Have you ever had a problem getting hard copy to look like your monitor view? If you have, you're in the right place.
First, let's clarify some basic assumptions. I presume you know that you need to have your monitor calibrated, have proper lighting conditions for viewing pictures on your monitor and you have some kind of printer profile (this may just be something you get when you buy your printer). Maybe you've read a bunch of technical books that just don't mean anything to you and leave you all confused and befuddled. Well... let's skip all the calibration stuff and I'm just going to assume you have your monitor showing you a fair representation of what you can achieve on a print from your desktop printer.
The trick then is to get the print right. So why do your prints often appear red when you're looking at beautiful skin tones on a monitor? To explain the why and give you a surefire method for getting your printer to behave itself, I'm going to use Photoshop to illustrate the point. There are many different imaging programs that follow the same principles, so what is said here can apply to many different applications, but the toggles and dialog boxes may have some differing names.
In order to understand what follows you need to know a little bit about color profiles and color workspaces. When you take a picture with a digital camera your file may be saved with either an sRGB or Adobe RGB (1998) color profile. Also, you may have a choice to save your files with either sRGB or Adobe RGB (1998). When you work on your computer monitor you're working (or should be) in either sRGB or an Adobe RGB (1998) color workspace. These color profiles are automatically installed on your computer when you install most imaging programs. In Photoshop you can change your workspace to one of these two profiles by visiting the Edit -> Color Settings command. The RGB drop down menu for Workspaces displays the available workspaces as you see in Figure 1.
Figure 1
When you print a file to your desktop color printer you need to convert the workspace color profile to the printer output profile. The actual conversion is handled by your computer, but you need to understand a few things to make the right menu choices that perform the color conversion.
And what do I mean by color conversion? It seems complicated but can be quite simple to understand. Essentially when you work on your color monitor and you see the color red, as an example, that color is expressed by your workspace (either sRGB or Adobe RGB (1998) in numbers. Those numbers fed to your computer displays red on your screen. But a printer and any one of many different papers you use to print your pictures, can use different numbers to express the color red. Hence we need a converter to convert the red on your monitor to the closest reproducible red on your printer. That's what happens with color conversion.
If you can understand what's said up to this point the rest is fairly easy. Using Photoshop as the program to print your pictures you have one of three choices to make regarding color profiles and converting color. These three choices are easily viewed in Photoshop when you open the Print with Preview dialog box (Control/Command + Alt/Option + P).
Select Color Management from the drop down menu just below the preview image then open the Color Handling drop down menu as you see in Figure 2. For RGB images your choices include:
Figure 2
1. Let Printer Determine the Colors. As shown in Figure 2 your first choice is to let your printer determine the color profile. When you make this selection you use the printer driver to handle all the color profiling. Click Print and a second dialog box opens. The choices are similar on both the Mac and Windows but the dialog boxes appear different. Let's first start with the Mac and you see Figure 3 appear as the dialog box opening after you click Print.
Figure 3
There are two critical commands you need to address in the Print dialog box shown in Figure 3. First choose Print Settings from the third drop down menu at the top of the dialog box and another dialog box opens as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4
The Print Settings dialog box includes all your adjustments for your printer. You choose the type of media to print on, print speed, print quality, etc. as shown in Figure 4.
But hold on, you're not finished yet and the next step is one of the most common errors made by users printing to desktop color printers. You now need to choose Color Management from the third drop down menu at the top of the dialog box (essentially where you see Print Settings click here to open the drop down menu again). From the menu choices choose Color Management and another dialog box opens as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5
Because you are letting your printer handle color management you want the radio button for Color Controls selected. Your printer will automatically choose the correct color profile for the paper type you chose in the Print Settings dialog box shown in Figure 4. Click Print and Print again in the Print with Preview dialog box and your file is sent to your printer.
On Windows your choices are the same. The first time you click Print in the Print with Preview dialog box another dialog box opens (titled Print). Click the Properties button here and you arrive at the printer driver dialog box where you make choices for paper and color mode. Click the Advanced button and you arrive at another dialog box where you make choices for how the color is managed. In Figure 6 you can see similar settings as are available to Mac users. When you let the Printer Determine Colors be certain the radio button for Color Controls is selected. Click OK and OK again and your file is sent to your printer.
Figure 6
2. Let Photoshop Determine Colors. If you make this choice in the Print with Preview dialog box, you see the Printer Profile drop down menu become active. From this menu you select a color profile that was installed by your printer. For example, if I use an Epson printer and I print my pictures on Glossy Photo Paper you should see a printer profile in the menu for that particular paper as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7
Again, you're not finished. The next step is critically important. You need to tell Photoshop and your printer driver how the color is to be managed. You find the control in the same dialog box where your first chose color management in Figures 5 and 6.
On the Mac select Off (No Color Adjustment) in the Color Management dialog box as you see in Figure 8.
Figure 8
On the Windows select ICM in the Advanced Settings dialog box as you see in Figure 9.
Figure 9
If you don't turn color management off, you wind up double profiling your print which often produces prints with a screaming magenta bias.
3. No Color Management. This choice is used when you embed a color profile in Photoshop. If you use the Edit -> Convert to Profile command and convert your working space to a printer profile, you then need to turn color management off throughout the print process. Failure to do so also double profiles your prints and produces images with a magenta bias.
In summary you have basically two choices to make. Either let your printer determine colors or use a printer color profile. If you choose to let your printer determine colors, you use color management. If you use a printer profile, then be certain to turn off all color management in your print process. Follow these steps and you'll find your color printing to be accurate and you'll avoid the dreaded screaming magenta bias.
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Book Contest Winners I'd like to thank everyone who responded to the book contest question. Quite frankly there were many great responses and I wish I had enough books to send to all who returned a detailed response. In the end I had to pick the 5 top responses and this was indeed a challenge. I ultimately took all those who responded in detail and drew names. It was impossible to pick the best top 5 since so many of you indicated sincere and genuine interests for needing a book on color correction.
Those who came out on top in both excellent responses and lucky lotto winners are posted below. All of these are short excerpts from larger responses. If your name doesn't appear below, don't despair. I'm writing two more books at the moment and I'll have two more contests in forthcoming months. Stay tuned to my column on AroundHawaii.com for another chance.
Aloha,
ted
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From Alan:
I enjoyed your Road Runner article on Fixing Snapshots with Adobe Photoshop. My Name is Alan and I am involved in teaching digital photography classes at the Kahala Nui retirement community in Honolulu. It's quite a challenge! The senior citizen residents there either buy digital cameras or get them as gifts, and then they must climb the steep learning curve to be able to navigate the extensive menus on even the most inexpensive cameras. Plus, they have to struggle through the owner's manual and all the technical jargon, just to set everything on "automatic" to take a snapshot of their grandkids! The concept of taking control of the camera and setting the white balance, ISO sensitivity, and flash options are a scary thought!
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From Jamsie:
I could really use a book on color correction. I am a volunteer for my choir on the Big Island in Kona (Kona Festivale Chorale). Our members take numerous digital photos of our concerts, the members, and attendees and keep a photo journal of our yearly activities. We display large poster board-marquees at each of our concerts recapping prior and current songfests so audience members can learn a bit about who we are and who's involved in making the choir happen. Some of the photos are terrific, but many are pretty dismal in the way of focus and lighting. They have to be tweaked (mostly by myself), and I have been doing just what you advise not to do! Everyone appears to have spent a week on a boat in the hot sun! I have printed out your current article and will try the methods you wrote about. A book would be super, and I can share that information with the others for a more professional looking output. We also take photos of the kids in the choir for their families, and I KNOW they would appreciate more realistic color!
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From Jose:
I think my shots are pretty decent, but it always seems to be a step or two shy from really standing out. Lighting and flash technique are two areas I have bee focusing on recently, but color correction in post is one area I have been flying by the seat of my pants. I've done "auto color correction", "auto levels", and yes, I am even guilty of moving the white point slider to the left! With your color correction article, I have seen the "light" (and it's not a saturated white light!). I would continue to enjoy other articles on this topic. Also would enjoy something on high school senior portrait photography (non-studio, outdoors), like tips on making the best use of light (including how pros use reflectors, and getting the flesh tones to come out just right), to how to remove those red zits so the kids look absolutely mah-velous!
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From Carolyn:
I intend to use whatever knowledge I can find to explore this medium in my work (documenting environmental protection), for my friends and family - to include a new granddaughter (to remember the precious times) and for the pure sake of creative expression (wherever that may take me). I know there is much to learn and that the possibilities are nearly endless. It's as if I find myself on the edge of a new world, and it's waiting for me to discover it. I hope to win your book so that my personal process of discovery will be as wonderous as the world of digital photography.
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From Arnie:
Halfway through the article on RoadRunner homepage I decided that it was time to buy your book. I've been teaching Photoshop since version 2.0 on the college level...mostly having to teach myself three weeks ahead of the students. Have been teaching Photoshop 5.5 in middle school for the past four years. This summer I plan to upgrade my computer from OS9 to OSX and purchase CS2. Even at school we are operating in Classic mode on OS X computers. My learning has stopped at 5.5 as I had to get certified to teach middle school (even a masters degree in education wasn't enough).
Many thanks to Thao Behm for permitting me to use her photo for this article.
