When I use either my HP or Epson printer, I find the prints are darker than what is shown on my computer monitor. I have to brighten the image by about 50 per cent to get a print that approximates the colours on screen. Is there a program I can download to remedy this?
Melville, Pok Fu Lam
DQ: The biggest problem with colour management is that the computer monitor deals with colours differently to the printer.
Colour printers use the subtractive 'four-colour model', represented by CMYK - cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black). It is subtractive because the ink used for printing partially or entirely masks certain colours on a typically white background used for printouts. Computer monitors deal with the additive RGB colour model - where red, green and blue lights are mixed to produce all the colours.
Various applications allow a computer's operating system to handle colour management giving a good match with imaging devices such as digital cameras, printers, monitors and scanners. The graphics-editing program Photoshop and other products from Adobe Systems are used to accomplish that.
Most printers have some kind of colour profile, including those for Adobe products, to load into the operating system. Most have a test page that can be printed out to calibrate the printer's colour profile.