Just spit balling... Your using a Bayer pattern camera. Could this be a moiré or color aliasing issue? Have you checked at the very highest resolution in PS? Check <dpreview.com> for a very nice explanation of color aliasing. I have had many printing issues using inkjets, where the "dot pattern" was the issue. Inkjets must have dot patterns afterall. Some RIPs offer dot pattern options, or at least offer their take on the pattern process. I happen to like Epson's technique and just work around it. My solution was solved by adjusting the color balance to produce the color I wanted to see. In my case it was tweaking the magenta/green and yellow/blue sliders in <Color Balance>. You may have to select the area and treat it differently from the rest. ICC profiles can't solve everything, and actually cause many problem, generally they cause fewer problems than they correct. Have you tried a BetterLight scanback or a Sigma [SD1 Merrill] body for the image capture, neither uses the Bayer pattern. If you like, see if you can get Mike Collette [of BetterLight at mike@betterlight.com] to comment on your findings. He is a very critical thinker and knows how to make sand look right <http://www.betterlight.com/gallery/index.html>. Tim Vitale Paper & Photography Conservation Oriental Scrolls & Screens in the Western Manner Digital Facsimiles & Digital Image Restoration Remastering still Film to Digital [distorted too] Archive & Collection Surveys Video & Film Preservation Surveys Preservation & Imaging Consulting Vitale Art Conservation 2407 Telegraph Avenue #312 Oakland, CA 94612 510-594-8277 510-508-4162 cell 510-891-1602 fax tjvitale@ix.netcom.com Website: http://vitaleartconservation.com/ Resume: http://vitaleartconservation.com/vitale_long-resume_v21.pdf Video Preservation: http://videopreservation.conservation-us.org/ (2007) Albumen Photography website: http://albumen.conservation-us.org/ (2001) Brief History of Imaging Tech: http://vitaleartconservation.com/bhit.pdf