Digital Workshop Reference Sheet

Adobe Photoshop Color Management Or how to make the print match the monitor in 4 steps

Color management is the key to controlling what the image you share with the world looks like. If you’ve been to a department store and seen a bank on TV’s on sale, then you know that every screen looks different. Getting on board with color management ensures that what you look at on your monitor is what everyone else in the photo community is looking at. Most importantly, it’s the only way to see the info in your files accurately! Here are my four easy steps to color management and making the print match the monitor:

1 Set up your Monitor in a dimly lit area where light levels stay constant. Ambient light will effect the color you see, so stay close to 6500k.

2 Use Adobe Gamma Calibrator or Apple’s Display Calibrator Assistant to calibrate your monitor by eye. You can profile a pretty good screen (with practice and some talent), but it is no replacement for hardware calibration — a puck that reads the screen — Look for X-Rites inexpensive “ColorMunki Smile”. Start with your native monitor profile (that’s the profile that comes with the monitor and is selected in the display preferences dialog box), then calibrate from there to D65/6500K and 2.2 gamma. Recalibrate when the rooms light conditions change.

3 Setup Photoshop Color Management System Open Photoshop and go to Edit> Color Settings and set to “US Prepress 2 Defaults“. This setting fully enables Photoshop’s CMS (Color Management System) and quickly gets everyone on the same page. Your working RGB color space is now Adobe RGB 1998 and you will be prompted whenever you open an image file that is not. Make sure to embed the Adobe RGB 1998 profile when you save the image file as a TIFF. (JPG’s compress files and toss out info)

4 Setup Print Utility. Open Print Utility: Photoshop> File> Print Printer Setup Box “Printer”: Select your Printer Select ”Print Settings…” to open “Print” box Select “Paper Size” In “Print Settings” menu Set: Media Type to “Semi-Gloss”, “Glossy”, “Matte”, (Paper type you’re using) Set “Color Settings” to No Color Adjustment Set “Print Quality” to photo quality 1440 or better Select “Save” to return to “Photoshop Print Settings” box Color Management Box Document Profile – This shows the file’s Color Space – Prefered Profile: Adobe RGB (1998). Color Handling: “Photoshop Manages Colors” not “Printer” Printer Profile: (The specific printer/paper/ink ICC Profile for Normal Printing). It is extremely important to select the correct profile from the drop down list! Find the profile for your model printer and the media type. Example: for an Epson 2200 printer using luster paper choose SP2200 Prem.Luster 1440.icc.

Rendering Intent: *Perceptual rendering intent performs a color compression and is best suited for images with saturated colors — Perceptual compresses a large source gamut to fit a smaller target gamut. *Relative Colorimetric performs no compression on colors found in the new target space and it is suited for all images — Relative Colorimetric however will compress any colors found outside the small space and fits them into it. Black Point checked. Press “Print” and you’re done!

Remember: Use the specific Print Profile for the specific printer/paper/ink being printed. Each printer profile only works for ONE specific printer model, specific ink set, and specific paper combination! If you’re using an Epson 2200 printer, with Ultrachrome ink, and Ilford paper then you’ll need a print profile for that combo.

Try www.greatprinterprofiles.com to build a custom profile for your printer and any paper (about $35 a profile)

To ensure color accuracy always do a printer nozzle check before printing!

Print a test target (see normankoren.com for target download) to fine tune your print density output and color accuarcy.