Is it worth soft proofing

KEV145

KEV145

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Kevin
Edit My Images
No
As per title,

Have calibrated my screen and when I get the two images side by side in cs6 they look just about the same, but what comes out of the printer in nowhere near what I see on screen. A custom profile might help and I do know about the screen being backlit etc but why are the colours out. Am using the canon pro 9000 mk 2 printer and have let the printer manage colour and then adobe manage colour but still nowhere near. The printer drivers are not 'fighting' each other as one or the other is always switched off. Has anybody had this problem, if so would like to hear how to correct this or just get somewhere near would be a big improvement.
 
What colour space are you using on your screen ?

Easy starting point, make sure everything is using sRGB
 
Yes everything is in sRGB, think I checked all the other basic things so not sure what to do next.
 
I take it you are using the soft proofing option in the view menu in Photoshop. I also take it you are using Canon ink with the printer, and the appropriate paper profile for that Printer/ink /combination. . Is there one particular colour that is off or several?. Some generic profiles are better than others, and that's the problem they are generic. I've used manufacturers profiles that have been miles away, yet others, such as Ilford were very very close. What paper are you using by the way?
 
Yes John I'm using canon inks, the correct profile for the Pro Platinum paper and most colours are off. Thinking of using Permajet paper and profiles to see what happens but that expensive ink :eek:
 
Trying another paper is a good idea. Yes decent ink is expensive I use a standard test target that I have used for nearly 15 years. I print it about 1/4 of an A4 sheet. This lets me test up to 4 times on one sheet saving paper and ink
 
Good thinking and thanks for the tip, keeping my fingers crossed.
 
doesnt canon software have some proofing mode where it can print out a bunch of the same pic but small/small area for you to colour correct?
 
Mmm, was not aware of that, will look into it, thanks for the tip.
 
Yes, soft printing is valuable.

Depending on the contrast ratio your monitor is calibrated to it can show a significant change in contrast when soft proofing which needs to be adjusted before printing. Most people have their contrast ratio for their monitor set way too high so see a large drop in contrast during the soft proof. My monitor is calibrated to 240:1, so for luster paper I see very little change in contrast during the soft proofing step.

Also you can test the two rendering intents to see which one best addresses out of gamut colors.

When printing make sure:

1. Photoshop is set to "Photoshop Manages Colors"
2. Printer Profile equals the paper profile for the paper you are printing to
3. ICM is turned OFF in the Canon printer driver
4. Not sure about Canon printers, but in the printer driver for an Epson printer you also need to select the paper type (like Premium Paper Glossy), the black ink type (for matte or glossy printing ... if you have both types of ink) and the quality (I use Max Quality).


If you have seriously out of gamut colors for the paper you are printing to those out of gamut areas will lack detail and the color will be off. Glossy papers have the highest gamut and matte papers the lowest, so printing an image with vibrant colors on matte paper takes a bit of work such as lowering saturation in just those areas. So, make sure you are also checking for out of gamut colors when soft proofing. :)


A couple of questions:
a) What device are you calibrating with?
b) Can you give a screenshot of your Color Settings for Photoshop? Edit -> Color Settings
c) Are all of the built in Color Management settings for your computer (Mac OS or Windows) left alone? In other words, you didn't mess with any of those ... correct? :)
d) What monitor are you using and what is % brightness set to? Does your calibration device's software allow you to target luminance (should be ~100 cd/m^2)? If it doesn't then you probably need to reduce brightness manually.
e) Can you post an sRGB image and tell us what you are seeing as problems with the print? If those of us with a reliable calibrated system are seeing "on screen" the same issues you are seeing with your print it could indicate that the color management for your monitor is hosed. For example your profile could be corrupt.
 
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Yes miss read it, it was in my first post but a more constructive answer might have helped.

No such thing as a dumb question.......Only dumb answers
 
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KEV145 said:
Yes miss read it, it was in my first post but a more constructive answer might have helped.

No such thing as a dumb question.......Only dumb answers
Click to expand...

I must have been reading some other stuff and got fed up lol
I do apologise for the poor answer. i was indeed dumb!

What I'm getting at is that a custim profile WILL help rather than might. Probably the biggest difference.
 
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