This professional printing workflow tutorial is to JumpStart the Adobe Photoshop, Epson, ColorSync, Color Management BASICS in my lay style for lay Mac users (like me). A how to make the print match screen monitor match print tutorial through Adobe Photoshop Color Management workflow. Epson Photo series inkjet printers are the recommended printer, including the Epson Stylus Pro 2200 R200 R300 R320 2400 1280 1270 R800 R1800 R2400 4880 4000 4800 7880 7800 9880 9800 11880 7000 7600 7500 10000 with Apple operating system Leapoard 10.5 Tiger 10.4 Panther 10.3 Jaguar 10.2 System 9.2.

Much of this workflow will port over to the Windows 2000 or XP Pro or Vista Professional Business Home Edition Basic operating systems.

CMS = Color Management System
PSD = Photoshop Creative Suite CS3 CS2 CS1 PS10 PS9 PS8 PS7 PS6 (PS 5.5 and earlier not supported)
Good Screen = an accurate, "hardware calibrated" monitor
Good File = an accurate, color–managed "tagged" file (we Honor the embedded profile)
Good Profile = an accurate ICC profile for the specific target printer/paper/ink or proofing device

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Color Management is a chain -- like all chains -- it is only as strong as its weakest link.

At the end of the chain:

The printed print will match the calibrated monotor -- or -- we missed something.

Finding that "something" should be no more difficult than reviewing the chain for the weak link.

MAC BUG NOTE: Red posterization in skin tones fix solution, plus magenta or green color cast, plus dark prints are known problems on the Mac OS X OSX.

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The Color Management Chain:

1. Get a Good Screen.
2. Setup Photoshop Color Management System.
3. Setup Monitors/Displays control panel.
4. Setup ColorSync control panel.
5. Setup Epson Print Utility.
6. Get a Good Profile for the specific printer/paper/ink being printed to.

Extras:

• Get a Good File (for testing).
• Color only looks bad in Photoshop.
• Simple test for Good Screen.
• Simple test for whacked monitor profile.
• Conclusion.
• Resource links.

The BASIC THEORY behind Adobe Photoshop color management.

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1) Get a Good Screen:

Adobe Gamma or Apple's Monitors/Displays Calibrator or SuperCal™ bergdesign.com can profile a pretty good screen (with practice and some talent), but it is no replacement for hardware calibration — a puck that reads the screen — see x-rite gretamacbethstore.com and colorvision.com.

If you have a monitor calibration profiling device, a puck, just download the latest software driver and follow the directions to profile your monitor (target 2.2 gamma, D65 6500 degrees Kelvin).

FELLOW DIE-HARD MAC USERS: Forget calibrating your monitors to 1.8 gamma...even Apple is recommending 2.2 monitor gamma apple.com article: "Color and gamma settings for print and web."

Here is a good monitor test web page I prepared to see why 2.2 gamma is recommended.
It is designed to PROOF the shifty nature of 1.8 & 2.2 gammas, the AdobeRGB, sRGB and AppleRGB ColorSpaces through web browsers.

Profiling a monitor without a calibration puck, Using One of the Eye-ball Profile Builders:

Monitors/Displays (control panel)> Color> load a fresh OEM or sRGB monitor profile (see Tips)> complete process (save with date: sony2march07). Experts tell us we should re "calibrate" our monitors every two weeks to maintain accuracy through color management.

TIPS:

• Start the profiling process by first highlighting a fresh OEM monitor profile:

• In Monitors/Displays> Color (click on sRGB for 2.2 gamma, or preferably, the monitor's OEM profile) — because starting Calibrator with a defective profile loaded will only build another bad profile. It may take several trys to get an acceptable profile built so always start over by highlighting a new fresh profile.

• Profile monitor to D65/6500K.

• I prefer 2.2 monitor gamma gballard.net.

For an excellent tutorial on "calibrating" monitors with Apple's Display Calibrator, see:
Ian Lyon's computer–darkroom.com.

Note:

• As a last resort, if you still cannot calibrate a good profile, try doing a hardware Reset on the monitor to restore factory defaults.
• Then use the Apple Monitors/Displays> Color> Calibrator to build the new monitor profile (highlight sRGB before clicking on the Calibrator).

Simple test for Good Screen in Photoshop.

Simple test to rule out whacked monitor profile.

Here gballard.net is a test page I prepared for basic monitor evaluation through unmanaged web browsers.

FOR PROFESSIONAL WORK:
Invest in a hardware monitor color calibrator see x-rite gretamacbethstore.com and colorvision.com.
Calibrate the monitor RGB on a hardware level, then build a Good Profile....

• Part 2 that Photoshop is using is bad.
(Only color–managed applications like Photoshop use Part 2 of the monitor profile).

• Part 1 that the OS and non–color–managed applications use is still good.

FIX: Successfully complete step 1 (above).

We may also have a BROKEN Photoshop Color Management System (CMS):

FIX: Complete steps 2, 3, 4 (below).

With steps 1, 2, 3, 4 successfully completed:

• If Photoshop still displays bad color — the actual file (or hardware or install) is bad.
• We can now nail the culprit by testing a known Good File....

For more info:
See my: Color Only Looks Bad in Photoshop

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2) Setup Photoshop ColorManagement:

Open Photoshop 9 CS2> Com+Shift+K> ColorSettings> Set to "North American Prepress 2" — and close out!

This single Setting fully enables Photoshop's CMS (Color Management System) and quickly gets everyone on the same page:

In Photoshop 6 7 8 CS1> Com+Shift+K> ColorSettings> Set to "US Prepress Defaults":

Do NOT go back and dink here — Color Setting should read "America Prepress 2" or "US Prepress Default" at all times — or someone has messed with it.

Then use common sense to address the various Color Management Policies SPLASH SCREENS (Bruce Fraser creativepro.com).

Note:
If you are setting different Color Settings here — or thinking about this panel — please see my:
Photoshop's BackDoor color management policies.
Turn ColorManagement ON & Honor My Embedded Profile, Please!
Recipes for Disaster: Color Management Off—Emulate Photoshop 4.
Color Settings, Convert to sRGB for the world wide web.
"ColorSync WorkFlow" for non-print workflows, and iPHOTO.

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3) Setup Monitors/Displays control panel:

Monitors/Displays control panel> Color (the good monitor profile should be highlighted here).

Mac OS 10:

Make sure Millions of Colors is selected in the Monitor or Display tab.

Mac OS 9:

That's all for Monitors/Displays control panel!

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4) Setup Apple ColorSync control panel:

Mac OS 10.2 and higher 10.4 10.3: Open ColorSync Utility panel> Preferencess tab:
Under this No Color Adjustment workflow — all users ignore the RGB, CMYK, Gray Defaults — they are irrelevant to Photoshop! Set these ColorSync Defaults as recommended by Apple and the Applications that may use them.

Mac OS 9: Open ColorSync control panel> Profiles tab> Display (should note your Good Screen monitor ICC profile):

CMMs tab> Preferred CMM (leave on Automatic or ignore).

•••That's all there is to ColorSync control panel!

The ONLY setting Photoshop uses in OS 9's ColorSync control panel is Display
(unless we have "ColorSync Workflow" selected in Photoshop Color Settings).

In other words:
If Photoshop is set to "US Prepress Defaults," we need only confirm Display is set to our good monitor ICC — no other ColorSync settings apply to Photoshop under System 9 or System 10.

Set System 9's Input Output Proofer as recommended by Apple and the Applications that may use them.
•Photoshop will ignore these settings under this NO COLOR ADJUSTMENT workflow.

(The Input/Output/Proofer settings do come into play if we Convert our files using AppleScripts and they do not exist in System 10.)

For more info:
See my: ColorSync: A Mere Color Management System.
The Core Theory Behind Photoshop Color Management gballard.net.
Photoshop Assign Versus Convert to Profile Tutorial gballard.net.

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5) Setup Epson Print Utility:

Trying to hit this moving target is a challenge since the geniuses have changed both terminology and user interface with each new Operating System since System 9.2.

• For Photoshop CS3 Printing instructions.
• For Photoshop CS2 including Macintosh Operating SCS2 System 10.4 TIGER instructions.
• For PS CS 8 7 6, including Jaguar Panther Macintosh Operating System 10.2 10.3 10.4 instructions.
• For Macintosh Operating System 9 instructions.

No–Color–Adjustment workflow turns printer color management (and ColorSync) off and sets Photoshop's "Adobe (ACE)" CMS to perform a straight SourceSpace–to–PrintSpace Conversion.

What is happening with No Color Adjustment:

Photoshop's Adobe (ACE) Color Management System (CMS) is Converting the document's present ColorSpace directly into the Target ICC Profile.

In other words:
The Epson Color Management (and ColorSync) are OFF, and Photoshop's Adobe (ACE) CMS is Converting the file directly into the ICC Profile or ColorSpace entered in Epson's Print Space> Profile.

Note:
If after confirming The Chain, the Epson is still printing bizarre, try:

• Running Epson Head–Cleaning routines until it prints a clean test pattern.
• Running Epson Nozzel–Alignment routine to ensure proper alignment.
• Ensure the Epson's hardware lever is not set to thick (for thin paper).
• Get a Good File (for testing).
• If you are stuck using non-Epson paper or non-Epson ink, you are wasting your time and money....

Adobe's genius Russell Brown has produced free movies QuickTime tutorials for Epson Stylus 2200 Printing (MAC ONLY!) halfway down his linked Tips page, including: "Printing from Photoshop CS" - "Printing from Adobe Illustrator CS" - "Printing from Adobe InDesign CS" - "Printing from Adobe Acrobat."

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6) Get a Good Profile for Specific Printer/Paper/Ink:

If we have a Good Screen, a "calibrated monitor," confirmed the Epson Settings — and the print still doesn't match the screen — the likely Culprit is the profile entered in Print Space> Profile.

Some OEM (canned) Epson profiles seem to be better than others, but after we've ruled out everything else, we may need to hire someone like chromix.com to build a Custom profile (about $100 a profile).

A canned (OEM) Epson profile is only "good" for ONE specific printer model, specific ink set, and specific paper combination — and even then — OEM profiles, and profiles bought "off the shelf," will likely only be "good enough" (if they are even that good).

For the profile to be accurate, we need to have the profile made from our own printer, with our own settings...the shinier (more glossy) the paper surface, the more the need for custom printer/paper/ink profiles.

•••Any use of non–Epson paper or ink will likely REQUIRE a custom profile.

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•Get a Good File:

Testing a bad file can easily confuse our results.
Get a reasonably Good 'calibration' File here:

1. My favorite test file reference images (PDI_Target_AdobeRGB.jpg):
   DOWNLOAD PDI Target(AdobeRGB)ONLY.zip (5MB) for PC.
   DOWNLOAD PDI Target(AdobeRGB)ONLY.sit (5MB) for Mac.
   • PDI_Target_AdobeRGB.jpg PDI_Target.jpg is an excellent test file for its various skin tones and neutral gray desaturated areas and device independent ColorSpace.
   • Use PDI_Target_AdobeRGB.jpg to evaluate the monitor profile in Photoshop and workflow settings.
   • If Photoshop displays this AdobeRGB.jpg file with natural skintones and neutral grays, the monitor profile is at least okay.
   • Likewise, if the print from this AdobeRGB.jpg file matches the monitor, the printer profile and settings are good.
   • Used properly, this file can confirm a good workflow, and help troubleshoot a bad one.
   • If this Adobe RGB file is good in this No-Color-Adjustment workflow, but other files are bad, the problem lies with the other files.
   
   For sRGB, Abobe RGB (1998) and Apple RGB, Tagged and Untagged tutorial versions!
   DOWNLOAD all PDI TargetFolder.zip (13MB) for PC.
   DOWNLOAD all PDI TargetFolder.sit (13MB) for Mac.
   Does NOT include the following iPhotoTESTfolder files.
   
   DOWNLOAD *iPhotoTESTfolder.sit (6MB) for Mac.
   DOWNLOAD *iPhotoTESTfolder.zip (6MB) for PC.
   * iPhotoTESTfolder contains a collection of six files of one image in various ColorSpaces, in tagged/untagged states, designed to PROOF how the different profiles, ColorSpaces, gammas react on screen.
   • iPhotoTESTfolder files are not included with the above "DOWNLOAD all" folder.
   iPHOTO Test Files also reference my Assign Versus Convert Photoshop Tutorial gballard.net.
   
   Note:
   • PDI_Target images are owned and Copyrighted by PhotoDisc gettyimages.com.
   • PDI_Target DOWNLOAD files have been altered by G. BALLARD for this tutorial, in accordance with PhotoDisk PhotoDisc's licensing terms. The unaltered PhotoDisc JPEG and License are included in DOWNLOAD.
   
   
2. Bruce Fraser and Chris Murphy "Real World Color Management" DOWNLOADs page colorremedies.com. (including "RGB linearization/process control target" "CMYK linearization/process control target" "Granger Rainbow" "Macbeth ColorChecker (LAB)" "Macbeth Color Checker (ProPhoto RGB):
   
   
   
3. Available on the Photoshop CS 8 6 7 Install CD> Goodies folder> Calibration folder> Ole No Moire.tif
   Note: Ole No Moire.tif is UntaggedCMYK:
   

To tag and Convert Ole No Moire.tif for testing:

1. Open Ole No Moire.tif in Photoshop 8 CS 6 7.
2. At Missing Profile splash screen:
   Check "Leave as is (don't color manage)."
3. Once opened, Assign Profile:
   Image> Mode> Assign Profile> check Profile> select: "U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2."
4. Next, Convert to Profile:
   Image> Mode> Convert to Profile> Destination> select: "WorkingRGB – Adobe RGB (1998)."
5. Save As, close, reopen.
   At this point, Ole No Moire.tif is tagged (AdobeRGB) and ready for testing.

TIP:
Select half Ole No Moire's painted canvas background and Desaturate it for testing.

NOTE:
Ole No Moire.tif was not intended for this outlined purpose, but can be useful to get us on the same page.
Pay close attention to the skin tones and neutral gray areas....

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•Simple Tests:

1) Here is a simple test to help evaluate if the monitor profile is reasonably good:

• Open a RGB file in Photoshop (flatten if not already flattened).
• Press M key> Drag a selection> Com+Shift+U (Desaturate).
• Com+Z (to toggle back and forth).

If the unsaturated selection looks neutral — you've got a reasonably fair monitor profile.

If selection has color casts (not neutral) — run Adobe Gamma or Monitors/Displays Calibrator until you get unsaturated RGB to render neutral.

2) Here is a simple test to help evaluate if a bad monitor profile is whacking out your Photoshop color:

• Monitors/Displays (control panel)> Color> highlight AppleRGB or sRGB (don't run Calibrate), quit and reboot.
• A handful of users have confirmed problems with certain brands of monitors, Hitachi CM715 for example, is incompatible with Mac OS 10.2 & 10.3. The Hitachi monitors, the users wrote, worked with generic monitor profiles, like Apple RGB and sRGB, but as soon as they loaded a calibrated custom profile, the Hitachi screen whacked out the color in Photoshop in Panther and Jaguar. They wrote the same custom profiles worked properly under Systems 9 and 10.1.

If the Photoshop colors are back under control, then the problem was most surely a bad monitor profile — go back into Monitors/Displays> Color and Calibrate a good profile — highlight (load) sRGB, or preferably, the monitor's OEM profile as a starting point.

3) Here gballard.net is a www test page I prepared for basic monitor evaluation through unmanaged web browsers.

4) Here gballard.net is a www test page I prepared to PROOF the 1.8 & 2.2 gammas, the AdobeRGB, sRGB and AppleRGB ColorSpaces through unmanaged web browsers.

•Known Printing Bugs:

Photoshop + Epson + OS X 10.4.6 10.4.7 10.4.8 10.4.9 has known printing problems, specifically:

• Posterized posterization in reds red skintones skin tones.
• Prints dark darker than monitor.
• Magenta cast green cast (this may or not be related to the bug, but has generally been associated to double colormanaging management).

White papers, fixes, solutions to this Mac printing BUG:

• Official Adobe TechNote "Images printed to an Epson Stylus printer are too dark or have a magenta or green color cast".
• Andrew Rodney The Digital Dog wrote: "If you have MORE than one printer, especially an Epson, select the Epson you wish to print to as the default printer. The red banding should go away.".
• I fixed this in my own workflow by printing out of Photoshop 8 CS1, or a Colorburst RIP.
• Epson told me in writing that the Windows computers do not have this bug.

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•Conclusion:

With a Good File (an accurate, color–managed, tagged file that renders accurately on our Good Screens):

We should see –•Our Color•– on all accurately–profiled proofing devices (including other monitors and printer output).

If other monitors and printers are rendering a color shift — then — those devices have a weak link somewhere within their local Color Management Chain.

In other words:
If one has a Good Screen — and the target device is rendering uncharacteristic errors for that device — one needs to fix the target device profile or CM settings — NOT second guess the Good Screen.

This No Color Adjustment workflow allows [me] to troubleshoot the CM Chain on a "switch level" and theorize my workflow in a straight line — Photoshop SourceSpace–to–target ICC ColorSpace.