Thank you all for your thoughts
I embarrasingly admit that the reason I got imageprint is because the whole process of printing sends shivvers up my spine, to attemtping through photoshop etc is something I'd rater not get involved with if possible
I have been thinking about this and really do wonder whether there isnt a simpler explanation, because for exampele the 8bit jpeg does not make this huge shift when I soft proof it ofr drag it into imageprint application, unlike the 16bit version e.g. have I done something daft when setting the assigning or converting the colour space?
Perhaps this will shed some light on things : the original was pretty bland so I converted to LAB via IMAGE>MODE>LAB color, once I had finished with changing the colours I reverted it back to RGB, also via IMAGE>MODE>RGB, being unsure of quite how to go about this I also ( I think) went to EDIT>CONVERT TO PROFILE and set it to the paper profile
I got pretty confused at one point and may hav gone back and forth making different settings to see if it made any difference
Perhaps someone could advise me what the seetings SHOULD be and what the correct process is for chnaging from one colur mode to another etc
Sorry for all the hassle
It seems you may be missing some basic understanding of color management, which is probably part of, maybe a major part of, your fear of printing.
Some knowledge maybe be found in Martin Evening's PDF
http://www.photoshopforphotographers.com/pscc/downloads/colormanage.pdf There are many others, maybe more basic.
The basic point is that there are 'color spaces', also called 'working spaces', and color profiles for output devices. Some color spaces are RGB, aRGP, ProphotoRGB, etc. these are wat you use working with the image in Photoshop. The output profile is only used for printing ( or softproofing), but never "converted" to....as it is not a working color space.
I would suggest you get some basic books or instruction on color management and printing. I have not sed Imageprint, but understand it can be quite good. I suspect, with your background knowledge, it may be making things worse rather than better.
If i were you, i would start with as basic a flow as possible, until you build up your knowledge. You might consider using something such as Lightroom where much of the changes ar under the covers. Just a thought.