Workflow advise needed

[mreco99]

Hi,

Just about to take delivery of my external (to my laptop) monitor and calibration device.
I use photoshop CS6

Could anyone explain the process i need to go through to get it all setup (calibrated)
I ask as i will be using an online print service. The print service do have print profiles for download.

This is what i imagine.
Plug in the external monitor to laptop.
Somehow calibrate it with the X-Rite i1 Display PRO, ive never used a calibration device before.
Then do i download the profiles from the printers for the paper i want to use? and install the profiles in photoshop?
Then how do these profiles help? are the profiles used when you print preview in photoshop or are they always active ie when editing?
I assume the profiles make the screen image look as close as possible to the printed image?

Sorry lots of questions.

thanks

[digitaldog]

Start here:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml

Not that if you are not supplied a profile you can fully use, one you can use to convert to the output color space with the rendering intent you prefer per image, the process is a tad half baked. Many on-line labs demand you send them sRGB or similar which isn't ideal.

[mreco99]

hi
thanks ill read the link

I uploaded a test image to the online printer, one a TIFF and one a JPG (same image) and i got some test prints on 5 different types of paper.

They do look slightly dark in the dark areas, but then im still working off a laptop with a TN screen, so i assume thats probably my fault.
But yes they were both in sRGB

I understand the basic difference in the colour range between adobe, sRGB etc on the colour graph

[digitaldog]

The "problem" is the printer doesn't output either sRGB or Adobe RGB (1998) but rather the color space of the profile they presumably sent you. I say presumably because unless they use that actual profile to convert the data (and we don't know exactly how), assuming using it for soft proofing only is a stretch. The ideal CMS workflow would for them to supply you the actual output profile for the device, you soft proof and select a rendering intent you visually prefer, then you convert that data to the output color space. Maybe with additional output specific edits based on the soft proof/conversion. If they don't allow you to convert the data, you're not using the system as it was designed. Nor do you know if the profile supplied even reflects the output conditions at the time the data is sent to the device. Might be close, might not be. But not ideal.

[mreco99]

ah ok.

All i did was upload a jpg and tiff of the same image for printing. No profiles used. Im a print beginner.
I can download a profile from their site, havent tried it yet, as im still working out how this all works. Hence the questions.

"convert the data to the output colour space"  lol er your losing me bud.

Are you saying i use their profile in photoshop to soft proof my image on my screen

Can i link you to thier profile to see if we are talking about the same thing?
http://www.dscolourlabs.co.uk/tech_support.cfm
Can you tell me if thats the profiles you are talking about? the ones i should be using.
It looks like the profile is for the paper, is that right?

cheers.

[digitaldog]

"convert the data to the output colour space"  lol er your losing me bud.

You'd use the Convert to Profile command with the same profile and settings used for soft proofing. Then send that to the lab. Convert to Profile acts just like the soft proof expect it actually does change the numbers. Soft Proof (Customize Proof Setup) shows you what the image would look like if you converted the data but leans the numbers alone.

[mreco99]

very useful info thanks, ill give it a go tonight