18. Managing Color from Monitor to Print

Color management has changed a lot in the last few years, standards have been set up, and Adobe is at the forefront of this new technology. No longer do you have to fear color management, because Adobe Photoshop has taken all (or at least most) of the guesswork out of the equation. Adobe’s color management system (CMS) translates, known as rendering intents, color discrepancies between the input device and the output device using color profiles to avoid color-matching problems.

When you work on a computer monitor, you’re viewing color information in the RGB (red, green, and blue), additive color space. When you move into the world of the 4-color press, you’re viewing color information in the CMYK, subtractive color space. While a standard color press uses 4 colors, in reality, CMY (cyan, magenta, and yellow) are the opposites of RGB. A press to generate a true black uses the K plate (K stands for black, or key plate). Monitors display RGB colors very differently; when you factor in monitor resolutions, and the different types of monitors in the marketplace, what you see on a computer monitor is seldom what anyone else sees on their monitors. And that’s not all, everyone that owns a computer, has the ability to adjust or calibrate the colors on their monitors, further confusing the issue.

While nothing is perfect, the world of print is more controlled. For example, when you’re working on a color document moving to press, you use a predetermined set of colors, such as, the Pantone Color Matching System. The Pantone colors come printed on special card stock. When you’re looking for a specific color, you make the determination from the card stock, and then that information is transferred to the press operator. This type of control, even including the type of paper, keeps you in charge of the process of moving from monitor to print.

Producing Consistent Color

PS 11.1, 11.4

Producing Consistent Color

You can create consistent color in Photoshop by following some basic steps:

If you are working with a production company, consult with them to make sure they provide you with any software and hardware configuration and color management settings.

Calibrate and profile your monitor. See “Calibrating a Monitor” on this page.

Add color profiles to your computer for your input and output devices, such as a printer or scanner. Color profiles are typically added to your computer when you install the device. Photoshop use the profile to help determine how the device produces color in a document.

Set up color management in Adobe programs. See “Working with Color Management” on page 428.

Preview colors using a soft-proof (optional). See “Setting Up Soft-Proof Colors” on page 422.

Use color management when printing and saving files. See “Saving a Document” on page 28 and “Setting Document Print Options” on page 372.

Calibrating a Monitor (Manually)

Photoshop contains its own color management system; however, before you can successfully use color management, you must first calibrate your monitor to a predefined standard. There are several methods available to you for monitor calibration. One is to purchase a 3rd party calibration system, another is to use Photoshop’s built in color calibrator in Windows. While this section deals with manual calibration of your monitor, it is highly recommended that you purchase calibration equipment, or hire someone to calibrate your system. The reason is that the human eye is not the best device to color manage a system.

Before beginning the calibration process, let your monitor warm up for thirty minutes to an hour, and calibrate under the same lighting system that you’ll be using when you work. To manually calibrate your computer monitor, on Windows, select the Adobe Gamma utility, located in the Control Panel. For Macintosh users, select the Calibrate Utility by opening System Preferences, clicking the Display tab, and then clicking the Color tab. After you launch the calibration application, you will be instructed to manually balance the monitor for shades of red, green, and blue, or to pick from a set of pre-determined calibration settings. Since the human eye is not the best device for adjusting color, this method produces less-than-desirable results.

Calibrating Using Hardware and Software

PS 11.1, 11.4

The digital tools available today are so sophisticated that just 10 years ago, no one would have thought them possible. Color calibration falls into three categories: Input (digital cameras, scanners), Processing (monitors), and Output (printers, presses), and each category requires calibration, to create a workflow between devices. Remember a few things before you calibrate your system: Let monitors warm up for about an hour before doing the calibration, and calibrate the system using the same lighting levels that you will be designing. Once the calibration of all your devices is complete, you can expect the best color consistency that technology can provide. Several companies market color calibration hardware and software; one of them is ColorCal at www.colorcal.com.

Calibrate a Monitor (Processing)

To calibrate a monitor, you will need to purchase a digital spyder: (also called a colorimeter, or spectrophotometer). When you launch the calibration software, it typically displays a color target in the middle of the monitor. You would then attach the spyder to the monitor, directly over the color patch, and follow the step-by-step instructions. When complete, the software creates a digital color profile for the monitor, and PostScript output devices use that profile to accurately print color images.

Calibrate a Scanner and Digital Camera (Input)

Calibration of a scanner and digital camera requires the scanning or shooting a reference color target, of known color values. For example, the Kodak Q-60, IT8.7 color target has 240 color patches, and a 24-step grayscale, and an image of flesh tones. The calibration software reads the scanned colors and compares them to known color values to create a table of how the camera or scanner performs. Scanning a color target is easy: You lay the target on the scanner, close the lid and push the button. Digital cameras are a bit more difficult because you have to deal with the lighting conditions at the time the target was shot. With studio cameras this isn’t a problem; however, taking photographs in the real world involves different times of day, sunny versus cloudy, and incandescent versus fluorescent lighting. Yet, even factoring in the potential problems, calibrating your camera goes a long way in stabilizing color information on a digital camera.

Calibrate a Printer

To calibrate a printer, you will need a digital target file. The file is sent directly to the printer. Once printed, the results are checked with a spectrophotometer, and then the software measures the colors against the target values and creates a profile. There are many variables involved in the printing process, such as purchasing new inks, and the type of paper used for printing. Therefore, calibration is performed based on the fact that you will be using the same paper, and the calibration process should be performed each time you purchase new ink cartridges.

Setting Up Soft-Proof Colors

PS 11.4

In the traditional publishing workflow, you print a hard proof of your document, and visually preview how the colors look. Then you sign off on the proof, and the press operator begins the run. In Photoshop, you can use color profiles to soft-proof the document. Color profiles are a way to display the colors of a specific device directly on your monitor. While not exact as a hard proof, it can go a long way to getting the colors of a CMYK document into the range of the output device. It’s important to understand that the reliability of the soft-proof is directly dependent on the quality of your monitor. When you soft-proof a document, you’re temporarily assigning a color profile to the document.

Understand How to Soft-Proof Colors

Open a document (to use soft proofing, the document does not have to be in the CMYK color mode).

Click the View menu, point to Proof Setup, and then click Custom.

Click the Custom Proof Condition list arrow, and then select from the available customized setups (check with your press operator).

Click the Device To Simulate list arrow, and then select from the available color output devices.

Select the Preserve Numbers check box to simulate how the colors will appear without conversion.

Click the Rendering Intent list arrow, (available if Preserve Numbers is unchecked), and then select from the available options to view how the colors will convert using the proof profile colors, and not the document profile.

Select the Black Point Compensation check box to map the full dynamic range of the source space (recommended).

Select the Simulate Paper Color check box to simulate the visual conditions of white paper as defined by the current profile.

Select the Simulate Black Ink check box to map the full dynamic range of black as defined by the current profile.

To save a customized profile setup, click Save.

To load a previously saved profile setup, click Load.

Check with your press operator; in many cases they have profiles set up to match the dynamic range of their presses.

Click OK.

Click the View menu, and then click Proof Colors to view the color profile on the active document.

For Your Information: Understanding Soft-Proof Colors

If your monitor is properly calibrated and you have accurate profiles of your output devices, you can use Photoshop’s soft-proof capabilities to preview how your image will look when printed to your desktop printer, sent to a printing press, even when viewed on a particular computer operating system. The viewing capabilities of the Soft-Proof option are only limited by the availability of output device profiles. If you don’t have a specific profile, check with the manufacturer; many times they will have the device profiles available and, in most cases, for free.

Changing from Additive (RGB) to Subtractive (CMYK) Color

RGB (red, green, blue) is defined as an additive color space. RGB is the color space of computer monitors, televisions, and most PDA’s and cell phones with built-in color screens. A monitor uses pixels (small square or rectangular bricks), and each pixel mixes a combination of red, green, and blue to project (additive) a specific color to your eyes. Pixels use (on average) 24 switches to hold color information, and can produce 1 of 16,777,216 separate colors. CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) is defined as a subtractive color space. CMYK is the color space of high-end inkjet, laser, and professional presses. A press uses plates that define each of the 4 colors; as a piece of paper passes through the press, the colors are applied from each plate. The term subtractive comes from the fact that a piece of paper requires a light source to bounce off the paper, and reflect back up to your eyes. Since a press cannot generate the intense saturation of an electronic pixel, the number of possible colors is reduced into the thousands. However, when used correctly, you can produce some stunning results. It’s a simple matter to convert a Photoshop document into the CMYK mode; however, good planning will ensure the colors you want will be the color you get.

Change from RGB to CMYK Color

Open a document.

Important

You cannot convert a Bitmap or Multi-channel document directly into CMYK mode. Convert a Bitmap image to Grayscale, and then to CMYK; convert a Multi-channel to RGB, and then to CMYK.

Click the Image menu, point to Mode, and then click CMYK.

Photoshop converts the RGB image into CMYK.

If the RGB colors are not supported by the CMYK color space, they will be converted into the closest subtractive color values.

Working with Rendering Intent

PS 11.5

Rendering intent deals with how the color profile selected is converted from one color space into another. When you define rendering intent you are specifying how the colors should be displayed, even at the expense of the original gamut (colors) within the active document. The rendering intent you choose depends on whether colors are critical in an image and on your preference of what the overall color appearance of an image should be. Many times the intent of the images color gamut is different than how the original image was shot.

Work with Rendering Intent

Open a document.

Click the View menu, point to Proof Setup, and then click Custom.

Click the Rendering Intent list arrow, and then select from the following options:

Perceptual. Preserves the natural colors of an image, as viewed by the human eye, sometimes at the expense of the true color values. Good for photographic images.
Saturation. Produces vivid colors in an image, without paying attention to the original color values of the image. Good for business graphics, and charts where you want the colors to pop.
Relative Colorimetric. Shifts the color space of the document to that of the maximum highlight values of the destination. Useful for photographic images, and preserves more of the original color than Perceptual.
Absolute Colorimetric. Clips any colors in the destination image that do not fall into the color gamut of the destination. Use to proof images sent to devices, such as 4-color presses.

Click OK.

Printing a Hard Proof

PS 11.4

In the language of the print world, a soft-proof is viewed on a monitor, and a hard proof (sometimes referred to as a match print) is viewed on a piece of paper, typically printed on the device that is less expensive than the final output, such as an inkjet, or laser printer. In the last few years, many inkjet printers now have the resolution necessary to produce inexpensive prints that can be used as hard proofs, which previously had to be printed on high-end printing presses, or expensive high-resolution laser printers. A hard proof gives you something you can hold in your hands, and is not only useful for viewing colors, but even evaluating the layout. Since a monitor typically displays a document at a different size, you now have an exact size match to the final document.

Print a Hard Proof

Open a document.

Click the View menu, point to Proof Setup, and then click Custom.

Click the Device To Simulate list arrow, and then select a specific proof set.

Click OK.

Click the File menu, and then click Print.

Working with Color Management

PS 11.1, 11.3

Colors in an image many times will appear different when you view them using different monitors. They may also look very different when printed on your desktop printer or when printed on a professional printing press. If your work in Photoshop requires you to produce consistent color across different devices, managing color should be an essential part of your workflow. Photoshop gives you a group of pre-defined color management systems, which are designed to help you produce consistent color. These management systems are recognized by other Adobe products, and by most professional printing services. In most cases, the predefined sets are all you will need to manage color workflow or, as you become more advanced at managing color, they can be used as a basis for creating your own customized sets. The power of color management lies in its ability to produce consistent colors with a system that reconciles differences between the color spaces of each device.

Work with Color Management

Open Photoshop (it is not necessary to open a document).

Click the Edit menu, and then click Color Settings.

Click the Settings list arrow, and then select from the available options:

Custom. Create you own customized set (requires a good knowledge of color management, and color theory).
Monitor Color. For creating content for video and on-screen presentations.
North America General Purpose 2. (default). For creating consistent workflow with Adobe applications used in North America.
North America Prepress 2. The defaults for common pre-press operations in the U.S.
North America Web/Internet. Manages color-space content for documents published on the Web.
More Settings. Click the More Options button, and then click Settings list arrow to see more options for Japan and Europe.

Create your own customized color sets using the following options:

Working Spaces: Defines the working color profiles for each color model. Working Spaces can be used for images that were not previously color-managed, or for newly created color-managed documents.
Color Management Policies: Defines how the colors in a specific color model are managed. You can choose to embed or convert the selected profile, or to ignore it.
Conversion Options: Defines exactly how you want the conversion process handled. Using a color-defined Engine, and color conversion Intent. You can adjust for black point when converting color spaces, and dither color channel information when converting between color spaces.
Advanced Controls: Desaturate Monitor Colors gives you the ability to control the viewing of a color space on different monitors; however, if activated, images will print differently than viewed. You can decide what Gamma level is used when blending RGB values.

To save color settings as a preset, click Save, and then save the file in the default location.

To load a color settings preset not saved in the standard location, click Load.

Click OK.

For Your Information: Synchronizing Color Settings Across CS3

When you set up color management using Adobe Bridge, color settings are automatically synchronized across all Adobe Creative Suite programs, which makes sure colors look consistent. It’s a good idea to synchronize color settings before you work on new or existing documents, so the color settings match from the start. Before you can manage color in Bridge, you need to enable it. Launch Bridge, click the Edit (Win) or Bridge (Mac) menu, click Preferences, click Advanced, select the Enable Color Management in Bridge check box, and then click OK. To work with color settings, click the Edit menu, click Creative Suite Color Settings, select a color setting from the list, and then click Apply. If the default settings don’t suite your needs, select the Show Expanded List Of Color Settings Files option to view additional settings. To install custom color settings, click Show Save Color Settings Files.

Embedding ICC Color Profiles

PS 11.1, 11.2, 11.3

When you work on a color document, you’re viewing the image using your computer, with a specific version of Photoshop, and a unique monitor calibration. What you need is a way to preserve the visual settings of the document. In other words, you want someone else, to see what you see. The ICC Color Profile system is a universal way of saving a color profile (called tagging or embedding), and has a reasonable certainty that the document will display correctly on other devices. Although there are several modes that accept ICC profiles, the two most common modes are RGB and CMYK.

Embed ICC Color Profiles

Open a document.

Click the View menu, point to Proof Setup, and then click Custom.

Click the Device To Simulate list arrow, and then select a color profile for the image.

Click OK.

Click the File menu, and then click Save As.

Enter a file name.

Click the Format list arrow, and then select one of the following formats: Photoshop, Photoshop EPS, JPEG, Photoshop PDF, Photoshop DCS, or TIFF.

Important

To save the file with the newly created custom profile, the file must be saved as an EPS, DCS, or PDF.

Click the Where (Mac) or Save As (Win) list arrow, and then select a location to save the file.

Select the Embed Color Profile (Mac) or ICC Profile (Win) check box.

Click Save to save the file as a copy, and embed the new profile.

Assigning a Different Profile to a Document

PS 11.1, 11.2

Photoshop’s color management system must know the color space of the image so it can decipher the meaning of the color values in the image. When assigning a profile to an image, the image will be in the color space described by the particular profile. For example, a document’s profile can be assigned by a source device, like a digital camera or a scanner, or assigned directly in Photoshop. When using the Assign Profile command, color values are mapped directly into the new profile space.

Assign or Remove a Profile

Open a document.

Click the Edit menu, and then click Assign Profile.

Select from the following options:

Don’t Color Manage This Document. Select the option to remove any assigned profile (the document becomes untagged).
Working RGB. Select the option to tag the document with the current working space profile.
Profile. Select the option, click the list arrow, and then select a new color profile, which removes the old one.

Click OK.

Converting the Color Space to Another Profile

PS 11.1, 11.2

There are times when you will open a document that contains an embedded profile, and you need to convert it. Photoshop gives you the option of tagging the document with another profile without converting the colors, or removing the old profile and converting the color space. Photoshop’s Convert To Profile command gives you the ability to remove, reassign, or change the profile in a document. In addition, you may want to prepare a document for a different output destination, such as an ink jet printer or 4-color press.

Convert the Color Space to Another Profile

Open a document.

Click the Edit menu, and then click Convert To Profile.

Click the Profile list arrow, and then select a new color profile.

The document will be converted and tagged with the new color profile.

Click the Engine list arrow, and then select:

Adobe (ACE). Adobe color management (default).
Microsoft ICM. Windows color management.
Apple ColorSync. Mac OS color management.
Apple CMM. Mac OS color management.

Click the Intent list arrow, and then select an option.

Working with the Out-Of-Gamut Command

One of the biggest problems with images displayed on a computer monitor is that they don’t accurately represent the color space of a 4-color press. There are ways that we can reduce the possibility of colors not printing correctly, but in the end the RGB and CMYK color spaces are different—in fact, they’re exactly the opposite of each other. Photoshop understands this, and gives you a way to view out-of-gamut colors. The term Gamut is used to define a color that will reproduce on a press. The out-of-gamut test is performed on an image before the conversion into the CMYK mode. Once you convert an image to CMYK it’s too late to test, because Photoshop has already made the conversion.

Work with the Out-Of-Gamut Command

Open an RGB image.

Click the Edit (Win) or Photoshop (Mac) menu, point to Preferences, and then click Transparency & Gamut.

Select a Gamut Warning color, and then enter an Opacity percentage value (1 to 100).

Gamut Warning is the color Photoshop uses to mask the out-of-gamut areas of the image.

Click OK.

Click the View menu, and then click Gamut Warning.

Photoshop displays any color outside the CMYK gamut with a predefined color mask.

Printing a Target Image

When you work in the world of computer monitors and output devices, what you see on your monitor, is seldom what you get when you print. The color spaces are different—monitors are additive color, and paper is subtractive color. In addition, monitors use pixels to generate colors, and printers use inks. However, you can create a target print, and then use that to generate a custom profile. A target document with specific color swatches and information is used to create the target document and is supplied as part of a third-party color management software package. When printing a target, you want to turn off all color management in both Photoshop and the print driver. Once the target is printed, it is scanned by a third-party measuring instrument to create the custom profile. Photoshop supplies a target document Ole’ No More Moiré you can use to print the target document, and companies such as Color Cal (www.colorcal.com) provide electronic measurement systems to analyze the image and create the profile. If you have more than one output device, you will have to print a target for each document.

Print a Target Image

Open a color target document (such as Photoshop’s Ole’ No More Moiré).

Click the File menu, and then click Print.

Click the list arrow, and then select Color Management.

Click the Document option.

This reproduces colors as interpreted by the profile currently assigned to the document.

Click the Color Handling list arrow, and then click No Color Management.

Click Print.

Click the Printer list arrow, and then select the correct output device.

Select any other print related options as needed.

Click Print.

Using the Hue/Saturation for Out-Of-Gamut Colors

Once you’ve established your document contains colors outside the CMYK color space, it’s up to you to decide exactly how to correct the problem. There are as many ways to correct color problems as there are tools, and each Photoshop user has their favorites. Two methods that are simple and powerful, are using the Hue/Saturation Adjustment, and Photoshop’s Sponge tool. Understand that the primary reason a color won’t move into the CMYK color space is due to the saturation values of the ink. A monitor can produce more saturation to a pixel, than a 4-color press can produce by mixing inks.

Use the Hue/Saturation Method

Open an RGB image.

Click the View menu, and then click Gamut Warning.

Photoshop displays any color outside the CMYK gamut with a predefined color mask.

Click the Image menu, point to Adjustments, and then click Hue/Saturation.

Drag the Saturation slider to the left until all the gamut masks disappear.

Record the Saturation Value used.

Click Cancel.

Click the Select menu, and then click Color Range.

Click the Select list arrow, and then click Out-Of-Gamut.

Click OK.

The out-of-gamut areas of the image are now selected, and isolated from the rest of the image.

Click the Select menu, and then click Feather.

Enter a Feather value of .5.

This softens the desaturation of the out-of-gamut areas of the image.

Click OK.

Click the Image menu, point to Adjustments, and then click Hue/Saturation.

Enter the Saturation value you recorded from step 5.

Click OK.

Press Ctrl+D (Win) or +D (Mac) to deselect the image areas.

The image is now ready for conversion to CMYK.

Using the Sponge Tool for Out-Of-Gamut Colors

The Sponge tool method is a bit more work intensive; however, it gives you precise control over each out-of-gamut area of the image. Since the Sponge tool removes saturation values from the image based on the speed the tool is dragged across the image, the key to successfully using the Sponge tool to restore out-of-gamut colors is to choose a soft-edged brush, and smooth, even strokes. Practice is the key to good image restoration, and using a drawing tablet as opposed to the mouse will help in the control of the tool.

Use the Sponge Tool Method

Open an RGB image.

Click the View menu, and then click Gamut Warning.

Photoshop displays any color outside the CMYK gamut with a predefined color mask.

Select the Sponge tool.

Click the Brush list arrow, and then select a soft, round brush tip with a small diameter from the brush tip options.

Click the Mode list arrow, and then click Desaturate.

Enter a Flow value of 60 percent.

Click the Select menu, and then click Color Range.

Click the Select list arrow, and then click Out-Of-Gamut.

Click OK.

The out-of-gamut areas of the image are now selected, and isolated from the rest of the image.

Click the Select menu, and then click Feather.

Enter a Feather value of .5.

This softens the desaturation of the out-of-gamut areas of the image.

Click OK.

Slowly drag the Sponge tool over an out-of-gamut area until the color mask disappears.

Continue through the document until all the areas have been corrected.

Press Ctrl+D (Win) or +D (Mac) to deselect the image areas.

The image is now ready for conversion to CMYK.

Did You Know?

You can hide selection marquees. If the selection marquee is getting in the way of seeing small out-of-gamut areas, press Ctrl+H (Win) or +H (Mac) to temporarily hide the selection marquee, and then repeat the command to restore the marquee.

Using Online Services to Print or E-Mail Photos

Photoshop’s Online Services lets you to print or e-mail photos directly from Adobe Bridge to a remote online service provider. The Online Photo Printing and Online Sharing services give you a great advantage over having the hassle of saving, storing, and shipping images to local outlets. The Online Services make it easy to manage addresses and accounts to stream-line the process; it’s only a few clicks. Since the images used in high-end printing involve a lot of physical information (big file sizes), it’s important to have access to a high-speed Internet connection. Services such as DSL or broadband (cable) help to make the process of sending information faster and more reliable.

Use Online Services to Print or E-Mail Photos

Click the Go To Bridge button on the Options bar to open the Bridge.

Select the files that you want to print.

Click the Tools menu, point to Photoshop Services, and then click Photo Prints or Photo Sharing.

On initial use, click Enabling Photoshop Services on the Photoshop Services submenu.
To automatically check for services, click Automatically Check For Services on the Photoshop Services submenu.

The Online Services Web site appears; a Web connection is required.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.

You only need to enter account information once.

Click Next to continue to each screen, and then click Done when you’re finished.

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Table of Contents for 18. Managing Color from Monitor to Print

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