Where to use ICC in working space

[nospe7880]

I have created 2 ICC profiles using colormunki photo , 1 for monitor and one for printer so that they are in tune with each other to try to get realistic monitor to print images.

Where do I use these in PS?

I am thinking that in COLOR SETTINGS that the WORKING SPACE should be the printer profile that has been created.. Is this correct?

Then there's the matter of PRESERVE EMBEDDED PROFILES..???

All of this is very confusing to a newbie all this RGB business and where to apply it and I don't want to change things and screw it up..

If there is a tutorial or recommended reading on this topic then please let me know.. or if someone can help at this point I would be grateful... keep it simple though... Cheers

[DanK]

Welcome to CiC.

A partial short answer is that the ICC has nothing to do with the color working space; it is a mapping to an output device. I suggest you start by reading the relevant tutorials on this site, which are on this page. Then post questions you still have after reading them. Otherwise, we end up re-creating the wheel.

Can you please go to settings and add your real name and location? We go by real names here, and your location will sometimes help people target their responses.

[Manfred M]

The ColorMunki should load the computer screen's profile into the appropriate folder on you computer automatically at the end of the calibration / profiling process. It will be loaded automatically when your computer starts up. I use the ColorMunki display (and the i1 before that), so this should be in place unless you did not save the profile when the software asked you to.

I don't use custom print profiles, but rather use ones made for my printer from the paper manufacturer. Here these are loaded into the appropriate directory and when I use the Photoshop print menu item and set the Color Handling to "Photoshop Manages Colors", all the profiles appear there. I would assume that you should find your custom paper profile there, based on the name you gave it during the profiling operation.

The colour settings are the default opening ones and I don't think I have changed these, as I use whatever settings come across from the raw processor. All these settings do is set the defaults when opening a new blank canvas, which is fine if you are looking at working this way, but I rarely use a blank canvas as I usually open up an image for editing

The colour space you use should be somewhat dependent on your computer screen. I use a high end 99% AdobeRGB compliant screen and use the ProPhoto colour space in my work. I also have a higher end 9-colour printer, which exceeds the AdobeRGB colour space), so I want to preserve the original colours as much as possible. If you have a screen that is sRGB compliant, I would probably stick to AdobeRGB as a working colour space. Do not use any of the CYMK colour spaces; these are used in offset printing processes, not on photo printers.

Preserve colour profiles simply means that the existing colour profile information is saved in the image file. This is important if the downstream software (web browers and printer drivers) can detect which colour profile is used. Unfortunately, you cannot control this and any image I post to the web or send off to run of the mill commercial printers, converting to sRGB is the final step I take when creating an output jpeg.

As for tutorials, the best ones on the web are found here on the CiC site. Try reading:

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/co...t-printing.htm

[dje]

The profiles are not specifically associated with Photoshop, rather they are associated with the Operating system of the computer. If you are using Windows, have a look in the Control Panel/Color Management screen. You should see the new profiles there and they should be marked as the defaults. (You need to select each device separately from the device drop down box. ie Display or Printer).If the new profiles are shown as the defaults, you have nothing further to do. They will be called up automatically whenever you use color managed software.

Dave

[Polar01]

Bernard just to let you know, the ICC profile that you created for the printer, is good only for that printer, with those inks, and that specific paper that was use. If you use a different paper then you need to create a printer ICC profile on that paper. I also use the Colormunki Photo to profile my monitor and printer (Epson 4900), printer custom profiles were created for each of the different papers I used about 10. I do not know which printer you use, however most paper suppliers produce really excellent printer paper profiles.

Cheers: Allan

[Simon Garrett]

I have created 2 ICC profiles using colormunki photo , 1 for monitor and one for printer so that they are in tune with each other to try to get realistic monitor to print images.

Where do I use these in PS?

I am thinking that in COLOR SETTINGS that the WORKING SPACE should be the printer profile that has been created.. Is this correct?

Then there's the matter of PRESERVE EMBEDDED PROFILES..???

All of this is very confusing to a newbie all this RGB business and where to apply it and I don't want to change things and screw it up..

If there is a tutorial or recommended reading on this topic then please let me know.. or if someone can help at this point I would be grateful... keep it simple though... Cheers

Bit late replying, but a couple of things perhaps not mentioned so far. The issue of "Preserve embedded profiles" determines whether Photoshop by default keeps the colour space of an image when opening it, or converts it to Photoshop's working space (if that's different). I recommend "Preserve".

Here are the settings I use:


The Working space should be one of the standard working spaces, normally ProPhoto RGB or Adobe RGB. If you do not print and are concerned only with images for the web then sRGB might be right. Normally there is no reason to do other than choose the widest working space: ProPhoto RGB. It should not be a device specific profile (that is, not a monitor or printer profile). This isn't a matter of matching the Working space to your images or printer. The Working Space is the internal number space Photoshop uses, and if it's too narrow then it can clip colours.

I choose "Preserve..." as I said, and also check all the "Ask when..." options, so it tells me before ever converting a colour space.

As others have said, the monitor and printer profiles do not match the image, nor match each other, but to match the specific device (monitor or printer). For a device-specific profile such as a monitor or printer profile, the primary purpose is to describe the monitor or printer. Although printers are usually calibrated (the white point and tone response curve adjusted to defined values), that is incidental to the main point of producing a profile, which is to produce a description of the monitor's or printer's colour characteristics.

What happens with colour management when Photoshop displays an image:

• Photoshop looks up the image colour space from its profile (either the original colour space of the image, or it may have been converted to Photoshop's Working Space, depending on options)
• Photoshop looks up the monitor colour space by asking Windows for the profile
• Photshop then uses the two profiles to covert each RGB value in the image from the image colour space to the monitor's colour space.
• Finally, the converted RGB values are sent to the monitor.

The effect is to display correctly the colours on the monitor, even though the monitor's colour space is normally different (sometimes very different) to the colour space of the image. That's what colour management does.

A similar process happens when Photoshop prints, except that it uses the printer profile rather than the monitor profile.

Normally, you don't need to set the display profile anywhere in Photoshop. PS will ask Windows (or the Mac OS) for the current profile for the monitor. It happens automatically. However, when you print, you do need to tell PS which printer profile to use, as Windows (and I think the Mac OS - not so sure about that) won't find the printer profile automatically.

[dje]

Normally, you don't need to set the display profile anywhere in Photoshop. PS will ask Windows (or the Mac OS) for the current profile for the monitor. It happens automatically. However, when you print, you do need to tell PS which printer profile to use, as Windows (and I think the Mac OS - not so sure about that) won't find the printer profile automatically.

Good point Simon. I was thinking in terms of the Display profile being selected automatically from the default when I made my comments. However selection of the printer profile is different as you indicate and must be selected in PS when PS is managing the printer. I don't think a printer profile is set as a default in Windows.

Dave

[Simon Garrett]

Good point Simon. I was thinking in terms of the Display profile being selected automatically from the default when I made my comments. However selection of the printer profile is different as you indicate and must be selected in PS when PS is managing the printer. I don't think a printer profile is set as a default in Windows.

Dave

When I look in Control Panel -> Colour Management, I can see that Windows has a set of printer profiles associated with my printer, but no single profile is set as default (as would be the case for a monitor, where one is shown as the default). There will be a different printer profile for each paper, and although the printer driver may know which paper is loaded, Windows doesn't, and the linkage to a specific profile isn't automatic as it is with a monitor.

When you print, there are two options for colour management:

1. The program (e.g. Photoshop) manages colours. In this case the printer driver does nothing to manage colour space, as is the case for monitor drivers (which also take no part in colour management), but unlike monitor profiles Windows can't tell you the printer profile to use and you have to tell the program which profile to use. This is the option I use.
2. The driver manages colours. In this case the driver probably does know which printer profile to use, but doesn't know the image profile (e.g. Adobe RGB, sRGB...), so you have to tell it. By the way, this is why monitor drivers can't manage colour; they don't know the image profile and it would be impractical to tell the driver, image-by-image, which profile to use.

The information linkage isn't quite complete in Windows for printers, and no one place can know both profiles automatically.

I don't know if Macs are any better at getting the right profiles automatically.

[Manfred M]

When I print, the computer "remembers" the last print profile I used and will have it set (as well as the other print settings) when I print again.

The only suggestion I would make where I do not use the "Let Photoshop manage colors" options is for printing B&W. If you want pure B&W, let the printer manage colours, otherwise you will get a colour cast to your image, in my case on the Epson 3880, a slight green.

[nospe7880]

I have managed to sort out the ICC profiles and the relationship between monitor and printer..the prints are getting there now Thanks for all the advice ..

My issue now is that my PC is not holding onto the profile for the monitor.. I have to keep telling it to use the ICC profile as default each time that I log in.. Is there a way to get it to hold the ICC profile and apply it each time ?

I have tried various things but to no avail.. could it be my video card that is resetting it? It is fine once I have reset it but it's annoying having to keep doing it..

Thanks in advance


Bernard