Blacks Not Dark

[d2produce]

So I compared a photo printed at home on my Envy 5055 to one printed at Walgreens and the walgreens blacks were so much deeper, I'm guessing because they actually use black ink when printing color photos, whereas my HP's blacks looked more like blueish grays and it was hazy and I'm sure it used Color to print black.  I edited the photo myself and used pure black on those sections so there's no reason it shouldn't have printed in straight black.  Is there a setting I can change to prevent black being printed with color?

[Bob_Headrick]

What type of media are you printing on?  What media type are you selecting in the driver?

The HP Envy printers use pigmented black ink and dye based color inks. The pigmented black ink is not compatible with glossy inkjet photo media, the printer will use color inks to make black if photo paper is selected. If you are printing on photo paper make sure the correct paper type is selected in the driver.

[d2produce]

I'm not sure what you mean by "driver". I never selected anything in a "driver". I simply right clicked the photo and selected print.

I was using Photo Paper and the print settings were set to the paper type "HP Photo Paper".  Is there another selection that would give better results?

[Bob_Headrick]

The "driver" sits between the program you are using to print the photo and the printer.  It is where you would select the paper type and quality settings as well as other print settings.

What is the specific photo paper you are using?  The HP Everyday Photo paper is not suited to best quality prints.  HP Premium Plus Glossy Photo Paper or HP Advanced Glossy Photo Paper will give better quality prints then the HP Everyday products.  I have also had excellent results with Office Depot Brilliant Gloss Professional Photo Paper.

If you are using a different brand of photo paper you might try selecting "Other Photo Inkjet Papers" in the driver. 

To change the default driver settings in Windows 10 click on Start, type Control Panel, click on Control Panel (App), click on Devices and Printers.  Right-click on your printer, select Printing Preferences, select the appropriate paper type, select Best Print Quality, Apply, OK.

[d2produce]

The last time I selected "Best Quality" it laid on the ink so thick that it was smudging off even after letting the page "dry" for over 24 hours.  Which settings allow black ink to be used for blacks in a color photo? I would like to try that.

[Bob_Headrick]

I will ask one more time - what is the specific photo paper type you are using?  HP Advanced Photo Glossy media is nearly instant-dry.  Are you using a photo paper designed for inkjet printers? 

If you want to use the black cartridge to print the dark areas you will need to choose (and use) plain paper, or perhaps HP Matte or Professional Paper.  If you use these settings in the driver with photo paper the results will be poor.  As I mentioned before the pigmented black ink is not compatible with glossy photo paper.