Matching up colors? (NOOB here)

This is a company I have used in the past that specializes in this sort of stuff:

http://www.colorgeek.com/

Its a commercial company, so hopefully posting the link won't violate EE rules, if it does, moderators please feel free to delete.

How much money are we talking about? And please provide details/etc of exactly what I need to do.
I was pleased because I bought a laser printer for a good price (HP LASER 1600 - CMYK), and tried printing out, and everything was screwed up.

Is there anyway I can do the calibration myself?

@$2,000 to start, but it could be more or less.

http://www.adorama.com/GHPM5PSP.html?sid=11674189471047944

<<And please provide details/etc of exactly what I need to do.>>

I don't mind pointing you in the right direction and helping you figure out how to help yourself, but I do tend to take issue with people who come here expecting someone else to do all the work. If you are still interested and willing to invest as much time in this as I have, I will be more than willing to help you out, but I think I have given you plenty of good information. If you decide to go further you need to purchase the equipment and software, install it, read up on how to do it, and if you need more help after that post your questions.

If you just want someone else to do it, Colorgeek will be more than willing.

Bongsoo... <sigh> I am *not* expecting you to do all the work... I've spent the last freaking 30 hours trying to figure out how to get this idiotic printer so get off your high horse and cut the bull-s**t self-righteous attitude... do you think I *would* come here if I didn't know what I was talking about? You haven't given me anything that a simple google search wouldn't yield.

There must be a software way of matching it (and a 'cheap' software way) without investing thousands of dollars, even if you may have been suckered into doing that.

I'm looking for an inexpensive solution, whether it is a software application that will create an .icc profile for me (monitor calibration), and/or something that will do printer calibration.

Dude, I understand your frustration, but my wanting to make sure you aren't just another sponge has nothing to do with being on a high horse or self-righteous. Plenty of people come here looking for a quick fix, just like you obviously are, who don't want to invest any time in figuring things out for themselves. Obviously you are in over your head in something you have no comprehension of, though.

Regardless, in this case, since you have been around (judging from your profile), I'll overlook your obvious immaturity and try to help you as best I can.

That said, again, my initial response was based upon thinking you were going the commercial printing route. Still, for a desktop printer, its going to be the same process. Either way, you have to:

1) be able to print a target that captures the range of colors (color gamut) that your printer is capable of outputting, and output that target.
2) be able to capture that gamut using a spectrophotometer (means the target has to be something the spectrophotometer recognizes)
3) create an ICC profile from that information (have software that can create that ICC profile from the information the spectrophometer measures)
4) calibrate your monitor (requires hardware)
5) create an monitor profile
6) align your monitor profile with your output profile.

Theres actually more to it than that, but since you are interested in the cheap and easy route, I'll wait and see if someone else doesn't chime in with better or more information.

<<There must be a software way of matching it (and a 'cheap' software way) without investing thousands of dollars, even if you may have been suckered into doing that.>>

Suckered? Not me, but the companies I worked for, although it was one of those necessary evils.

Still, I can't wait to see if I am proven wrong. Regardless, you get what you pay for. In this case, for what you want, I suspect the price will be too high.

Lol, well, I'm not going to turn this into an insult match, although I guess you 'felt' you had to respond to my comments in that regard.

I'm not (at least not now) -- going the 'commercial' printing route -- but I would like my images to have at least "some" semblance
of what the original image looked like... I have purchased inkjets in the past, and it was simply take it out of the box, plug it in, and
print your image... sure it might not be as 'dark' as what was on the monitor, but a green was a green and a blue was a blue...

1. Now after having purchased this colour laser printer (CMYK/HP), I take it out of the box, plug it in, and my blues are showing up as
purple. I can't simpy "reduce" the magenta -- because then *other* images which require magenta are all screwed up. And it is
incredibly *stupid* of HP *not* to include a correct profile (if indeed that is what has happened, because most consumers wanting
it for their home pc are going to be royally pissed when their blue sky turns out a deep purple, and they'll simply return it).

2. So then I tried playing around in photoshop, changing the monitor profile -- but photoshop screws up -- if I adjust what the image
looks like there -- then it actually adjusts the printed output as well which is freakin wierd (changing the monitor shouldn't actually change
the print output considering the printer profile stays the same, but photoshop is magically doing that).

3. So I've tried playing around with a few monitor profile apps (calibrating the monitor), but those don't seem to work.

I shouldn't have to pay $4,000 just to make sure blue actually *prints out* as blue (RGB 0,0,255) -- instead of printing out a freaking purple.
In fact I *KNOW* you shouldn't have to do that.

*SO*... Is the printer screwed up? Or is it just natural that it magically translates that exactly blue into a purplish blue?

You don't *have* to have an expensive route, and sometimes the cheap and easy route is much better and simpler than the long, expensive
complicated route. So, do you *have* any solutions that *work* other than telling me to go spend another $2000-$4000?

Well, what you are asking now is some what different from your initial question, even if you didn't realize it.
(You asked how to make your monitor match the output on your printer)

I missed something earlier that is playing a huge part in this:

You are printing an RGB image to a CMYK printer without converting it first. Therefor, the software is converting it for you. You should try to convert the image to CMYK first in Photoshop, and that will tell you what it is trying to print it out as. I would convert it to CMYK, and then adjust your builds. Keep in mind that RGB is a much larger color gamut than CMYK. There are a lot of colors that CMYK just cannot print, which is why printers use spot colors. Convert your file to CMYK and if the build is too high in magenta, you can adjust the build.

Hmm, ok... well, the strange thing is is this...

(I am using Adobe Photoshop 5.0.2, I do have 7.0.1, but never really played around with it, and not sure where the settings are in that app, they
changed the menu all around, very annoying :P) Anyways...

I *did* convert it to CMYK (using I believe I would want relative colormetric (don't know what the diff between relative and absolute is though).
(I am assuming it is sRGB/my colorspace, so did 'from sRGB' to 'CMYK' with relative colormetric, using internal build engine (kodak doesn't seem
any different).

*ANYWAYS*... I did that... It "looks" blue on the screen, but *still* prints out purple... Which makes no sense...

Now... does that mean the conversion is not being done correctly? Or am I forgetting to specify that it has now *been* converting to CYMK in photoshop
when I go to print? Or what? (When I do the print dialogue, after having converted, it still says "Space: sRGB" and then a checkmark applied to
"Printer Color Management"...

Why would it still be printing out as purple, even if I 'preconverted' it to CYMK?

What is the blue/purple building as? (what are the cmyk values?)

Honestly, I'd pick up a Photoshop book and go through the section on color matching. You dont even have to buy it, just go to Borders and sit down and read for a while.

You have to get out of the habit of using any RGB images unless you are only using them for web output. Colors exist in RGB that don't translate to CMYK very well.

Have you tried the color calibration utility for the printer?

BongSoo:
======
The RGB Values are (0,0,255), and equivalent photoshop CMYK is 100,98,0,0. That turns out purple.
If I try something that looks somewhat light blue on the screen (i.e. 100,50,0,0), printing it out I am getting basically a 'purplish' royal blue.

BillG7:
====

Well, what I did is this.

1. I bought the HP color printer (1600). The *very* first print out -- the *color* was good (blue actually looked like blue, and the *entire*
image actually pretty much matched exactly what I saw on my screen), but the 'quality' was poor (i.e., like a kid not being able to color in
between the lines). Then I did color calibration, and automatically the *quality* was good (i.e., straight lines were straight), but somehow
the blue magically became purple. Nothing (i.e., clicking 'reset to factory defaults', recalibrate), etc -- seemed to change it. Now it consisently
printed purple.

2. I took it back to the store, exchanged it. Pretty much *exactly* the same thing happened. The only way I can seem to get my printed
"image" to 'kind' of look like the original image is by adjusting the hue of the image to -8 to -12% (although colors don't match, i.e., light greens
appear dark, etc).

Any ideas?

Try adding some black. I would try this build C100 M80 Y0 K 12. If that comes out purple, then I would have to agree that something is going on with the calibration or inks of your printer.

Hmmmmmmm... very wierd.

Well, if I create a new canvas in CMYK mode, and then use that, it comes out purplish/royal blue. (And changing color profiles doesn't
"seem" to make a difference, i.e., sRGB, etc). (Incidentally, what is the checkmark "Printer Color Management"? Doesn't seem to make
any difference, and can't seem to find anything in google, etc).

If I create a new image in RGB format *first*, then use that, and specify my colorspace as sRGB, surprisingly *that* does actually
seem to print out blue. (It looks like a medium-dark navy blue, but with very little or any purple)... any ideas?

Really, that should produce blue... Did you try to uninstall and reinstall with HP's direct instructions? That has worked for me with HPs inkjets, but I've never had one of the color lasers...

I have to disagree dearsina, there are plenty of CMYK builds of different shades of blue that are perfectly acceptable.

It could be that the magenta ink is just really strong. Try reducing it 40-50% in the color build might be the trick.

Also, the paper might have something to do with it as well. You might want to check and make sure the paper is the same or similar to what is recommended with those inks...

Is it just photoshop that is having this problem or have you tried other programs? I would try printing something blue from a website, Word, or MS Paint. I still think that your printer drivers or callibration on the printer are somehow messed up. Changing color profiles in Photoshop may produce a blue with enough tweaking, but really you would just be feeding the printer incorrect colors to compensate for a printer problem, which you don't want to do. Better to fix it at the source then to try and compensate in each and every program.

Have you checked to see if there is a newer version of your printer driver?
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=1140729&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=1140734&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=228