Walter,
There are multiple issues involved. For example:
- Since you did not mention anything about calibration, consider that
the scanner, the monitor, and the printer are three different devices,
each of which has to be properly calibrated (starting at the beginning
with the scanner, then the monitor, and then the printer) using known
source colors. This is the bane of "color work". The subject is
enormous and has very little to do with Gimp itself.
The process of calibration can result in the creation of ICC color
profiles which each piece of hardware uses (or I should say the programs
on your computer uses when talking to each piece of hardware) to adjust
for the color variations of the respective hardware.
- The printer, even when properly calibrated, is subject to all sorts of
variations including temperature and humidity -- to say nothing of the
paper -- at any given moment. We had a big color printer that we had to
calibrate every few hours of operation.
- What you get from the scanner will vary over the life of the scanner.
As it gets older, you will see changes in the color that it puts out.
Thus it needs to be recalibrated from time to time.
- What you see -- or think you see -- on the monitor, even when properly
calibrated, will vary greatly just be changing the lighting in the room
where you use the monitor.
- The RGB to CMYK conversion depends greatly on many issues, including
where the conversion occurs (in image and/or color management software
on your computer, in the printer driver software, or in software
resident on the printer itself.
The subject is huge and always gives me an enormous headache. I suggest
Googling on color calibration and such subjects for more useful
information that you can apply to your environment.
Keep in mind that what you have been seeing/editing/tweaking on your
monitor may actually not be reality. I have five "identical" monitor
(same brand and model), all configured the same way, but without any
specific calibration to a color target. All five of them show the same
image a little differently -- but one of them is massively different
(whites come out very yellowish); that one needs to be repaired.
Good luck.
Jay
On 04/02/2009 12:40 PM, Walter S. wrote:
Hi there. Thanks for allowing me to join this forum. I have been using Gimp
for some time, but now that I have got as far as printing out some of my work
I have come across a snag.
I could not understand why the print was so much darker than the image on the
monitor. Having scanned the help files in Gimp, I find the information, that
this is because the monitor is showing the image in RGB,but the actual
printout is in CMYK.
I am wrestling with the logic of this and failing to comprehend why it should
be. I am hoping that there is a way of resolving this tremendous mis-match. Is
there any Gimp knowledgeable member out there who could fill me in on the way
to overcome this difference? I sure hope so. Many thanks. cypher000
