Using OS X ColorSync for soft proofing with LR?

[MarcRochkind]

I wonder if anyone has tried this. The only other way I know of to soft-proof if one is using LR is to go to Photoshop for printing (what I actually do). For those who need Photoshop for no other reason and therefore don't want to buy it, and have a Mac, I'm wondering if there's another way.

The workflow I have in mind:

1. Get the image ready to print in the Develop module.
2. Export it to a JPEG with AdobeRGB or ProPhoto RGB color space.
3. Open the image in ColorSync and use the drop-down at the bottom to apply the printer's profile (e.g., SPR1800 PrmGlsy BstPhoto.icc). The image will change (probably lose tonal range).
4. Back in LR, increase the brightness, or adjust the curve, or whatever.
5. Repeat from Step 2, but this time compare the ColorSync soft-proof to the LR image after using the history to temporarily back out the adjustments in Step 4.
6. When the soft-proofed image looks right, print it from LR.

Yes, this is certainly awkward, not nearly as convenient as soft-proofing in Photoshop, but maybe it's actually workable. It's certainly easier, faster, and cheaper than hard-proofing (printing and then making adjustments based on the trial print).

--Marc

[DavidB]

1. Get the image ready to print in the Develop module.
2. Export it to a JPEG with AdobeRGB or ProPhoto RGB color space.
3. Open the image in ColorSync and use the drop-down at the bottom to apply the printer's profile (e.g., SPR1800 PrmGlsy BstPhoto.icc). The image will change (probably lose tonal range).[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=192972\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Awkward, but workable.  You can either put an alias to ColorSync Utility in the Export Actions Folder, and then for each soft-proof manually drill down through the menus and select the output profile and rendering intent, or you could go the next step and use a profile-specific AppleScript as an Export Action to do it for you.

Either way, the image you'll get on the screen should be the same as soft-proofing within Photoshop with several caveats:

• No access to "Simulate Paper Color" or "Simulate Black Ink" options.
• No easy function to toggle proofing on/off within ColorSync Utility.
• No "Lights Out" function (e.g. screen mode in Photoshop) to hide the non-proofed GUI elements from the screen (although this would be more important if we were simulating paper white and ink black).
• No out-of-gamut warning.

If you can live with those issues then this setup does seem to provide _some_ value.

4. Back in LR, increase the brightness, or adjust the curve, or whatever.
5. Repeat from Step 2, but this time compare the ColorSync soft-proof to the LR image after using the history to temporarily back out the adjustments in Step 4.

You may wish to add a Develop Snapshot before starting the proofing process...

[usathyan]

or using the Preview application as well (which uses the same underlying colorsync).

[madmanchan]

I'm not sure this workflow would simulate the dynamic range limitations of the media (e.g., Simulate Paper Color in PS's soft proof).

[MarcRochkind]

Usathyan--

I don't believe Preview does this. ColorSync has options for "Apply", "Match", and "Assign", and Preview only has the last two. When I tried them, they didn't seem to effect soft-proofing.

Do you have different information?

--Marc

[MarcRochkind]

DavidB and madmanchan--

On further experimentation, you are quite right about Simulate Paper Color. For my printer and paper, that's huge... much bigger difference in the soft-proof that merely setting the profile.

For that reason, ColorSync (and maybe Preview, if it does soft-proofing...I'm not sure) are inadequate.

I will now look into what Simulate Paper Color is all about, from an OS X programming point of view.

--Marc