Problems printing colour images

[miseryguts]

I've wasted countess amounts of ink/paper trying to print colour images, but they are all turning out over saturated/over exposed.

I don't really understand what I need to adjust to solve the problem, but I've been through every setting, used different applications, image adjustment, you name it & I've probably tried it.. but the results look dreadful & nothing like the images on my PC.

I've been told it may something to do with the colour management, but I've no idea how to calibrate this & can't find any specific guides.

I know the printer (Kodak ESP C310) isn't at fault.

I'm a little desperate to fix this now having spent a small fortune recently on ink & paper.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Belatucadrus]

There's a small program called WiziWYg XP that was good for colour calibration. Unfortunately the creators Praxisoft have ditched it and I've no idea how compatible the archived versions are with other windows platforms.

[MANEMAN]

"I've wasted countess amounts of ink/paper trying

to print colour images"

Yes, you and thousands of others including myself unfortunately. :( Home printing of colour photos for the lay-person has become mostly a costly disaster, whilst for ink and paper manufacturers it has become a nice little money spinner.

High street outlets quickly saw a market for printing that would in many cases offer better results than could be achieved at home , whilst still turning a nice profit for them.

There is still (in my opinion) too many areas where good calibration can still drift with home printing. Different batches of ink in cartridges, slight head mis-alignment every time a cartridge is changed, user error, and a few more that I have found and given up on in the past. What you think a good colour print should actually look like, is of course purely subjective. Nana may think the picture you print beautiful, whilst you think it is crap.

Colour calibration should start with Monitor calibration, then PhotoEditor calibration, and finally Printer calibration.

If you can find no details or guides for any of the above three, or cannot understand the procedure on any one of the three levels, a change of hardware or software may be required, - or a greater level of understanding required at user level.

Below is a video that may better explain things a little better for readers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai3xSi_Pwvs