BetterPhoto Q&A
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Colour management in Printing

The problem is in obtaining consistency of colour when I take the prints to be professionally printed. I am using Elements 3, and have read that I should use 'full colour management' to tag all the photos as using Adobe RGB ICC colour profile. When I did this however, the images on the monitor acquired the same colour cast as the professionally printed ones. My monitor is an LCD one, and has its own ICC profile, so I tried saving them using this profile, and although they print correctly at home, the prints done at the shops came out with the colour cast.

Please can someone explain what I should be doing. I don't want to print all my photos at home, and I am thoroughly confused.

Many thanks,
Vickie Burt.

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March 31, 2006

THe profile is kind of a cross-reference table - that is, you see a certain color red on the screen, and to assure getting that same red on a print the computer needs to translate the set of RGB numbers used at the monitor into the set of CYMK numbers needed by the printer to reproduce said color.

So, in order for this to work, the first thing is to be sure your monitor is calibrated. You see, there are many variables that impact how a color is represented onscreen - age of the monitor, ambient light, and in the case of CRTs, how long the monitor has been powered up. So, for really accurate color rendering, one first calibrates the monitor with software and hardware designed for the task. Once this is done, the computer "knows" that a certain trio of RGB numbers is giving you that particular shade of red.

Now, as you manipulate the colors onscreen in Photoshop (or whatever), let's say you decide that is just the right shade of red for the balloon in your shot. You save the file, and the balloon's color is stored as that RGB setting.

Now, when you send the file to be printed (locally, or at a lab), the color profile of the printer (actually the printer+ink+paper combination) allows the computer to switch that RGB setting to the CYMK settings that will replicate that particular shade.

Of course, you need to know that the lab is using the same color profile standards as you.

Hope that helps...

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March 31, 2006

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March 31, 2006

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March 31, 2006

>Now go to your desktop and right-click in the open space.
>Click Properties.
>Now click the Settings Tab.
>Click the Advanced button at the bottom and click the Color Management tab.
>Click the add button.
>Find the Adobe RGB 1998 file and add it.
>Close out the windows now.

Now this isn't as good as calibration but it works pretty good. When I want prints I upload the images to Wal-Mart's website and pick them up in an hour. They use matte paper and they print on a Fuji Frontier which has excellent quality. I recently printed a 5x7 @ a low 170 dpi and the quality was very nice. I do recommend you try them. It's very quick and convenient. Good luck on getting your colors straight.

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March 31, 2006

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March 31, 2006

-Collette-

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April 01, 2006