Printer Profile Question

[Kit-V]

When selecting a printer profile in Photoshop Elements 8 (for Mac), among the myriad of choices is "Working RGB - Adobe RGB (1998)". How is this profile different from the "Adobe RGB (1998)" profile?

Thank you for your help.

Kit

[digitaldog]

When selecting a printer profile in Photoshop Elements 8 (for Mac), among the myriad of choices is "Working RGB - Adobe RGB (1998)". How is this profile different from the "Adobe RGB (1998)" profile?

Its the same profile. Working means “your preferred” color space, the editing space you want, as a default to be using.

[terrywyse]

Of course, you probably wouldn't want to select AdobeRGB(1998) as your *printer* profile since AdobeRGB has nothing to do with either your printer or the media you happen to be using. Better to select either a custom or canned/generic profile that matches your printer+media combo. AdobeRGB would likely be your *source* or document profile but not your destination/printer profile.

Regards,
Terry

[Kit-V]

Of course, you probably wouldn't want to select AdobeRGB(1998) as your *printer* profile since AdobeRGB has nothing to do with either your printer or the media you happen to be using. Better to select either a custom or canned/generic profile that matches your printer+media combo. AdobeRGB would likely be your *source* or document profile but not your destination/printer profile.

Regards,
Terry

Terry,

This is a subject which is relatively new to me. So I beg your indulgence. I will be printing from PSE8 which in the Color Management dialog box has a drop-down menu labeled Printer Profile. The menu contains numerous profile choices, but no generic profile appears to be listed for my Epson Stylus Photo R300 printer. How can I acquire the generic profile & load it into the Printer Profile menu? Actually, I contacted Epson & was advised that they didn't not have an ICC profile for my Stylus Photo R300 printer.

BTW, I assume that I would select the appropriate paper profile in the Media Type menu in the Print dialog box (?).

Thanks for your patience & your help. I realize that my questions are rather remedial.

Kit

[David Sutton]

Most printer manufacturers don't provide profiles for the cheaper printers.
Two ways you can do it. I used to print from an Epson  multifunction and made my own profiles with SpyderPrint (purchased on Ebay quite cheaply). I hear Colormunki works well too.You load the paper you intend using into the printer and the software prints a number or coloured squares- between 150 or so and 700 depending on the quality of the profile you need. You measure each square with the device so the program gets  a comparison of what colour it is compared to what it should be and there's your profile.
Or you can find an on-line or local profiling service. They email you the target, you print it and post it to them and they email back your profile.
Media type is not your profile, it is the type of paper- glossy, matt etc. There should be a drop-down of choices.

[Kit-V]

David,

Admittedly my Epson printer is dated & not my choice for quality prints. A new printer will be in the offing for the near future. However, in the interim, I wanted to set up my color management  workflow. A custom printer profile certainly seems preferable to a generic profile & the cost appears to be reasonable.

One follow-up question: I assume that since the custom profile is created from the printer & the paper that I use, the profile itself is in essence a printer/paper profile. Am I correct?

Any recommendations on high-quality, reputable online profiling service?

Thank you kindly.

Kit

[ChasP505]

Any recommendations on high-quality, reputable online profiling service?

Eric Chan
http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/photos/profiles.html

[David Sutton]

David,

Admittedly my Epson printer is dated & not my choice for quality prints. A new printer will be in the offing for the near future. However, in the interim, I wanted to set up my color management  workflow. A custom printer profile certainly seems preferable to a generic profile & the cost appears to be reasonable.

One follow-up question: I assume that since the custom profile is created from the printer & the paper that I use, the profile itself is in essence a printer/paper profile. Am I correct?

Any recommendations on high-quality, reputable online profiling service?

Thank you kindly.

Kit

Hi Kit. I'm not meaning to knock the cheaper printers. The RX630 used to print close to the quality of my Epson 3800 at 8 x 10 after being profiled. And I learned a lot about printing. But those prints are now significantly faded, that's all. You may be surprised how good your prints are from your R300.
Yes, it is a custom printer/paper profile at the settings you had when printing the target. Sorry, I don't know of any on-line profiling services apart from Eric Chan's. Others may be able to help you here. I would check with your local camera shops or photo societies as well.
Cheers, David

[Kit-V]

Thanks, David & Chas, for your input. I appreciate it. With a bit of perseverance, I located the generic profiles that were bundled with my printer. Although I loaded them in the ColorSync utility (did I mention that I am a Mac user?), they failed to pop up in the PSE printer profile drop-down menu. Then it occurred to me to load the profiles in the Adobe application support folder in the main library. Viola! The generic profiles are now in the printer profile menu.

I just need to do a bit of experimentation to see whether the generic profile is acceptable. If not, I will opt for a custom profile.

I have to admit that educating myself about color management has been an interesting journey. There have been a few speed bumps but, nevertheless, it has been satisfying. Andrew Rodney's book  has really helped to cut through the conflicting information & subjective opinions.

Thank you, everyone, for your patience & help. I'll be back.

Kit

[ChasP505]

...Andrew Rodney's book  has really helped to cut through the conflicting information & subjective opinions.

Agreed...  I read it (and RE-read it) a couple years ago and it set me straight with my color management issues: monitor calibration, printing. etc.  You might also want to invest in the LL video, From Camera to Print.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/videos/camera-print.shtml

[EricV]

Once you have the appropriate profile, you are halfway there.  However, there are at least two more important hurdles:

1) Make sure you apply the profiles either through your printing software or through the printer driver, but not both.  The most common recommendation is to let the software manage the profile and turn off color management on the printer side.  Figuring out how to do this can sometimes be a bit tricky.

2) If you want your prints to match what you see on your monitor, you also need to profile your monitor.  This requires using an external calibration device.  The single most useful suggestion I have heard on monitor profiling is to turn down the brightness setting on the monitor.

[Kit-V]

Once you have the appropriate profile, you are halfway there.  However, there are at least two more important hurdles:

1) Make sure you apply the profiles either through your printing software or through the printer driver, but not both.  The most common recommendation is to let the software manage the profile and turn off color management on the printer side.  Figuring out how to do this can sometimes be a bit tricky.

2) If you want your prints to match what you see on your monitor, you also need to profile your monitor.  This requires using an external calibration device.  The single most useful suggestion I have heard on monitor profiling is to turn down the brightness setting on the monitor.

Eric,
 In reference to your comments...

(1)  I have set PSE to manage color & correspondingly turned off color management in the printer driver.

(2)  Yes, the monitor is calibrated/profiled. I have a new NEC P221W monitor that I calibrated with the SpectraView II puck & software.

So, I'm getting closer.  Thank you for your help.