LaserSoft Imaging

I have religiously followed the advice of many folk and used Adobe 1998 RGB as the preferred colour profile for inkjet printing. My Silverfast scanning software is calibrated to Adobe RGB 1998 as well as IT8 calibration. I have also set Adobe Photoshop 6 to use the Adobe RGB 1998 profile. My monitor is calibrated with a ColorVision Spyder.

I have until now used two settings on my Epson Stylus Photo 750 printer, i) Printer Colour Management with Colour Adjust and ii) Epson Stylus Photo 750 Photo Paper without Colour Adjust (the driver for the latter downloaded from (what now seems to be a broken link) on Ian Lyon's web page http://www.computer-darkroom.com.

The prints I got on Epson Photo Paper were fairly close to matching the colours on my monitor but not spot on. However, I have just discovered that in Photoshop 6 in Image > Mode > Convert Profile and selecting Epson Stylus Photo 750 Photo Paper that the colour match between my monitor and the final print is absolutely spot on.

Would I not be better off using the colour profile of my printer in Photoshop rather than Adobe 1998 RGB when it comes to accurate colour printing? I don't understand why many folk use Adobe RGB 1998 for scanning and Photoshop and then select the printer colour profile only when they call up the print screen. Or have I missed a trick?

Regards,

Eric Lawrie

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: EricLawrie on 2001-11-25 21:41 ]</font>

Eric,

On 2001-11-25 18:03, EricLawrie wrote:


I have until now used two settings on my Epson Stylus Photo 750 printer, i) Printer Colour Management with Colour Adjust and ii) Epson Stylus Photo 750 Photo Paper without Colour Adjust (the driver for the latter downloaded from (what now seems to be a broken link) on Ian Lyon's web page http://www.computer-darkroom.com.

The profiles have been removed because a few folk downloading them indicated the file was corrupted. I couldn't find a fault, but decided that I wasn't about to be accused of scewing someone elses computer. Once I have a new set of 750 profiles that I know to be OK I will reactivate the link.

The prints I got on Epson Photo Paper were fairly close to matching the colours on my monitor but not spot on. However, I have just discovered that in Photoshop 6 in Image > Mode > Convert Profile and selecting Epson Stylus Photo 750 Photo Paper that the colour match between my monitor and the final is absolutely spot on.

If you mean doing all your edits using the printer profiled image then so they should be as you are limiting your image to the colour gamut of the printer. This is for want of a better description - not wise under MOST circumstances! If on the other hand you did all your edits in say Adobe RGB 1998 and then converted to the printer profile then there should be little or no difference beween this new route and the old route.

Would I not be better off using the colour profile of my printer in Photoshop rather than Adobe 1998 RGB when it comes to accurate colour printing? I don't understand why many folk use Adobe RGB 1998 for scanning and Photoshop and then select the printer colour profile only when they call up the print screen. Or have I missed a trick?

Yes you missed a trick! The printer is non linear. That is to say that R=G=B will VERY rarely produce the neutral that it SHOULD. If you can't find a neutral how can you accurately edit colour? The gamut of the inkjet printer is also rather different to what you want for most normal cirstances. You MOST certainly do NOT want to edit images in the printer colour space. Your images will be fit for NOTHING other than that particular printer, media and resolution.

Ian

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ilyons on 2001-11-25 19:56 ]</font>

Ian,

Thank you for a full and well explained reply.

And the paper profiles on your web site have worked on my Epson SP750.

Cheers,

Eric