Calibrating screen to printer

[glass eye]

Hi to all;

Im having trouble working out how to calibrate my epson printer to what is seen on the screen.

I have searched on google for hours and there seems to be alot of programmes for sale to do this task.

Do i have to purchase a programme to do this calibration ? im completely lost on this subject and feeling red faced

[big pix]

use what you have FIRST........get your printer to talk to your printing program, we will deal with your screen later........

what program are you using to do prints.........

we do this one step at a time

EDIT: trust me it is not hard but you do need to have help to point you in the right direction

[glass eye]

Hi big pix;

OK when i print through elements 2 it seems to be fine but when i print through nikon view it seems very noisy.maybe cause the photo is in RAW.

I am still red faced my friend cause i was trying to print not going through elements or nikon view so you put me on the right track.

I should be able to right click on the photo i want to print and just print away or does it have to go through n-view or elements 2.i hope im not confusing you with my lack of experience

JOHN

[big pix]

Do your printing through Elements..........this will give you more control, but you will have to set up the colour settings in Elements, the Epson site has this info, pm me if you get stuck

Elements 2 will not process RAW files.....you will need Elements 3 or 4 to do this........ first off you need to process your raw files and 'SAVE AS' a psd file for better quality, or jpeg for a lesser quality. When you process your raw files they should have an ADOBE RGB 1998 colour space as this will give you a greater range of colours

The print dialogue box is confusing at first but easy when you have done it a few times..........