Why color printout looks different from display?

Question

Hi, I'm new to design.
Can you tell me what is the problem that makes my printout color so much different from the file.

Printer is RICOH aficio MP c4502

Answer 1

The "white" appearance of the print has the characteristic hue that results from industrial (inexpensive) fluorescent tube lighting. Under this kind of lighting colours don't appear correctly as the "spectral emission distribution" is not continuous and many wavelengths necessary for correct colour rendition are missing altogether. Such lighting has a poor colour rendering index (CRI). The correct CRI for evaluating colour is 100. Minimum necessary CRI is approximately 91-92 for average studio work. Working with colour requires professionals to use 100 without compromise.

The "white" appearance of the display has the characteristic hue that results from the same white point match with the digital camera sensor you used to take the photograph. Most likely, that is for daylight lighting with a correlated colour temperature around 6500°K (Kelvin).

They don't appear to match ! ! !

They don't match because each of them are being illuminated differently. The print is being illuminated by the room illumination. The display is being illuminated by a LED display.

The human eye can compensate for poor lighting to function relatively well to identify and arrange colour for many projects; but, minimum conditions must be met to go beyond that level to evaluate colour accurately. Those Graphic Industry Standard conditions are referred to as Standard Viewing Conditions and the subject is Colour Management. The reason your camera and the display are as close as they appear to be is that the set white-point of both are nearly the same "out of the box" or roughly 6500°Kelvin (correlated colour temperature)

In order to operate as advertised according to the original equipment manufacturer's recommendations, the eye must have the optimal amount and kind of illumination. (5000°K @ 500 LUX)

When you set-up your working conditions according to a known procedure using proper equipment, the display will appear to match the print. It will be so close, you can bet folding-money on its accuracy. This "bet" is referred to in the graphics industry as a "contract proof."

What to do? ? ?

The idea is to calibrate your monitor and profile your printer so they can produce a match reliably enough under fixed industry-standard conditions to predict consistent high-quality results by any definition.

You can throw money at the problem. Viewing booths having the right illumination and visual isolation along with various colour display calibrators can be purchased and installed. Cost and quality are proportional.

In the meantime, replace the room illumination with lighting with a high CRI. Ideally, you would get 5000°K (aka D-50, Full Spectrum, CRI 100, etc.)
Then, calibrate your monitor using the software in your operating system preferences. Set the white-point, gamma, and illumination levels according to the room conditions.
Close the windows, pull the shades closed to eliminate changes in lighting conditions from ambient sources. Tape the light switches on (or off, depending on what you want to be standard for colour-critical work.)
Wear neutral-coloured clothing so bright colours reflected from your blouse won't reflect from the monitor affecting your judgement.
Profile your printer and scanner using IT-8 target.

Whew!

That's why.

Answer 2

I assuming you took that photo as an "emergency" proof of your problem on a copy shop.

To parts here.

It is pretty obvious that the light is totally green so it affects how you view your image. At least how the camera sees it...

But I am assuming that the real problem is simply that the colors have nothing to do to what you expected. So the photo is not needed for that matter. (Ewww)

It leads to the second point.

The printer is not calibrated. The owner just wants to sell prints and he or she does not care about quality.

An equipment should be calibrated with something like Colormunki.

Your only option is that you print a series of samples and use them as a reference to that specific machine.

Or change to another provider that has a calibrated machine and a clean keyboard.