Printer, gradient help please

[JSD]

I am having a printing issue that I need help with. I am not a subscriber and don’t use a host so please allow me to attempt a description. On a few close up flower shots the transition between areas of soft, out of focus background colors show up as distinct lines. For example the transition between a yellow area and a blue one will be a distinct line, loosing the nice smooth gradient in the file. The line does not show up in the file or monitor, only shows up when printing on my Canon i9900. Thank you for any help.

 

[Big Mike]

Sounds like you are exceeding the color gamut of your printer (or something to that effect).

What color space is the image in?

Have you tried 'soft proofing' to see if the problem becomes visible on the computer?

 

[MikeBcos]

Banding can be caused by a low resolution image, blocked ink nozzles or a misaligned print head.

 

[JSD]

Sounds like you are exceeding the color gamut of your printer (or something to that effect).

What color space is the image in?

Have you tried 'soft proofing' to see if the problem becomes visible on the computer?

Thanks again for replying. Not sure how to "soft proof". The image is Adobe RGB. I wonder why it only shows up on two prints, so far, after dozens with out any issues, both before and after the problem.

 

[JSD]

Banding can be caused by a low resolution image, blocked ink nozzles or a misaligned print head.

Ahh, its called banding. Thanks. Nozzles should be clean and aligned, since I do that often. Resolution is 4288x2848

 

[Big Mike]

I believe that most printers use sRGB (or are meant to work with images in that space). AdobeRBG has a larger gamut...so if you are working in that space, you may have some tones that fall outside the gamut of sRGB.
Also, part of the problem may be that your image is getting translated into sRGB, rather than properly converted. This can give you weird color shifts.

'Soft Proofing' is a feature of Photoshop where you use a printing profile (available from your printer manufacture or printing lab) to estimate what the print will look like. If your image's color gamut falls outside of the printer's...you might see banding.
Understanding Soft Proofing

 

[JSD]

I believe that most printers use sRGB (or are meant to work with images in that space). AdobeRBG has a larger gamut...so if you are working in that space, you may have some tones that fall outside the gamut of sRGB.
Also, part of the problem may be that your image is getting translated into sRGB, rather than properly converted. This can give you weird color shifts.

'Soft Proofing' is a feature of Photoshop where you use a printing profile (available from your printer manufacture or printing lab) to estimate what the print will look like. If your image's color gamut falls outside of the printer's...you might see banding.
Understanding Soft Proofing

Thank you, I will look into these sugestions. Not sure if soft proofing is available in Lightroom, but I will look for it. Appreciate the help.

 

[Big Mike]

Soft proofing is not a feature in Lightroom 2. I'm not sure if LR 3 has added that feature or not.

 

[Derrel]

If this problem only shows up on one specific image file,and not on other different files, it might be a problem with "posterization", which can cause abrupt banding issues on transitions between different color or different tonal values. Posterization often occurs when a JPEG image has been post-processed with heavy levels of image correction; many people refer to this as "color banding".

If it happened on only two prints, and then disappeared on subsequent prints of the same image file, it's possible one of the nozzles was clogged, but then unclogged.

Addendum: Posterization: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

This example is an extreme example. Many times, posterization will be seen on blue sky tones, where there are two or three or four subtle, yet definite bands of blue color, without the appropriate transitional values in between.

 

[JSD]

If this problem only shows up on one specific image file,and not on other different files, it might be a problem with "posterization", which can cause abrupt banding issues on transitions between different color or different tonal values. Posterization often occurs when a JPEG image has been post-processed with heavy levels of image correction; many people refer to this as "color banding".

If it happened on only two prints, and then disappeared on subsequent prints of the same image file, it's possible one of the nozzles was clogged, but then unclogged.

Addendum: Posterization: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

This example is an extreme example. Many times, posterization will be seen on blue sky tones, where there are two or three or four subtle, yet definite bands of blue color, without the appropriate transitional values in between.

Both times this occured I printed directly from raw files, no jpegs, with minimal processing: a little cropping, saturation, exposure adjustments. It only happened in one area of the image, for example between green and white in one, and blue and yellow in another image, and no other areas. I am just now cleaning and aligning, again, and will try a re-print. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[KmH]

If this problem only shows up on one specific image file,and not on other different files, it might be a problem with "posterization", which can cause abrupt banding issues on transitions between different color or different tonal values. Posterization often occurs when a JPEG image has been post-processed with heavy levels of image correction; many people refer to this as "color banding".

If it happened on only two prints, and then disappeared on subsequent prints of the same image file, it's possible one of the nozzles was clogged, but then unclogged.

Addendum: Posterization: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article

This example is an extreme example. Many times, posterization will be seen on blue sky tones, where there are two or three or four subtle, yet definite bands of blue color, without the appropriate transitional values in between.

Both times this occured I printed directly from raw files, no jpegs, with minimal processing: a little cropping, saturation, exposure adjustments. It only happened in one area of the image, for example between green and white in one, and blue and yellow in another image, and no other areas. I am just now cleaning and aligning, again, and will try a re-print. Thanks for your suggestions.

You can't print directly from a RAW file. You can't even see a RAW file because it's not an image, it's only data.

To be seen a RAW file has to be converted to something like a NEF, CR2, PSD, TIFF, PNG, JPEG.

 

[JSD]

[/quote]You can't print directly from a RAW file. You can't even see a RAW file because it's not an image, it's only data.

To be seen a RAW file has to be converted to something like a NEF, CR2, PSD, TIFF, PNG, JPEG.[/QUOTE]

Yes, perhaps I was not clear. They are NEF, which are RAW.