I've picked up a Canon PRO9000 and am in the process of learning how to print with CS4, but I have a number of questions......

Does any one have a simple 'cheat-sheet' or 'how-to guide' or tips on how to print properly with this combination?

I have printed a few pictures, and while they come out OK, I am unsure of my process. For instance, if I say to use a particular paper in CS4, then what do I set in the printer?

And what do the different quality levels mean? For example:
MP1 = Matte Photo Paper (quality level 1)
MP2 = Matte Photo Paper (quality level 2)

I want to print my first 13x19 print, but that's a whole lot of wasted ink if I make an error.

Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated......just remember the subject: Printing for Dummies.

Thanks and regards.....Pete Liukaitis

Pete
I do not have CS4 however I have use many version of PS. When you print from PS make sure you do not get double profiling. If you have Photoshop handle the colors make sure the print driver is not trying to manage the colors also. For my Epson printers this meant I had to set both Photoshop's setting and the printers setting. Normally in the Photoshop Print dialog there is a way to get to the printers setting and turn off its color management. Also Set in the Proper Paper/Ink color profile in the Photoshop dialog and set the same paper in the printer settings. Also look at the proof colors shown in the Print dialog. You can also setup Photoshop Soft proofing for your printer and paper and switch between views Monitor/printer. Print quality is normally a printer setting the higher the quality the longer the printer will take to make the print. On My Epson 4800 higher quality may turn off high speed use smaller higher resolution droplets to print the images pixels. Ink-jet printers are like paint by numbers. Image pixels are painted in by the printer by dropping many smaller and different ink color drops into a single pixel to mix the right color

I've been looking at Canon's site and can't find much re ICC profiles but even though this link is to an Epson site the Color Management Guide should help with setting up a big part of the settings within Photoshop. It's an easy read with nice step by step instructions.

http://www.epson.ca/cgi-bin/ceStore/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&infoType=Doc&oid=104488&prodoid=60567552

Also may I suggest downloading the print test sample at the bottom of this page to use to test your printer's output. An 8 X 10 will show whether colours are accurate and how they compare to those on your monitor. Download the photo on the bottom right of the page.

http://www.inkjetart.com/custom/

And re the ink costs at this point in time, you have to consider it a part of the learning process, so work on smaller sizes using the type of paper you want to use, which can be from a large sheet cut down to smaller common sizes if you can't buy it that way. For instance cropping an image into 4 equal sections by dividing it vertically in the center & horizontally across the middle and then printing one of those sections on an 8 X 10 will show how the entire photo will look on a 16 x 20 page. This is much cheaper & less time consuming than it was in the darkroom. Instead of ink we wasted lots of time plus chemicals waiting to see if we were even close to the desired look.

Thanks very much for the responses. Both gave me some good info.

I had a look at the Color Management Guide from the Epson site, that looks very good, I'll need to look for the places for turning off the color management on the Pro9000.

One would think that Canon would have something similar for their printers.

Thanks again.....Pete