Photoshop printing problem

[farscapeone]

Arrrrrrrrhg, Photoshop made me angry again

I reinstalled my system (Win XP) and had to do the same with Photoshop CS4. It all went smooth until I had to print something. Just to clear things out, I never got that deep into printing and color management in Photoshop so I'm like a noob here.

My Photoshop is printing everything in halftone. :dunno:
I don't know what went wrong. I tried changing some settings like color managers and some other stuff but I actually didn't know what I was changing. My printer configuration is OK cos it prints Word documents and even Fireworks images just fine. I don't know what to do and I really have to print this ASAP!

Specs:
Photoshop version: CS4
Printer: Cannon LBP-810 (an old, but wary good, B&W laser printer)
Printer colors: black & white

I doubt reinstalling would change anything cos I just did that.

 

[diabolo]

how did your printer use to print?

 

[farscapeone]

Everything was fine until I reinstalled my OS and Photoshop.

 

[zen-r]

Have you tried tapping "halftone" into the Photoshop help menu, & investigating how it can be switched off?

There may be a quick solution mentioned there.

 

[farscapeone]

Yes I tried that. I also tried googling it but all I manged to found was how to use halftone filter.

Thanks for the replies but I need somebody who knows something about this (who is experienced with printing in Photoshop and knows how to deal with this).

I already tried searching for solutions on the net.

 

[taha116]

Its probably a settings problem with either photoshop or your printer, Normaly in stuff like word before printing you get a popup with options you should have that in PS as well

The problem could be just there

 

[farscapeone]

I said I'm a noob for Photoshop print and color management settings but I'm not that much of a noob. Of course there's a "popup with options" but there are options I don't know how to use and there is no simple halftone checkbox to turn it off.

 

[zen-r]

At least us posting here keeps your thread at the top of the pile, & more noticeable until a true PS expert comes along!

I'm looking at my CS3 at the moment (I know very little about using it though, & it may differ in fundamental ways to your CS4).

Clicking File, Print.... obviously gives you the option to change things just before printing. In the Colour Handling drop-down, what do you have selected, Managed by Printer, or by PS?

Also, have you selected the correct printer option, & updated your printer driver since the fresh install?

Probably not the solution, but since I don't know what you've done already, I thought it might be worth checking this with you.

 

[farscapeone]

At least us posting here keeps your thread at the top of the pile, & more noticeable until a true PS expert comes along!

I newer thought of that

I used both "Photoshop Manages Colors" and "Printer Manages Colors". When I select "Photoshop Manages Colors" it lets me choose "Printer Profile" and I don't know witch one to use.

Anyway, I'm not sure but I think there is a diferece between CS3 and CS4 print dialog box.

 

[zen-r]

.....

I used both "Photoshop Manages Colors" and "Printer Manages Colors". When I select "Photoshop Manages Colors" it lets me choose "Printer Profile" and I don't know witch one to use......

For my printer profile, I've got "working RGB.....2.1" -if that helps you.

....
Anyway, I'm not sure but I think there is a diferece between CS3 and CS4 print dialog box.

Probably similar enough for this problem.

Have u checked that it is doing halftone for all files, including new ones that you now create? - to make sure it isn't only doing it on the old previously saved files that u are trying to print. (ie. corruption, or different update version of PS causing problem)

 

[farscapeone]

I just printed one old and one new image and the same thing happens

Update:
I exported it as BMP and printed it in MS Word (cos I needed to approximately position it on an A4 page). It's not ideal and it's far from solving the problem (cos I'll be printing much more in the future) but I'm more relaxed now (not so anymore).

 

[zen-r]

OK, good!

I'll continue to have a play & look around my CS3.

If you want to check your settings against any of mine, just ask.

Bump : Another thing I assume you tried, but I'm just checking anyway......

Have you tried checking these settings? (copied from "Printing duotones" in the CS3 Help file) :

"Click the Auto button in the Halftone Screen dialog box to set the optimal screen angles and frequencies (choose File > Print, then choose Output from the pop‑up menu and click Screen). Be sure to select Use Accurate Screens in the Auto Screens dialog box, if you’re printing to a PostScript Level 2 (or higher) printer or an imagesetter equipped with an Emerald controller.

Note: The recommended screen angles and frequencies for quadtones are based on the assumption that channel 1 is the darkest ink and channel 4 is the lightest ink.
You do not have to convert duotone images to CMYK to print separations—simply choose Separations from the Profile pop‑up menu in the Color Management section of the Print dialog box (for setting printer options). Converting to CMYK mode converts any custom colors to their CMYK equivalents."

ie. Check they aren't set for printing halftone here.


Now......can a real Photoshop expert help leviathon out here?

 

[Trixter]

what size is the image your trying to print? not MB but true pixel size?

 

[farscapeone]

@Trixter: I tried with many different sizes and the same thing happened. P.S. What's that got to do with anything?

@zen-r: "Screen" button is disabled. I don't know why? I found that solution myself but the screen button is disabled for some reason.

 

[zen-r]

.....@zen-r: "Screen" button is disabled. I don't know why? I found that solution myself but the screen button is disabled for some reason.

Whatever setting I change elsewhere, I can't get the Screen button to become disabled. Strange that yours is. I wonder if it's because of your printer, & the fact that it's black & white only.

I still think it's could be a driver/ software update issue.

The same set-up worked correctly on your old system before you did the re-install. But maybe on your old set-up, you had updated your printer drivers, & downloaded software updates for both Photoshop & your Operating System?

Or maybe you have downloaded drivers/ updates this time, which you didn't have on before?

Either way, it's probably best to make sure that all your drivers & software are fully updated. This will hopefully reduce the chance of there being any conflicts.

But of course, you have probably tried this already!

Obviously a full uninstall & re-install of PS is something else to try. This should eliminate the possibility that your last installation got corrupted in some way, & should reset any setting which you may have accidentally changed.

I bet it's something really obvious, that we've missed!

 

[Trixter]

The reason I asked is if your printing a small pic bigger then it is PS sometimes puts a halftone on it to increase the detail, but if you tried it with multiple resolutions then its not that.

what are your color settings set to? Edit>Color Settings Mine are set to "North American General Purpose 2" and I haven't had any problems printing as long as the Image isn't being blown up to much. you can try and play around with those settings. oh you can also check what mode PS is set to. Image>Mode It should be CMYK for true Printing, but RGB will do the trick.

 

[farscapeone]

F**k it :thefinger, I'm using Corel for printing now :naughty: :biggrin: