Im just getting a chance to get back at it. sorry it took so long.
To start with, im not worried about the scanner. Its a canon all in one deal but i dont use it to print photos.
I got the hp for $4 at a thrift and figured id give it a try. I managed to get a little better pictures after playing with it for a while but they still arent good enough.
Yeah i just noticed that i had that paper turned the wrong way to print. Thanks for pointing that out.
As far as calibration goes. I use the pantone huey for my monitor. There is an option for calibrating the printer on the printer software but seems to be pretty shotty.
Heres the last pic i printed. If you look past the grain and just look at the colors. you can see the difference. Below the scanned in pic will be the original.
It actually almost looks like to much contrast.
Scanning the pic in is just to show the colors.