So it looks like the printed output from your printer. Just a thought.

I have CS5 and this didn't happen with CS2. I'll try installing the new driver and see if that works.

I think on some machines they are called nozzles, or contacts, but you may have done that.

Are your cartridges generic or the suggested brand?

I tried to go cheap and used a generic store brand from Office Depot and the color on my printer was never the same even after tons of test prints and going through all the diagnostics for quality. I went back to the brand name and color is still messed up.

And I'm not even trying to print out pictures. Looks like I'll have to email my pictures to that store that used to be called Kinko's and print them out there.

Guess that wasn't much help. but that's how I made it work well until the generic cartrridge disaster.

It seems to be a problem with interface between CS5 and the 1800 printer.

The above link was for a Mac driver but I have a PC

...mat finish Epson paper?

When you calibrate, it should be glossy Epson paper.

Also, it sounds like your printer is pumping out too much ink, try cutting back all the inks in equal amounts, including the Black ink.

Better suggestion, dump Epson and try HP. I went through 3 Epson Photo printers and they almost never worked right. Almost every time I tried printing photos, at least one or two of the nozzle were clogged, so I would waste a ton of ink on nozzle cleaning and most of the time I still got streaky prints. I think the main problem with most Epson printers is a basic design flaw, because the ink jets are open to the dust and cat hair, etc. HP puts them under cover, so I almost never have to clean the ink jets.

I returned 2 HPs before I got the Epson. I've never had a problem with it until recently.

I use Epson ultra premium matte paper most of the time, but there are different print settings for other paper.

It's really easy to do with the matte finish paper, the one side has a coating, the other that doesn't just sucks up a lot of ink and could be why it's looking do dark.

Also, like someone else said, you need to calibrate you monitor to the printer, which usually mean turning down the brightness on the monitor then do a few test prints till it matches, here is a link to a page with some calibration targets and instructions. The instructions are not exactly what you need, but if you make one of these grey scale charts match or at least get it close, you will get a lot better results from what you are printing.

http://www.neatimage.com/testtarget.html

The grey scale charts at this page might help too, I usually use the big one near the bottom.

http://www.tranquilityimages.com/calibrate.shtml

Colormunki from a friend then you can rent one for about $40 at Lensrentals

...you are printing in and what color space the files are, they should both be set to or converted to CMYK to get best printing results.

You might have you files set to RGB and then the printer has to convert the file, on the fly, to CMYK, which is probably what is not happening right.

So, if the files you are trying to print are RGB, convert them to CMYK and try printing them like that.

I have the print settings at Photoshop determines setting and it is RGB. But it isn't the color that is off, the print is just too dark.

Mr Pip downloaded a driver and Ill see if that makes a difference.

...but unlike most amateur software photo editing programs that do a lot of things, like converting the RGB file to CMYK automatically in the background, Photoshop does not. My theory is that the problem is in a small Photoshop setting that is hard to find unless you know where to look.

You might even want to test this theory by opening one of the files in something like Photoshop Essentials or better Picasa Photo viewer, Picture Viewer (part of Quicktime, I think) or something like that to see if the problem is with something in Photoshop CS5, I suspect it is. In Photoshop, the user does have to convert the RGB file to CMYK (CMYK=Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black), because CMYK is color space that most, if not all 4 color printers use.

Unless you really want super precise prints, using a simpler program could be the way to go. I say this because so I was sure I knew what I was talking about I went and opened a little picture of my cat and tried to print it from Photoshop, but it took me about 3 or 4 times getting b&w versions of the picture before I figured out that the settings I needed to change were not even in Photoshop, but buried deep in the printer preferences. It printed fine from Picture Viewer, but I guess Photoshop had a completely separate bunch of settings for printing.

Anyway, if you open a picture in Photoshop then hit print, CS5 brings up this big screen full of choices. Up at the top right there is a drop down with the choice of "Output" or "Color Management," make sure Color management is chosen then look to the right side further down and you will find a setting for Color Handling and a radio button for Document or Proof.

Try Document first and then select Photoshop Manages Colors. That gives you dozens of color profiles you can try. Try to pick the profile that most closely matches the one your monitor is using. My flat-panel uses sRGB IEC61966-2.1, so that's the one I would start with and use "Relative Colormetrics."

If that's no better, try to use a profile that is close to your printer or camera, there are literally dozens of profiles and combinations you could chose, that's why I say it might just be easier to print form a simpler program.

I hope that helps.

I'll go through this again. Maybe a setting changed. I usually use Relative colorimetrics. Switched to Conceptual just to see if that made a difference, but didn't really. Will check the settings again tomorrow.

I'm a bit burned out from the election and need a good nights sleep before I try to tackle this again.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Something in all of this should work.

I having tried printing something in PSE. Worth a try.

What you've laid out is what I've been using but it's just off for some reason. I'll try some other profiles and see what happens.

Are you allowing the printer to manage colors or photoshop? More trouble shooting to come after I see your response.

Printing while allowing photoshop to manage colors.
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/printing-color-management-photoshop.html

ICC profiles from Epson
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/EditorialAnnouncement.jsp?oid=59082650

and that was always just fine. I went into the printer settings and upped the brightness a bit. I ran two black and white prints one with Photoshop managing the colors and one with the printer managing the colors (using ICC color profiles). These were black and white prints and they both came out looking sort of sepia. Not much difference that I could tell between them but they were still too dark.

I accidentally did a test print on plain glossy paper using plain paper setting, Photoshop managing colors, and it came out black and white not sepia and the contrast was much better. But using the wrong settings to achieve the correct balance and color is not a good way to go. The ink does not lay down the same and the black comes out flat.

I tried changing from Relative colormetric to Perceptual. That didn't chage anything. It still came out dark and sepia-ish.

I'd just like to get a decent black and white print.

I'll keep pushing through this. It's probably something simple but I just don't know what. It's always worked just fine before.

That's generally the solution, not calibrating the printer. If you want it calibrated correctly, you'll need a hardware/softare kit such as one of the ones by X-Rite.

(don't post much here anymore, but I thought I might be able to help you with this issue)

This is an excellent tutorial on calibration:

http://craftingphotographs.com/2010/08/31/mastering-monitor-calibration/