Setting profiles

[Ozzie Alfonso]

Okay, I need some insights and more than a little help setting the color profiles of my LCD and printer so they match.

I'm shooting with a D100 in RAW mode. I shoot in Adobe 1993s mode, and open the RAW (or NEF) pics in Photoshop CS. (I think I have the Adobe number wrong - it's the only Adobe profile the D100 offers.)

I have made some preliminary adjustments to my computer's LCD screen with Adobe's gamma setup utility. Now, my HP printer, which prints some very nice looking pictures, is never in "sync" with what I see on my LCD. The colors are slightly off, as is the contrast.

In my "old darkroom days" I would make a test strip to determine the proper exposure under the enlarger, but so far I haven't found a simple and cheap way to accomplish this in Photoshop. (Someone care to develop this utility?)

I'm a little familiar with ICC profiles but I haven't a clue as how to implement them. Any help, guidance or comments would be most welcomed.

Thank you.

[Jeff Donald]

Hi Ozzie, glad you found your way here. The first step is to calibrate your monitor. Adobe Gamma is OK but a good hardware calibrator is much better. If your using your Mac I would also suggest SuperCal, it's more accurate than Adobe Gamma. In most cases you need to set White Point to D65 (6500K) and calibrate the monitor under the conditions it will be used. Make sure that the profile created by SuperCal or Adobe Gamma is used when the computer is restarted. It is shown in System Preferences>Displays>Color>Display Profile. If the newly created profile is not highlighted select it and quite System Preferences. Again, if your goal is a soft proof then only a hardware calibration is accurate enough.

Once the calibration is done PS CS must be setup for your color preferences. Under Photoshop>Color Settings use the following:

Check advanced settings box

Working Space
RGB -- Adobe 1998
CMYK -- US Web (really doesn't matter for now)
Grey -- Dot Gain 20%
Spot -- Dot Gain 20%

Color management Policies

RGB -- Convert to Working Space
CMYK -- Preserve Embedded Profiles
Grey -- Preserve Embedded Profiles
Check all three boxes

Conversion Engine -- Adobe ACE
Intent -- Perceptual
Check both boxes

Advanced Controls should have both boxes unchecked.

Click OK to save changes and close window.

Now open an image and then go to File>Print with Preview. Check the Show More Options box. In the pull down under the box select Color management. Document should show Adobe 1998. In Print Space: Profile, select your printer and paper combination. For Example mine says Epson Photo 2200 Enhanced Matte Paper. Yours would be HP Model # and paper such as Premium Glossy Photo. In the Intent pull down select Perceptual and Black Point Compensation should be checked. Then select Print.

Your HP Print Window will open and you'll need to check some settings. But at this point your more on your own.

Set Printer Resolution to highest DPI setting or 1440 minimum. Select your paper again, make sure color ink is selected, and under a Color Management or Color Sync setting, None should be selected. One of the common mistakes made is what's called double profiling. Double profiling is when two programs are both doing color management. In many cases people select PS and their printer to both do color management. Double profiling will never produce accurate color. In almost all cases it is better to have PS do color management.

You might also like the variation function (Image>Adjustments>Variations) to produce a ring around similar to your darkroom test strips.