Soft Proofing

MV
Posted By
My View
Feb 25, 2006
Views
246
Replies
6
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Closed
I am getting a number of images printed at a pro lab and have downloaded their printer profile.

I need to be sure that the image I see on the monitor is replicated correctly on their printer ie colour, brightness etc etc.

Would this be the correct workflow to achieve this:
1. open original image in Adobe RGB
2. make all necessary adjustments ie levels, colour, sharpness etc etc etc until image looks right (to my taste)
3. duplicate the final image
4. soft proof the original image and make further adjustments to get soft proofed image to look the same as the duplicated image

Normally when soft proofing or converting to their profile the image looks verrry dull. Is the idea that the soft proofed image will look exactly the way their printer will create the final image? Therefore further adjustments are required to the soft proofed image. How is this different to converting to their profile (ie no soft proofing) and then making further adjustments to get the converted image to look right?

regards

PeterH
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MV
My View
Feb 25, 2006
Also, I presume that if I make the adjustments to the soft proofed image then I don’t then convert to the printer profile after manipulating the soft proof image. The new manipulated image has all the necessary changes to suit the printer profile.

"My View" <no spam > wrote in message
I am getting a number of images printed at a pro lab and have downloaded their printer profile.

I need to be sure that the image I see on the monitor is replicated correctly on their printer ie colour, brightness etc etc.
Would this be the correct workflow to achieve this:
1. open original image in Adobe RGB
2. make all necessary adjustments ie levels, colour, sharpness etc etc etc until image looks right (to my taste)
3. duplicate the final image
4. soft proof the original image and make further adjustments to get soft proofed image to look the same as the duplicated image

Normally when soft proofing or converting to their profile the image looks verrry dull. Is the idea that the soft proofed image will look exactly the way their printer will create the final image? Therefore further adjustments are required to the soft proofed image. How is this different to converting to their profile (ie no soft proofing) and then making further adjustments to get the converted image to look right?
regards

PeterH
B
bmoag
Feb 25, 2006
As you have discovered soft-proofing is not very reliable. There are no hidden secrets.
To prove this to yourself softproof with a selection of the profiles that are provided with Photoshop and see for yourself if you discern any significant differences.
N
nomail
Feb 25, 2006
"My View" <no spam > wrote:

I am getting a number of images printed at a pro lab and have downloaded their printer profile.

I need to be sure that the image I see on the monitor is replicated correctly on their printer ie colour, brightness etc etc.
Would this be the correct workflow to achieve this:
1. open original image in Adobe RGB

Many photo labs do not check embedded profiles, but assume that every image is sRGB. Unless you are 100% sure that your lab does use embedded profiles, convert your image to sRGB.

2. make all necessary adjustments ie levels, colour, sharpness etc etc etc until image looks right (to my taste)
3. duplicate the final image
4. soft proof the original image and make further adjustments to get soft proofed image to look the same as the duplicated image

Yes, that is the correct way. Soft proofing simulates the output on your screen, so the soft proof should match what you WANT the image to be.

Normally when soft proofing or converting to their profile the image looks verrry dull. Is the idea that the soft proofed image will look exactly the way their printer will create the final image? Therefore further adjustments are required to the soft proofed image. How is this different to converting to their profile (ie no soft proofing) and then making further adjustments to get the converted image to look right?

Theoretically there is no difference. In practise, it will be more difficult to adjust the image once converted to their color space, because most likely this space is not ‘grey balanced’. It means that changes in contrast or brightness will also introduce color shifts. If you work in a grey balanced space like AdobeRGB or sRGB with soft proofing, this problem will not happen.

Also, if your lab doesn’t look at the embedded profile, converting the image to their space is a bad thing. They will do it again, so you’ll end up with a double conversion.

—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl
BH
Bill Hilton
Feb 26, 2006
PeterH writes …

I am getting a number of images printed at a pro lab and have downloaded their printer profile.
I need to be sure that the image I see on the monitor is replicated correctly on their printer ie colour, brightness etc etc

To get an accurate soft proof you need a very good profile from the pro lab and a very accurate monitor profile that you created yourself. If you have both of these then you should get a fairly accurate preview, but there are a lot of inaccurate profiles floating around so people are often disappointed when they get the print back.

Normally when soft proofing or converting to their profile the image looks verrry dull. Is the idea that the soft proofed image will look exactly the way their printer will create the final image?

Do you have "Simulate : Paper white" turned on? If so this will dim down the brightness of the image to reflect the lower brightness of the paper compared to your screen.

Therefore further adjustments are required to the soft proofed image. How is this different to converting to their profile (ie no soft proofing) and then making further adjustments to get the converted image to look right?

Should be the same, but the lab will be doing two different things in these two different scenarios … be sure to ask your lab if they are expecting the files to arrive already converted to their profiles or not … many just take your files and convert them so if you’ve already converted they could easily get converted twice, which you want to avoid at all costs. Ask the lab what they expect to receive …

Bill
BH
Bill Hilton
Feb 26, 2006
Johan W. Elzenga writes …

Unless you are 100% sure that your lab does use embedded profiles, convert your image to sRGB.

The high end pro labs I’ve worked with all recommend Ektaspace or, at a minimum, Adobe RGB as the preferred working space. This is for printing on LightJet and Chromira lasers and the high end Epson wide formats, all of which have wider gamuts than sRGB. Most of the labs who ask for sRGB are the high volume lower end labs with the Fuji or Agfa printers, which is a different market. So the original poster should ask the lab ahead of time …

Bill
MV
My View
Feb 26, 2006
Thanks all for replies.

Bill,
Also, I presume that if I make the adjustments to the soft proofed image then I don’t then convert to the printer profile after manipulating the soft proof image? The new manipulated image has all the necessary changes to suit the printer profile?
Although I notice that after I save the soft proofed image and then reopen I have to select "View/Proof Colours" to see the effect of the proofing. After adjusting the image with soft proofing should I then convert to profile before saving for sending to the pro lab? Would this be double converting?
thanks
PeterH

"Bill Hilton" wrote in message
PeterH writes …

I am getting a number of images printed at a pro lab and have downloaded their printer profile.
I need to be sure that the image I see on the monitor is replicated correctly on their printer ie colour, brightness etc etc

To get an accurate soft proof you need a very good profile from the pro lab and a very accurate monitor profile that you created yourself. If you have both of these then you should get a fairly accurate preview, but there are a lot of inaccurate profiles floating around so people are often disappointed when they get the print back.

Normally when soft proofing or converting to their profile the image looks verrry dull. Is the idea that the soft proofed image will look exactly the way their printer will create the final image?

Do you have "Simulate : Paper white" turned on? If so this will dim down the brightness of the image to reflect the lower brightness of the paper compared to your screen.

Therefore further adjustments are required to the soft proofed image. How is this different to converting to their profile (ie no soft proofing) and then making further adjustments to get the converted image to look right?

Should be the same, but the lab will be doing two different things in these two different scenarios … be sure to ask your lab if they are expecting the files to arrive already converted to their profiles or not … many just take your files and convert them so if you’ve already converted they could easily get converted twice, which you want to avoid at all costs. Ask the lab what they expect to receive …
Bill

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