Printing from Photoshop 6 to the HP 8500 Color Printer

For best color from Photoshop 6.0, make sure that the document is toned in RGB color with 200 dpi minimum resolution.

Select the printer in the Chooser dialog box:

chooser.jpg (63233 bytes)

Page Setup:

The HP printer has only 11x17 paper. You MUST set the paper to 11x17 or it will stall the print job waiting for attention. You will lose print credits! Setting up the paper size requires using Photoshop's File>Page Setup dialog box. In this dialog box (see below) set paper to 11x17 and select whether you want Portrait or Landscape paper orientation. Click OK when done.

HP Page Setup.jpg (32958 bytes)

 

Applying a color profile in Photoshop:

VisCom uses an X-Rite Digital Swatchbook and Praxisoft WiziWYG software to measure the color characteristics of its printers. These measurements are saved as ColorSync profiles. These can be applied to the outgoing files to give optimum color. The ColorSync file for our HP CLJ 8500 is named "Edited HP 8500 swatch CMYK.icm".

These profiles are NOT applied automatically. In Photoshop, this profile can be applied to the file using Method 2 (see Meeting Notes). For the HP Color Laser 8500 printer, the following screen shot shows the settings to be used for Method 2. The Source Space list should show the current document color space, and the Print Space list should show the profile that you wish to apply before sending the job to the printer driver.

print options HP8500.jpg (69625 bytes)

 

The file is converted to CMYK color using the settings found in the ColorSync profile and is ready to be sent to the printer.

Setting up the Printer:

Use Photoshop's Print Options>Print command. In this dialog box, make sure that Tray 3 is listed as the paper source. Tray 3 contains the 11x17 paper that the printer uses. Click the Save Settings button in the bottom left to have this setting as a default (recommended). See below.

HP_tray3.jpg (39321 bytes)

Choose the ColorSmart II settings in the drop down list that currently displays the word "General". Change ColorSmart II to Msdanual, with graphics and images set to Calibrated-Smooth. (For some reason Calibrated - Detail causes random pixellation). Click the Save Settings button again to save these choices (recommended).

colorsmartII_dbox.jpg (51328 bytes)

You're now ready to hit the print button and wait for your print.