Color Profiles - confused

[cenwyn]

Hi everyone, now that I have calibrated my LG Flatron W2234S LCD monitor using Spyder3 Express, I'm now confused as to how to set up the right colour profile in Photoshop Elements 6 so that when I save and print a photograph to a HP Photosmart C5180 the colours I see on the screen will be mirrored on the printed copy.

Please remember I am a novice!

So my icm profile file for Spyder3 now sits in the ..system32\spool\color directory in a file called Spyder3Express.icm

I can see 3 HP profiles there called;

HP PS C5100_C6100_C7100-Premium Paper.icc
HP PS C5100_C6100_C7100-Prem Plus Photo.icc
HP PS C5100_C6100_C7100-Advanced Photo.icc

What do I need to do in PE6 so that the colours I now see using the Spyder3Express profile is replicated when printing on the HP printer?

Also, will this same process work when I take the jpg file to the printers?

Is there a website that explains all this to a novice?

Many thanks,
Cenwyn.

[cidrmakr]

The files you are looking at (with the .icc name) are printer profiles used for either softproofing in ps (don't know about pe6) or going directly to a printer from ps. Just before you print you select the paper (one icc profile for each paper and each printer) and it tells the software how to set colors. When you softproof you select one of those icc profiles, duplicate your image, put both side by side, and then adjust the one being softproofed until the colors and contrast match - and sometimes they never do. Reason for all this is that different printers have different gamuts and different papers have different reflectivity. While working in the software you want to have a standard "color profile" set that is part of your workflow. srgb is the standard for the web. A somewhat larger color space is adobe 98 and is the color space most used when working with photographs. There are also prophoto and lab color spaces, which are somewhat specialized and you don't want to go there unless you do some homework on them. So, I would suggest as a working color space you select adobe98 and leave well enough alone. If you are going to have prints made at el cheapo local, they should give acceptable results with adobe 98 - but, if not then switch to srgb. keep in mind that your monitor is srgb and you cannot see any difference on a computer between the color spaces - but the software knows. And, if you are shooting jpg, then your workflow should be set for the same color space as your camera - which unless you changed it is srgb. When shot in srgb more digital info cannot be just "added" to the file by software, although it will try, and get good results. Most of the time you will never have to use the softproofing or printer profiles unless you are making art for a specific printer and making very large prints or sending them to a pod like mpix - who wants srgb anyway.

BTW - congrats on calibrating your monitor. Thats the first step and the most important for getting good photo management.

[pakodominguez]

So my icm profile file for Spyder3 now sits in the ..system32\spool\color directory in a file called Spyder3Express.icm

Monitor profiles and paper profiles are not the same. You are supposed to calibrate your monitor every 2 or 3 weeks, every calibration will give you a new monitor profile. You don't use a monitor profile for softproofing. You use a paper/printer profile for that.

I can see 3 HP profiles there called;

HP PS C5100_C6100_C7100-Premium Paper.icc
HP PS C5100_C6100_C7100-Prem Plus Photo.icc
HP PS C5100_C6100_C7100-Advanced Photo.icc

This profiles are for HP papers -if you buy those papers, you'll be fine. If you choose to buy another brand, you have to find and install the those profiles (you download it to your desktop, right-click and choose "install")

If you are planning to send your pictures to a photolab, they supposed to provide you the profiles for the papers they use. Remember that in the same way you have to actualize the monitor profile, Photolabs actualize their paper profiles (about every 6 month...) and you have to check the version of the profile you have. If you use an old profile, your print won't be totally off, but some tones can change.

What do I need to do in PE6 so that the colours I now see using the Spyder3Express profile is replicated when printing on the HP printer?

Also, will this same process work when I take the jpg file to the printers?

I can not help you with Elements, but I understand that there is no way to softproof with Elements.

Is there a website that explains all this to a novice?

http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_di ... a3846e39fa

[pakodominguez]

While working in the software you want to have a standard "color profile" set that is part of your workflow. srgb is the standard for the web. A somewhat larger color space is adobe 98 and is the color space most used when working with photographs. There are also prophoto and lab color spaces, which are somewhat specialized and you don't want to go there unless you do some homework on them. So, I would suggest as a working color space you select adobe98 and leave well enough alone. If you are going to have prints made at el cheapo local, they should give acceptable results with adobe 98 - but, if not then switch to srgb.

Most photolabs do c-prints (real photographic paper) on sRGB. If you submit AdobeRGB your pics won't look good unless the lab convert your pics to their sRGB profiles)

The recommendation is that you save your "originals" as AdobeRGB or the next hot-hip-high-quality thing, then you convert a copy to sRGB for printing.

If you are printing at home, you can use any color space because Photoshop and/or the printer's driver will do the conversion automatically (I understand inkjet printers print on CMYK...)

Regards