Published: March 25th, 2008
Duration: 09:13
A Photoshop CS3 Reference: Color Management - Part 3 of 4
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These tutorials are really filling a hole in my color management knowledge base. Thank you, thank you. I've understood and have been calibrating my monitor, but I didn't understand how one then gets the print to look like the monitor. With your help, that's about to be settled. Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to part 4 so I can put this puzzle together. I also appreciate that the tutorial is broken into these easily managed pieces. Many, many thanks.
-James
P.S. Did I say thank you?
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I think it's starting to come together for me! Reading a manual is nothing like learning directly from your experience. Echoing James above, thank you!
There is one area I'm still stumbling over, but maybe that will be answered in Part 4 so I'll hold my questions until then. Looking forward to it.
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Thank you, Mark, for this great video tutorial series!!!
I really agree with James and April. Slowly but surely it all comes together - great!
But I still have two questions I can't hold:
1. What if softproofing (and minde often does) shows colours that are less vibrant than what I had on my monitor before "putting on the proof-glasses"? Can I just add saturation until it looks as vibrantin the softproof-mode as at the beginning without the softproof or do I have to accept, that the paper can not reproduce these nice colours?
2. Can someone tell me something about the "gamut warning"? What if it tells me, that there are colors, that can not be reproduced? What can I do to get the image printet properly anyway?
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Thank you Mark!
This series is great. Can't wait for the last part.
I've got one suggestions and two questions.
Suggestion: You could create a new thread after the series is done, where you or the community can discuss the series and answer upcoming questions.
Question: You said you would talk about the Epson Dialogue. What about people who have Canon printers. Will everything be pretty common or very distinct? Also, where does one get the proper paper icc profiles? I have a few installed by the canon drivers, but i can't make any sense of them, because they are all labeled "Canon MP610 series GL2, GL3, PR1, PR2, PR3, SP2, SP3".
I hope you get what I mean :D
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pax85 -
As to where one gets proper paper icc profiles, the best start intially is at the paper manufacturer's website. They will have a decent profile (hopefully!) for each one of their papers for specific papers, and also usually have printer settings to use as well. The next level up is having custom profiles made for particular papers you use...many different people offer this service.
Steve
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valued by 1
chrisjoerg -
Quick answers to your follow-up questions.
1: Yes, you can (and should) tweak your *print file* using the soft-proofing view if necessary. Add whatever adjustment is necessary to get the proper 'look and feel' you desire in your print. The soft-proof shows you what the paritcular profile/ink/paper combination will look like out of your printer. Different adjustments might be needed for different papers and coatings and the like.
2: The gamut warning shows you colors that are outside of your printer's capabilities for that particular profile/ink/paper combination. Adobe RGB, ProPhoto, sRGB are larger color spaces than printers can support as yet. Sometimes you can merely try another profile/ink/paper combination to get your result. Other times if a color is 'out of gamut' you can rework the *print file* using soft proofing and gamut warning to bring the color back into what your printer can support. Sometimes it's a simple tweak, sometimes it's a whole re-work to maintain color relationships in the image (ie: pulling back blue and yellow so the yellow is still that much brighter than the blue in the final output)
I highlight *print file* in both examples because they will be specific files for that print on a particular paper, and NOT your master image file. You should have ONE master file, and then however many print files you need for particular sizes and substrates, et cetera.
HTH
Steve
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The process of soft proofing is more than just looking at the way the print will look on a particular paper/ink combo. You can do something about it! One of the best discussions I have seen is on the video tutorial "From Camera to Print" by Michael Reichmann and Jeff Schewe on the Luminous Landscape. You have to buy it, but it contains a wealth of information about the whole process.
In a nutshell, re: soft proofing. Make a dup copy of your image and put it up alongside of your original. (Dup file, then go to Window - Arrange) Use the dup as a visual to refer to - re: how you liked the print before soft proofing (Jeff Schewe calls it "the make your picture look like crap" button :-)) Then, using adjustment layers, try and make the soft proof image similar to the original. Often the black point is less intense, the saturation is less intense (esp. w/ reds) , and you may have to lighten the image. These are the most frequent adjustments I have to make using Epson Premium Matte, and Premium Luster (I know, they have changed the paper names, but you can figure it out :-)) After finishing w/ your corrections to the original, throw away the dup w/o saving the changes. Mark says he doesn't use the "Simulate paper color" button. I do, and it REALLY makes your picture look like @#&%. :-)) Experiment and see for yourself!
One cool thing: Using CS3: Command + Y (on a mac) toggles soft proof on and off.
Also, if you look at the top of the screen, at the name of the image, it will show if soft proofing is on or off.
The paper profile chosen is in ( ) after the file name.
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Sorry, but soft proofing is EXACTLY looking at the way the print will look on a particular profile/paper/ink combination. Everything else you describe is adjusting the file to make a proper print for said combination. I do agree with the steps listed, but not your first sentence.
Ctrl (command) + Y also works in many other versions of PS, not just CS3.
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