Colour management e.t.c!

[Neil79]

Need some advice basically work flow!

1. What colour management do i use as a default setting?, do i work in Adobe RGB or SRGB. Or do i use my monitor's calibrated icm?

2. When uploading to web do i convert to SRGB and Adobe RGB for printer?

3. For printing do i always proof my images first and adjust for printing quality?

and a completely off topic question, how do you deal with lots of mud and sinking sand?. Wellies or plastic bags lol

 

[Neil79]

 

[Chappers]

Neil

When in doubt sRGB is your best bet as a default setting. The reason for this is that unless you have an expensive monitor, your monitor will display the colour gamut of sRGB or there about. It's the same for the printer. There is no point in using a colour space that you can't use, so for the present stick to sRGB, for web and printing.

As far as printing is concerned, the simple answer is to proof. However if you have Photoshop you can use a technique known as soft proofing. Whilst it's not always accurate, it's a lot better than not. To do this you will need printer profiles for your printer/ink/paper combination. It isn't rocket science Google soft proofing with Photoshop .

As far as mud and sinking sand is concerned you need a mud horse

No it's not a joke there really is such a thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnRzvQuzXgc

 

[Neil79]

Nice one Chappers thankyou so much for taking the time to write that up!

Last point, about the printer/ink/paper

Would you perchance have printer profiles for

CANON IP4850
CANON INK
JESSOPS SATIN PAPER and JESSOPS GLOSSY

 

[RicherSea]

Need some advice basically work flow!

1. What colour management do i use as a default setting?, do i work in Adobe RGB or SRGB. Or do i use my monitor's calibrated icm?

Arguments for both (and you haven't mentioned ProPhoto - another option). I personally work in AdobeRGB, as do a lot of print companies. There is no point working in your monitor colour space, as it's only relevant to you. Your monitor profile is for output (on your monitor) not anything else.

2. When uploading to web do i convert to SRGB and Adobe RGB for printer?

Yep, sRGB for web, and normally adobeRGB for print, although some prints companies use sRGB, ask them and they should be able to tell you. If they can't, find a new one. If you're printing yourself it depends what application you are printing from.

3. For printing do i always proof my images first and adjust for printing quality?

Not really sure what you mean here. Softproof on screen - maybe, print proof - possibly sometimes. Depends if you trust your profiles to get you what you want out of the printer first time. I can't remember the last time I had to adjust anything or proof anything on my Canon A4 inkjet, but I've had it for about 6 years, so the settings are pretty dialed in now. I still print proofs before I put things through the medium format though.

 

[RicherSea]

Would you perchance have printer profiles for

CANON IP4850
CANON INK
JESSOPS SATIN PAPER and JESSOPS GLOSSY

Given you are using canon ink and printer, I'd get some canon paper as well. The everyday stuff is more than fine (as in, you could sell in commercially and I doubt many people would notice) and then you will be able to use the canon profile that came with the printer.

 

[Neil79]

Neil
. There is no point in using a colour space that you can't use, so for the present stick to sRGB, for web and printing.
]

Arguments for both (and you haven't mentioned ProPhoto - another option). I personally work in AdobeRGB, as do a lot of print companies. There is no point working in your monitor colour space, as it's only relevant to you. Your monitor profile is for output (on your monitor) not anything else.
.

Ahhh, bloody hell they should've made it all a standard one RGB nothing else

 

[Chappers]

I doubt if you'll readily find profiles for that printer ink paper combination. However Ilford do supply profiles for their range of papers, which I have found to be very good. I've just checked and the do for profiles for you printer.
Maybe not as cheap as Jessps but an excellent product.

Yes the different colour spaces can be confusing . They do all have their proper place but you need to understand why each is used. For simplicity I'd stick to sRGB for your working space for the time being.

 

[Neil79]

As that is my general workspace anyway, i'll stick with that and the fact photomatix is generally SRGB

Thanks Chappers

 

[Neil79]

Just printed with my new printer

Using ilford satin paper profile , perceptual , black ink compensation e.t.c

And the colours are not far off!, the only thing that is slightly different is the sky is more blue on my monitor and more green/grey on the print. The quality came out far higher with the ilford than with the canon! :shrug:

Had to adjust via gamet warning on first run though as the reds were clipping bad with printer profiles.

Is it possible to get a completely accurate print to that on the monitor?, or will there be some differences

 

[Chappers]

Using a profile that is not designed for the paper will give you some discrepancies Soft proofing with the correct paper profile will help. However it's probable the the monitor will have a much wider colour gamut than the printer. So some clipping will occur. It's the nature of the beast, unless you want to spend a whole lot on money. Also the monitor is transmissive and the print reflective. That does throw up some anomalies as well

On my iMac, whilst the majority of the colour gamut of Ilford paper is well within the range of my monitor, there are areas in the Blue and Cyan which are just outside its range. It's something you learn to live with and accommodate. Using Gamut warning can help highlight these potential problem areas

 

[RicherSea]

Using ilford satin paper profile , perceptual , black ink compensation e.t.c

Generally relative-colourimetric is a better choice than perceptual. Glad it all worked!

 

[Per Ardua]

Have you calibrated your monitor? Without doing that all the profiles in the world won't help get accurate colours between monitor and print.

If you're printing yourself then Adobe RGB is best if your printer supports it, for lab prints use whatever they say - usually sRGB.

One word of caution - sRGB is effectively a subset of Adobe, so once you convert a JPEG to sRGB there's no going back.

You're unlikely to get Jessops paper profiles, but companies such as DCP systems will make a custom profile for you for about £25 - they send you a test file which you print, send the print to them then they scan it and make a profile. Easy peasy.