Newbie Question about Printing, Color Spaces, Photoshop

Mark Roberts wrote:

To print, go to the File menu and select Print With Preview (not plain
"Print"). Select Show More Options if it's visible. Look in the Color
Handling drop-down box and select either "Let Photoshop Determine
Colors" or "Let Printer Determine Colors". IMPORTANT: "Let Printer
Determine Colors" really means "Let Print DRIVER Determine Colors" -
Adobe doesn't really make this clear. I suggest this latter choice for
now.

You say let printer driver determine colors, then you go on to set a
profile in Photoshop and a rendering intent.

Under Printer Profile select either Adobe RGB 1998 or the
printer-specific profile for the paper you're using (if you've loaded
any - I'd guess not from what you've said).

Under Rendering Intent "Relative Colorimetric" is a good general
choice but I'd go with "Perceptual" if you had a lot of out-of-gamut
color you couldn't correct with the Selective Color adjustment.

Click the Page Setup button and, in the dialog that opens, click
Printer. In *that* new dialog, click Properties to open your print
driver dialog. Select paper type, size, etc. as appropriate. There
should also be options for color management. I can't be very specific
here because the options available will depend on your printer/print
driver but this is important: If you earlier chose "Let Photoshop
Determine Colors" you need to turn OFF color management in your print
driver. If you selected "Let Printer Determine Colors" you need to
make sure color management in your print driver is ON. Remember, you
want either Photoshop OR your print driver controlling color
management, but not both!

So stop hosing us and tell us how to do that.

Close out all dialog boxes and you should be back at the Print With
Preview window. Click Print and see what you get. If you've done
everything right the new print should be at least close enough that
you can achieve success with just a little more adjustment in
Photoshop.

Gary Eickmeier

Tesco News wrote:

I would suggest that you have a read at some of the specialised sites such
as www.computer-darkroom.com or some of the others which will be suggested
very soon.

What do you think you learned there? Their complete section on printer
settings to achieve color management was:

"Hopefully the material presented in this essay has been helpful and
improved your understanding of Photoshop's approach to managing colour.
As noted throughout the essay there is vast body of material to be found
all over the internet. A simple search using "google.com" and the keys
words color management is all that is required."

And so it goes.

Gary Eickmeier

Andy - Howdy, I am going to try Mark's methods to see how it works on my
PIXMA 8500 however, you might simply try printing the shot from the Canon
software that came with the printer. I assume you have Easy PhotoPrint. It
works very well and is reasonably idiot proof for people like me (and
perhaps you as well - grin). I also assume you are using canon ink and
paper?
regards

Don from Down Under.
"Mark Roberts" wrote in message
...
magicrat wrote:

Hello all,
Let me start by asking: If this topic is not pertinent for this
newsgroup - please advise and I will post elsewhe suggestions as to
where to post would be appreciated. Also, my description below will be
quite long, but hopefully will provide enough information for someone to
point me in the right direction.

Well it's better to provide too much information than too little!

Others have addressed some of your specific questions fairly well so
I'll just give you some workflow suggestions.

First, use a different RAW converter. The Pentax-supplied software
will get you by if you don't have anything else but there are *free8
alternatives that are much better. Pixmantec's RawShooter Essentials
is highly recommended (and, yes, it's freeware):
http://www.pixmantec.com/products/ra...essentials.asp

Sounds like you're on the right track with monitor calibration, though
solutions with a feedback system like the Colorvision Spyder are
obviously better, I think what you're doing should be sufficient for
the time being.

Convert the RAW file into a 16-bit TIFF using RawShooter Essentials or
other software, getting it looking as close as possible to the way you
want it at this stage and then using Photoshop for final tweaking.
Adobe RGB colorspace is a good choice since you're optimizing for
print.

Now in Photoshop, activate Gamut Warning (under the View menu). This
will highlight any colors that are beyond CMYK colorspace (saturated
RGB primaries of red, green and blue are major candidates). If you
have a lot of highlighted areas you have trouble. You can correct the
image substantially by going to Image - Adjustments - Selective Color.
It would take a major essay to describe how to use this control.
Experimentation will get you headed in the right direction much
quicker than you think. Just don't adjust any control a *lot* is my
advice If you can't eliminate all the highlighted areas, just
remove as much as you can without making the image look too wonky.
(Turn Gamut Warning OFF to check.)

Now for printing. CMYK is only for pre-press preparation. You want to
keep everything RGB. Your printer driver will make the necessary
conversions appropriate to your specific printer.

To print, go to the File menu and select Print With Preview (not plain
"Print"). Select Show More Options if it's visible. Look in the Color
Handling drop-down box and select either "Let Photoshop Determine
Colors" or "Let Printer Determine Colors". IMPORTANT: "Let Printer
Determine Colors" really means "Let Print DRIVER Determine Colors" -
Adobe doesn't really make this clear. I suggest this latter choice for
now.

Under Printer Profile select either Adobe RGB 1998 or the
printer-specific profile for the paper you're using (if you've loaded
any - I'd guess not from what you've said).

Under Rendering Intent "Relative Colorimetric" is a good general
choice but I'd go with "Perceptual" if you had a lot of out-of-gamut
color you couldn't correct with the Selective Color adjustment.

Click the Page Setup button and, in the dialog that opens, click
Printer. In *that* new dialog, click Properties to open your print
driver dialog. Select paper type, size, etc. as appropriate. There
should also be options for color management. I can't be very specific
here because the options available will depend on your printer/print
driver but this is important: If you earlier chose "Let Photoshop
Determine Colors" you need to turn OFF color management in your print
driver. If you selected "Let Printer Determine Colors" you need to
make sure color management in your print driver is ON. Remember, you
want either Photoshop OR your print driver controlling color
management, but not both!

Close out all dialog boxes and you should be back at the Print With
Preview window. Click Print and see what you get. If you've done
everything right the new print should be at least close enough that
you can achieve success with just a little more adjustment in
Photoshop.


--
Mark Roberts
Photography and writing
www.robertstech.com

"Gary Eickmeier" wrote in message
...


Tesco News wrote:

I would suggest that you have a read at some of the specialised sites
such as www.computer-darkroom.com or some of the others which will be
suggested very soon.

What do you think you learned there? Their complete section on printer
settings to achieve color management was:

"Hopefully the material presented in this essay has been helpful and
improved your understanding of Photoshop's approach to managing colour. As
noted throughout the essay there is vast body of material to be found all
over the internet. A simple search using "google.com" and the keys words
color management is all that is required."

And so it goes.

Gary Eickmeier

I think you should have another, closer, look. There are at least 7
articles on Photoshop and CM and Printing,

The "Basic Printing with PS 6" is a very good article for beginners and
little of importance has changed in PS Print Dialogues since then.

That site is where I learned pretty much everything I know about CM.

Roy G