Photoshop :: Color Print

I was getting great photo prints from my Epson 870 = colors matched what I expected well enough to satisfy me (it doesn't take much! )

But recently, everything I print FROM PHOTOSHOP has a pinkish cast. I wish I could say "I've only changed one thing" between "when it was good" and "now it isn't" but there is too much water under the bridge for that. I CAN tell you that I installed Epson's "PIM II" system trying to solve an unrelated problem, realized it didn't solve it, and de-installed it. I believe the problems happened after that - but even if I could point the finger at it, I'm not sure I'd know what to do.

I've been trying to eliminate variables, so I gave up on photographs I simply wanted to print, and created an image from scratch I want to use anyway. (I plan to use it when I shoot photos to confirm exposures, set white balance, etc.) This document was created in 8-bit RGB and assigned the "working space" profile, which I have set to sRGB IEC61966-2.1. This is the same profile I have been using, that I have assigned to my photos, etc - - and prefer not to screw with because it has worked for me in the past. The document has some grays I created using R=G=B, and a range of colors including pure R, G and B. You'll see in a moment.

Now - when I print this doc from PS, it gets a very pinkish cast - especially in the black-to-white gray bars. However, they look fine on the screen, and I verified their pixel values with Apple's "digital color meter" app. My monitor, by the way, is an Apple Studio Monitor, and the system is set up to use the Apple Studio Monitor profile as the colorsync profile for the monitor.

But here's the kicker. When I open and print this same document using Apple's "Preview" app, and the same print settings - it prints properly!. I conclude from this that the problem is somewhere with PS, not with the printer or other system settings.

This image (about 200K, jpeg'd, but not enough to not make the point) is a screen shot showing the same doc open in PS and Preview, along with my PS color settings dialog. I DO see a slight color difference in the way PS displays the file (particularly the blue square) - but the difference in printouts is considerably more severe.