Before standardized color management came along, imaging professionals simply had to keep experimenting with the settings for different combinations of camera, scanner, monitor, printer, and printing press. There were measuring instruments, but they were so expensive that only enterprises doing enough volume to justify the cost (or amateurs who had just won the lottery) could afford them. Today, you can buy a full-system color management system (CMS; camera, scanner, monitor, and printer), complete with instruments for making the measurements to compare color interpretation between one device and another, for less than $600. And the prices continue to fall as the accuracy and ease of use keep getting better!
NOTE
Monitor calibration is covered in the "Calibrate Your Monitor" section in Chapter 2 because it's one of the very first steps in a proper workflow. Now is a good time to reread that section and recalibrate your monitor.
12.1.1. Calibrate the Printer
Every printer model and ink set interprets color in a different way. The only way you can be reasonably sure that the print you get will look like the image you prepared in Photoshop is to calibrate the printer for the particular set of inks and paper that you will use to make that particular print. (By the way, it's often a good idea to use a test image, such as the ones in Figure 12-1.) Then the monitor calibration profile and the printer calibration profile can be matched so that what you see on the monitor is what you get on paper. Figure 12-2 shows the Monaco EZcolor printer calibration dialog.
Figure 12-1. The ColorVision PDI Test Image, available from PhotoDisc, is an excellent example of the kind of test image you should use to calibrate manually.
Figure 12-2. The Monaco EZcolor printer calibration dialog.
In this section you'll learn the significance of accurate printer profiles, where to find prepublished profiles if they exist for your printer (highly likely if you've bought a name brand), and how to install them for your OS and image editing software (with Photoshop 7+ used as the benchmark). You'll also learn how to make your own printer profiles with trial and error or profiling kits.
Calibrating an LCD Monitor
Up until very recently, the weakest link of color management systems has been the increasingly popular LCD flat-panel displays. Now, however, most LCDs made for desktop use and all of those made for Mac laptops can now be calibratedprovided you have a monitor calibration system that uses a colorimeter that can be placed over an LCD monitor without resorting to suction cups (which can severely damage an LCD screen). The screen can "filter" the LCD display so that it looks to the colorimeter like a CRT display. Today, the most recent colorimeter models from ColorVision, Monaco Systems, and ITEK all meet this requirement. If you have an older model and are using an LCD screen, consider updating your calibrator. If you are considering an LCD screen purchase, choose one with a brightness range of 500:1 or better and do not attempt to use a colorimeter that was made strictly for calibrating CRTsit won't work and could damage your LCD screen. Also, all of the companies just mentioned offer older colorimeters that do not work on LCDs, so make sure you buy the most up-to-date model. The other problem with LCD screens is that most have a very narrow angle of view in which color relationships appear as they are intended to appear. That is to say, the brightness of different colors changes as you view the screen from different angles. Be sure you are viewing the screen from directly in front of it. Finally, you will be able to calibrate your colorimeter more accurately if your monitor has separate controls for brightness and contrast for each separate color.
12.1.1.1. Purchase or download a profile
If you don't want to make your own profiles and need to get acceptable prints with a minimum of fuss, check around for a supplier who will sell you a profile for an ink and paper combination that you find acceptable for your subject matter. Then buy both the ink and paper combination and the profile from the same source, since each vendor's supplies may differ slightly if purchased at different times or came from different batches.
The drawback to purchasing profiles is that the cost can add up quickly, since you need a different profile for each ink and paper combo. Worse, profiles are often available only in sets, so you may have to pay for profiles that you don't really need. For instance, the profile libraries sell for $175 and each library consists of a set of profiles for a specific ink and printer that covers several choices of papers. The library that supports the Epson 1270 printer and Epson inks includes 42 different papers from a variety of manufacturers. So if you had several printers and used several different ink sets, purchasing profile libraries could run you thousands of dollars. To be fair, there are individual profile downloads for about $25 each, but those choices are limited to only a few of the most popular combinations.
12.1.1.2. Make your own profile
The biggest problem with other people's profiles, however, is that they're (obviously) created by other people. Since each of us has subjective ideas about color, contrast, and lighting, what works for someone else (no matter how expert) will seldom work as well as something you've created yourself.
Once you've calibrated your monitor, find a test chart that shows a typical image and a set of standard colors. You can make up your own test chart by creating a screen-size file that includes most of the basic colors in the Swatches palette for your OS, a grayscale chart that progresses in 10 percent gray level increments, and a photograph of something colorful.
I have three different models of Epson printers and often print larger images on a friend's Epson 9800. However, the instructions below should work reasonably well for most models of printersjust be sure to keep your printer manual handy. Then do the following:
Open the calibration image on your calibrated monitor, choose the printer you want to print on, load a sample of the paper you want to print on, and print it.
Install a light source next to your monitor that is the same color temperature as your monitor. (You should be able to get monitor color temperature from your monitor's manual or from the manufacturer's web site, and the bulbs from a large photography supply house such as B&H Photo or Samy's Camera.) Place the print next to the chart displayed on the monitor.
The rest of this process is intended to make the printer's output match what you see onscreen in the color chart. Start by using the printer adjustments in Photoshop. Choose FilePage Setup to bring up the dialog shown in Figure 12-3. Choose the name of the printer you want to profile from the Name drop-down menu and click the Properties button. The printers setup dialog will appear (see Figure 12-4).
Figure 12-4. The printer's setup dialog.
Figure 12-3. The Page Setup dialog.
From the Media drop-down menu, choose the paper with the surface that's closest to what you'll be printing on. For instance, if you're printing photographs using an Epson 1270 printer, choose Premium Glossy Photo paper or Matte PaperHeavyweight. If you're using another printer make or model, the choices will be different. The paper you're actually using may not be listed if it's from a third-party vendor or is of a later generation than the papers supported by your printer. In the Quality Setting, choose Best. In the Color section, choose Color only if you are not printing a black and white image. Duotone images and toned images count as Color images.
Now we come to the most important part. Click the Advanced button to bring up the Advanced Options dialog (see Figure 12-5). Each underlined item in this dialog opens a drop-down menu. First, choose your paper size; half-letter is usually big enough for a test like this. Choose 1 for the Copy Count. Select the highest available resolution for print quality (it usually results in richer colors), unless you have printed on a paper that is uncoated (uncoated papers tend to cause dots to spread, and too much ink can exacerbate the problem). From the ICM Method menu, choose ICM Disabled. For ICM Intent, choose Pictures. Advanced Printing Features should be Enabled. Since you probably want your picture exactly centered on the page, choose Maximum for Printable Area and Extended for Extended Bottom Margin. Override with Presets should be off, High Speed should be off, Halftone should be Error Diffusion, and Flip Horizontal should be off. Finally, click Driver Color Adjustment to bring up the dialog shown in Figure 12-6.
Figure 12-6. The Driver Color Adjustment dialog.
Figure 12-5. The Advanced Options dialog.
From the Mode drop-down menu, choose Photorealistic. You don't want to make any other driver color adjustments until you see how the default settings compare to the soft proof of the test chart on your monitor, so just click OK for this dialog and for all the other open dialogs.
Now you're ready to make your first test print. It will be most informative if you use the Print with Preview command. You can either choose FilePrint with Preview or Cmd/Ctrl-P. The Print with Preview dialog is shown in Figure 12-7.
Figure 12-7. The Print with Preview dialog.
In the Print with Preview dialog, you will see a bounding box for your image. If the image isn't precisely centered on the page, check to make sure the Center Image box is checked. The Scaled Print Size should be 100 percent because it might make it easier to judge the intensity of inks, especially in the midtones. From the Print Space menu, choose the profile for your printer (if one is installed). Click the Print button.
When your print is done, hold it next to the monitor under that light you just installed. Don't aim the light at the monitor, and don't make it so bright that the white of the paper is whiter than the brightest white on the monitor. Now you should be able to accurately judge how close your print is to the soft proof on the color chart.
Now let's make the proof print match the soft proof on your monitor. Do this by repeating Steps 1 through 4. However, when you reach Step 5, this time move the sliders to adjust for the differences between the last printed proof and the soft proof on the monitor. Then print the result and make another comparison to the soft proof. I typically start by leaving the individual color sliders alone and guessing at the compensation needed for Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation. I then print, compare that print, and repeat the process until I'm as close as possible to what I want using just those three adjustments. I then start fine-tuning for color balance, changing only one color slider per print.
When you like what you see, save the profile so that you can easily repeat it for other images. Choose ImageModeConvert to Profile to bring up a dialog like the one in Figure 12-8. From the Profile menu, choose Custom RGB and enter a name that describes your printer/paper/ink combination in the resulting dialog in Figure 12-9. The other settings should already be the same as your original profile and whatever adjustments youve made, so just click OK.
Figure 12-9. The Custom RGB dialog.
Figure 12-8. The Convert to Profile dialog.
12.1.1.3. Use a traditional profile maker such as Monaco EZcolor
The two profiling kits I'm specifically recommending here, Monaco EZcolor and ColorVision PrintFIX are both accessibly priced (under $500) and have a reputation for producing decent results.
Monaco EZcolor is the best route to take if you need one piece of software that can be adapted to a variety of situations and devices. It can profile cameras, scanners, monitors, and printers. It's been around for a while (the current version is the XR), and you can upgrade from any older version, such as the one that comes bundled with many Epson printers.
Write Things Down
I typically use the base word processor on my operating system to create a file called "profile notes" that contains all the settings for all my profiles.
The method described here shows you how to use EZcolor to create a printer profile. However, it also has the capability of calibrating monitors in a manner similar to ColorVision's Spyder and OptiCAL.
To create the printer profile, you first have to create a scanner profile for your flatbed scanner. EZcolor can also profile film scanners, but that requires you to purchase a separate target, and you'll still need to profile a flatbed scanner in order to create a printer profile. Profiling a film scanner is similar to profiling a flatbed, and the program comes with documentation, so we'll only cover profiling a flatbed in this section.
Here's how you'd typically go about creating a printer profile using Monaco EZcolor XR:
Power on your printer and load the paper you intend to use. Remember, you have to make a different profile for each printer/paper/ink combination. Be sure to make note of the combination.
Open Monaco EZcolor, select Create Printer Profile, and click the Next button. Choose RGB as the printer type you plan to output to and click Next. Now, click Print. The Print dialog will appear, as shown in Figure 12-10.
Figure 12-10. The EZcolor Print dialog.
From the drop-down menus, choose the following: the paper you will be printing on; the resolution you will be printing at; Auto Color Correction options off (see your printer manual if necessary); and 100% as the size to print the target. Be sure to write down all these settings so you can refer to them later. In the "Print a Target" dialog, click the Next button. Now save the printer target file as a TIFF file.
Attach the IT8 target that was supplied with EZcolor to the target you just printed. If you have other targets, don't use themthey won't work. Let the printed target dry in the dark for an hour or so, then place the attached targets on your scanner and click the Next button. The Monaco EZcolor dialog for preparing to scan will appear (see Figure 12-11).
Figure 12-11. The Monaco EZcolor "Prepare to Scan" dialog.
Choose the TWAIN or Mac driver for your scanner. (Note that a few scanners are incompatible with EZcolor, but the program gives you a workaround if that is the case.)
Set the scanner resolution at 200 dpi. Turn off all color correction and management options in the scanner driver's dialog. Take note off all the scanner settings that stay in effect so that you can make sure they are consistent from one profile to the next.
Prescan (preview) the targets and then crop them to exclude all whitespace.
Click the Scan button and scan the targets. EZcolor will display a thumbnail of the scanned targets. Make sure the scan is straight and properly cropped. If it's not, reposition, recrop and rescan. When you've got it right, click Next. The Select Reference File dialog will appear (see Figure 12-12).
Figure 12-12. The Select Reference File dialog.
Locate the proper reference settings in the Select Reference File dialog; you'll have to refer to the EZcolor manual for directions for locating these files on your particular OS version. EZcolor then asks you to confirm a variety of settings for cropping, straightening, scan resolution, etc. Once you've done that, you can name and save the profile that EZcolor will automatically generate during the printer profiling process. You can name the profile whatever you want, but you'll probably want to use something that describes the printer, model, paper type, printing resolution, and date in some kind of understandable shorthand. EZcolor also gives you the option to save the scanner profile that was automatically created by this process.
12.1.1.4. Use ColorVision PrintFIX
The problem with most printer calibrators is that you also need to have a calibrated scanner. If the scanner is reset, you risk getting unreliable results. What sets PrintFIX apart is that it comes with its own scanner that is dedicated to doing nothing but reading a test chart printed on a given printer with a given ink and paper set, and automatically creating a printer profile that will honor the soft proof on your calibrated monitor. Since that's the scanner's only job, it becomes an easy, quick process. Another thing that differentiates PrintFIX is that it runs right inside Photoshop as an Import plug-in. Here's how it works:
Open Photoshop and choose FileImportPrintFIX. From the PrintFIX dialog, choose the ColorVision color chart for your specific printer (see Figure 12-13). This is a very specific color chart that is sized and resolved for the small scanner that comes with PrintFIX (see Figure 12-14).
Figure 12-14. The PrintFIX Patch Reader scanner.
Figure 12-13. The PrintFIX color chart.
Choose FilePrint with Preview and go through the routine you normally use to choose your printer, print size, paper type, and other settings (some printer-and model-specific settings are recommended in the PrintFIX documentation).
Follow the short routine recommended for cleaning and calibrating the Patch Reader scanner.
Insert the print in the holder made for the Patch Reader and place it in the scanner slot.
Choose FileAutomatePrintFIX to bring up the dialog shown in Figure 12-15. Dont change any of the default settings in the dialog.
Figure 12-15. The PrintFIX dialog.
Click the Read Patch Reader button. The scanner will read the calibration chart and display the result in Photoshop. Crop the result so that only a narrow white margin is visible around the color chart.
Choose FileAutomatePrintFIX. This time, when the PrintFIX dialog appears, choose Build Profile from the drop-down menu. Leave all the sliders at their defaults and click OK. When the Save As dialog appears, name your profile with a name specifying the printer, paper, and ink combo, and perhaps a six-digit date or a version number to distinguish it from profiles made at other times.
You'll now make a test print. Load the PDI Test Image, which is an excellent image to use for making your first print because if you can match all of its content, then virtually any image should match.
Choose FilePrint with Preview, and be sure that Show More Options is checked in the resulting dialog. From the Show More Options drop-down menu, choose Color Management. Choose the Document radio button and then select the profile you just created from the Profile menu. From the Intent menu, choose Saturation.
Click the Page Preview button. When the first Page Setup dialog appears, click the Printer button. When the second Page Setup dialog appears, click the Properties button. In the printer's setup dialog (see Figure 12-16), choose any matte paper available on the Media menu, and choose the Best and Color radio buttons. (You may also want to adjust some of the Advanced settings.)
Figure 12-16. The setup dialog for the Epson 1270.
Click as many OK buttons as it takes to get you back to the main Print with Preview dialog. Click the Print button; the second Print dialog will appear. Click the Print button.
When the chart is printed, let it dry for at least five minutesideally, a few hours. Printer dye inks take a bit of time to really stabilize. Then take it over to the monitor and compare it to the original.
Fine-tune your adjustments if necessary.
12.1.1.5. Use a software profile maker such as ColorVision's DoctorPRO
Trying to match color charts by entering numbers in a traditional profile making application can seem pretty counterintuitive, especially to those of us used to making all of our adjustments on the fly using traditional darkroom techniques or the Photoshop commands that emulate them. Happily, there is a tool from ColorVision that records your adjustments and then has Photoshop apply them to a profile so that any image you print subsequently can use the same adjustments. It's not the most precise method for creating a profile that works well on every image, but it sure is a godsend when you want to cut the number of needed test prints for those images that just seem to work better when you tweak them manually. It's also a lifesaver if you just don't have the discipline required for using a traditional printer profiler. You can use DoctorPRO to tweak a profile you've already created (for instance, with ColorVision's PrintFIX) or any of the existing profiles in your system.
NOTE
When using PrintFIX, always choose a matte paper in the printer's setup dialog, regardless of the paper you are actually going to print on. The surface differences of other papers are automatically taken into account as a result of the scan.
Here's how to use DoctorPRO:
Install the software and restart Photoshop.
DoctorPRO requires lots of RAM, so you should be using a system with at least 512 MB. In Photoshop, choose EditPreferencesMemory & Image Cache and enter at least 75 percent as the maximum amount of RAM used by Photoshop (see Figure 12-17). You should also make sure that all applications other than Photoshop are closed.
Figure 12-17. The Photoshop Memory & Image Cache dialog.
Open the image that you want to create a new profile for, open the Actions palette, and create a new action. Name it something like "DoctorPRO Profile Tweak" where Profile is the name of the monitor calibrator or printer profile that created the image you are going to alter and Tweak is an abbreviated description of how you made the adjustments. You can use any Photoshop imageadjustment command in this action. When you've finished making the adjustments, stop recording the action.
Making sure that the name of the action is selected in the Actions palette, choose FileAutomateDoctorPRO to bring up the dialog in Figure 12-18.
Figure 12-18. The DoctorPRO dialog.
Select the DoctorPRO radio button and choose the name of the profile you want to modify (this could be your printer's native profile or one you created). Choose the printer's color printing mode (RGB for most inkjets) and click OK. A DoctorPRO image of a horse will appear (don't ask why it's a horseI have no idea) as well as a Save As dialog that opens the folder where your OS keeps its color management profiles. Create a new profile name that incorporates the name of the profile you are modifying and its intent. Finally, click the Save button.
Close Photoshop, reopen it, and open the image you want to print with the new profile. Choose FilePage Setup. When the Page Setup dialog appears, choose the printer and the advanced printer settings that you normally use for this paper and ink combination.
Print with Preview. Make sure the Show More Options box is checked, set your Source Space as Document, and choose the profile you saved from DoctorPRO from the Print Space Profile menu.
Page Setup to bring up the dialog shown in Figure 12-3. Choose the name of the printer you want to profile from the Name drop-down menu and click the Properties button. The printers setup dialog will appear (see Figure 12-4).
Convert to Profile to bring up a dialog like the one in Figure 12-8. From the Profile menu, choose Custom RGB and enter a name that describes your printer/paper/ink combination in the resulting dialog in Figure 12-9. The other settings should already be the same as your original profile and whatever adjustments youve made, so just click OK.