Expert: Amy - 10/28/2007

Question
QUESTION: I transfered some adobe art files from a mac to pc. The images are printing out lighter now. My question is how do I darken the image in Adobe ilustrator?

Thanks

ANSWER: Hi Mel,


It can depend on so many things. Typically you don't want to adjust the image color in Illustrator - well, I don't like doing this. Especially if you are just proofing.

Is it the same printer? Make sure your printer settings aren't set so that some automatic image "balancing" is being used. That almost never works in Illustrator.

Do they display fine on screen? If so, let's concentrate on the data that's being sent to the printer and making the adjustment to THAT rather than the image itself. Especially if it looks fine on screen. First, make sure that you are not using some strange Color Profile when you print.

If you have CS2/CS3, choose Print and look at the Color Management tab on the left. Make sure your settings are to let Illustrator Determine Colors. Make sure the document profile is something normal. Web Coated, Sheetfed Coated, etc.

You should be working in CMYK mode, of course. That always helps.

Write me back and let me know what your Color Management settings are. If nothing I've suggested helps, we can go from there!

Thanks,
Amy Pace

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hey Amy,
When I changed the image from rgb to cymk, it actually became lighter, but it printed out the same as in RGB. I had the work reprinted a while back from the same printer and that was when I noticed the images were lighter.
The images are in Illustrator Determine colors. The printer profile is in RGB IE61966-2.1. I'm not sure where the document profile is unless that is what your are referring to with document profiles. BUt I don't have Web coated, Sheeted coated as options.
What's next?
Thanks for your help.

         -Mel


Answer
Hi Mel,

You should probably work in CMYK, unless you're only printing stuff that will never go to a real print press.

You need to assign a proper color profile to your document, too. In CS2/3 Edit > Assign Profile > Sheetfed Coated is usually good. The profile for the printer can be set to the same one as you pick above, since I have never had much luck with printer-specific profiles. Inkjets are CMYK, so a CMYK profile's preferred over RGB. If you don't have that profile available and you're working in CMYK, you probably have an incomplete installation of AI? So forget this part.

But in typing this, I have a strong suspicion that none of this is really the problem. Unless your images are actually lighter than you think they are. Which, from your message, you know is not the case.

Try a couple different things - try choosing "Printer Determines Colors." If that works, great.

Make sure you don't have anything checked in your printer settings that will affect image quality or lighten the images. My HP has a DRAFT MODE that makes the images light. Other printers may have Auto Contrast, Auto Image Balance, Auto Focus. Graphics Mode, Photo Mode. None of that should be used. Also, Light ink coverage can also do what you're talking about... My HP has an ink density setting (Light to Heavy) that affects quality. Believe it or not, the PAPER TYPE chosen can also affect the quality. Make sure you've got plain paper selected.

There is a command to adjust image saturation. Select the image and choose Edit > Edit Colors > Saturate. If nothing else works, you can make the images darker so they print darker... but don't do this if the product is going somewhere else for the final printing.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Color is complicated and Illustrator doesn't work really well with inkjets. It's not made to.

Curious. If you save as a PDF, open in Acrobat, then print, what does the color look like?

Amy