trikaya7

    Where is the FEED ADJUSTMENT function to be found on the Epson 3880?
    I can’t locate it in the console menus?!?
    Thanks!

  • Trikaya7

    Where is the FEED ADJUSTMENT function to be found on the Epson 3880?
    I can’t locate it in the console menus?!?
    Thanks!

    • http://www.breathingcolor.com Paul Morales

      The Paper Feed Adjustment is found when creating a custom Paper Configuration. To access this on your printer, press MENU and scroll down to CUSTOM PAPER>PAPER NUMBER>select a paper configuration number (1 to 10) and then press Enter. Press > and then scroll up or down to select the type of paper (matte thick, matte thin, photo paper, or fine art paper). Press Enter, and then set your PLATEN GAP. Run a THICKNESS PATTERN, and afterwards run the PAPER FEED ADJUST (there is an “A” and “B”. Run both if you have banding).

      Here is a link to Epson’s site that will bring up the 3880 user manual. Pages 45-47 will guide you through this process: http://files.support.epson.com/pdf/pro3880/pro3880ug.pdf

  • Trikaya7

    Where is the FEED ADJUSTMENT function to be found on the Epson 3880?
    I can’t locate it in the console menus?!?
    Thanks!

  • http://www.fazteck.co.uk/ Ink cartridges

    Hy Paul.
    you added some new and great points to my mind related prints. I must recommend my friends to read that post to be a perfect.

  • http://www.globaltoners.com/ printer toners

    Nice useful post. You provided some great solutions regarding prints problem. I am sure after reading that post mostly will get solution for their problems. 

  • http://www.globaltoners.com/ printer toners

    Nice useful post. You provided some great solutions regarding prints problem. I am sure after reading that post mostly will get solution for their problems. 

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