So, now the final version is beginning to hit our
desktops and the more observant will probably have noticed some
functionality that falls under the banner of color management has been
tweaked a little further. Actually, most aspects of Photoshop color
management should still "look" and "function" very similar to what they
have done since version 6. All of this is good news if you're migrating
from an earlier version. Nevertheless, the differences between CS3 and
previous versions are still sufficient that some explanation might
proof useful.
A Swedish
language translation of this essay is available
here
Section 1 - Color Management
Primer
Components of a Color
Management System
A typical imaging system will consist of input and
output devices, for example: scanners, digital cameras, monitors, and
printers. Unfortunately, with such a diverse range of device types,
technologies, and gamut limitations, it's inevitable that they will
each reproduce the same color differently (i.e. color is device
dependent). Obviously, this will present significant problems
when working with documents originating from different sources, and
will be further complicated when the same document is destined for
different types of output device. Therefore, some means of ensuring
that color data is reproduced in a predictable way throughout the
entire imaging system is essential. This is the purpose of a Color
Management System (CMS).
A color managed system comprises three basic
components, namely: -
-
A device-independent color space - this is usually
referred to as the Working or Reference color space.
-
ICC profiles for each device (i.e. printer,
scanner, monitor, digital camera, etc.) that will accurately describe
the unique color characteristics of each device.
-
A Color Matching Module (CMM) that will
interpret the information contained within the device profiles and
carry out the instructions on how the color characteristics of each
device should be treated.
Color Numbers, their
Meaning and ICC Profiles
A digital image will usually comprise many millions
pixels, each of which is represented by a numeric value. The value
assigned to each pixel will describe many attributes but in this
essay it's the color value or mix (e.g. RGB value) that we're most
interested in. As I have already mentioned, when a color is
device-dependent, the appearance of pixels with identical values
will very often differ because each device has its own unique way of
translating the color "value" or "number" into visual color. The role
of ICC profiles is to ensure that discrepancies that result from
the widely differing color characteristics of each device are known to
the color management system. If we were discussing spoken language
rather than color, then the ICC profile would be synonymous with a
translator.
Device profiles come in two basic forms, i.e.
Input and Output. Input profiles typically describe
the color characteristics of scanners and digital cameras, whereas
Output profiles describe devices such as monitors, printers and
film recorders. Input profiles are often referred to as one-way
since they represent the source device. For obvious reasons we can
never convert a document into the color space of our scanner or digital
camera. Output profiles on the other hand are two-way meaning we
can convert From or To them. For example, we can convert a document
with an embedded monitor profile into a document that has a color
profile describing a printer, or vice versa.
Consumer class film and flatbed scanner applications
have been ICC aware for some time now, with the vendors usually
choosing sRGB as their preferred color space, which is a bit of a
misnomer because sRGB is not a device color space. Clearly, these
vendors are doing some work behind the scenes so as to keep things
simple for the user, which isn't necessarily as wise as it might first
appear. The sRGB color space isn’t generally regarded as appropriate
for high quality image editing, especially when print or film output is
required. So, to overcome this some vendors also provide the user with
the option of choosing from a small selection of alternatives. For
example, printer vendors such as Epson provide generic ICC profiles
with their photo class printers, although its generally accepted these
profiles are rarely as accurate as users would like. Nevertheless, they
are getting better with each new generation of printer. As a rule,
truly accurate color matching usually requires customised ICC profiles
for each device and/or media type. These ICC profiles can be created
professionally or you can buy your own profiling application.
Why bother with Profiles
and Color Management?
Even though color correction and color management
are not the same thing they're often confused with each other,
especially by the novice Photoshop user. Explaining the difference can
very often lead to even more confusion, but hopefully the following
explanation will provide some help.
We have already established that the color
characteristics of most imaging devices tend to be unique to that
device. Likewise, it's very rare for them to be truly linear (i.e.
R=G=B=Neutral). Sometimes this second characteristic is referred to as
the device being "badly behaved"; with scanners and printers being good
examples of badly behaved devices. Obviously, it would be extremely
difficult to edit a document where a group of pixels with values of
R=G=B=128 (i.e. grey) actually appeared on the monitor to be
significantly non-neutral. In such circumstances color correction would
an absolute nightmare. To overcome these discrepancies we usually carry
out all our editing in color spaces that are "well behaved" or
independent of any specific device. In Photoshop "well behaved" color
spaces are more usually referred to as the Working Spaces, and
are always characterised by RGB values that appear neutral when all
three are equal. These Device Independent color spaces do not
behave like, nor are they influenced by, any real world device. So, in
this respect it could be argued that Working Spaces are based on
synthetic color spaces.
So, we have Device Profiles and
Working Space Profiles - how do they interact?
The first thing we need to understand is that for
any color profile to be useful to the color management system, they
must conform with the ICC standard. In fact you'll more often see such
profiles referred to as just ICC profiles. Anyway, without the aid of
device profiles the accurate translation of the document color data
(the RGB numbers) from the scanner or digital camera into the
Working Space will prove very difficult, if not impossible.
Likewise, without the aid of accurate media specific printer profiles,
the translation from the Working Space into the color space of a
digital printer will prove equally difficult. We also need an accurate
monitor profile so as to ensure that what we see on the monitor is a
true representation of the document color.
The following flow diagram demonstrates a typical imaging workflow,
with the document being passed between devices: - from scanner/digital
camera - to - computer - to - monitor - and printer.
Typical Imaging System
So, the main benefit offered by color management is
that the process of color correction can be undertaken in the knowledge
that the document displayed on the monitor is an accurate visual
representation of the original subject, and that the final print will
accurately reflect the colors of the document being displayed.
Document Specific Color
Just like its more recent predecessors Photoshop CS3
continues to use document specific color settings, Actually, the
Working Space that's chosen in the Color Settings dialog has a
direct bearing on only three types of document, viz.: -
-
The default color space of new documents created via the New
command found in the File menu
-
Existing documents without an embedded ICC profile
-
Imported documents with no embedded ICC profile (i.e. untagged
documents), which might include scanned documents or those
emanating from digital cameras.
Document specific color means that it's the ICC
profile embedded within the document that determines how it will be
displayed (it's appearance) and not the default Photoshop Working
Space. With Photoshop CS3 you can have multiple documents, each in
its own unique Working Space, open at the same time, and each
will be displayed accurately. Of course all of this assumes you're
using an accurately calibrated and characterised monitor.
Section 2 - Monitor Calibration
and Characterisation
Monitor calibration and characterisation (profiling)
is probably the most important aspect of a color managed workflow; yet
many users seem oblivious to issues poor monitor calibration, etc can
have on their documents. So, what is calibration, why is it so
important, and why is it different from characterisation?
Calibration is a process whereby a device is brought
to a standard state (e.g. a color temperature of 6500K and gamma of
2.2), whereas characterising the monitor is the process of determining
how the monitor represents or reproduces color . We characterise the
monitor by measuring how it displays known color values, then creating
an ICC profile. The ICC profile is simply a data file that includes a
description of the monitors’ color handling characteristics (i.e. its
gamut). The calibration data will also be written into the ICC profile.
As I've already mentioned, Photoshop then uses the monitor profile to
automatically optimise the display of documents. It does so by carrying
out an on-the-fly conversion between your document profile (e.g.
ProPhoto RGB, Adobe RGB, sRGB, ColorMatch) and your monitor profile.
This conversion does not alter the actual document in any way; just its
appearance on the monitor.
Adobe stopped shipping Adobe Gamma with the Mac
version of Photoshop a few versions back, but kept it for Windows
mainly because there was no software only alternative. Since Apple
Display Calibrator Assistant was still installed within System
Preferences Mac users never really found the absence of Adobe Gamma to
be a problem because. However, given that Windows Vista doesn't play
well with certain utilities, it was inevitable that Adobe Gamma would
eventually be dropped from the Windows version of Photoshop. So, it
comes as no surprise that CS3 is the first ICC aware version of
Photoshop not to include its own monitor calibration utility, which
means that some Windows users will have to find an alternative to Adobe
Gamma.
Obviously, software only monitor calibration
applications use the human eye to determine tone and color differences
between a series of white/grey/black/color patches. However, it
should go without saying that the eye isn't the most accurate
method of measuring these differences. Therefore, my recommendation
would be to use a hardware based system such as the
Datacolor
SpyderPro3,
X-rite Photo ColorMunki or
X-rite Photo i1 Display 2.
Tip for Mac OSX users: a tutorial
describing the process of calibrating a display with the Apple
Display Calibrator Assistant can be found
here.
Check out the following links for more information
on the Xrite Eye-One and ColorVision Spyder
Useful Information on
location of ICC/ColorSync Profiles
Photoshop CS3 is only
compatible with Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista on the
PC platform and OSX 10.4.8 or higher on the Mac platform. The upside of
this is that the ICC
and ColorSync
profiles are more easily found.
Profile locations:-
-
Windows XP and Vista - sub-folder named
Windows\system32\spool\drivers\color
-
Mac OSX - ColorSync profiles are generally located
in either the Library/ColorSync/Profiles or
Users/~/Library/ColorSync/Profiles folder
Section 3 - Photoshop CS3 Color Settings
The Color Settings dialog is the control room
for the Photoshop color management system, and like all control rooms
it can appear complicated. If you already use Photoshop CS or CS2
you'll likely have Color Settings configured to meet your needs,
and it's probably best that you stick with those settings. On the other
hand new users should pour themselves a cup of strong coffee and pull
up a chair because what follows is not always easy to understand, and
may take a few attempts to sink in.
Whether you use Mac or Windows the appearance
and list of options within the Color Setting dialog, and elsewhere
within Photoshop CS3, is to all intents and purposes identical. So,
begin by opening the Color Settings, which is found towards the
bottom of the Edit menu.
Figure 1 - Photoshop CS3 Default Color Settings
The first thing that I will draw your attention to
is the box at the bottom of the dialog labelled Description. As
the mouse is moved across the various pop-up menus, etc. you should see
a short but informative explanation of what each menu does. Also note
the button labelled More Options; it's probably best that you
select it now, as it will let you see the complete Color Settings
dialog rather than the simplified version.
The default RGB color setting depends upon your
location but generally you'll find that it's either: North America
General Purpose 2 or Europe General Purpose 2. If you're
working with documents that are primarily destined for the web then
either is perfectly acceptable. However, if you're documents are
destined for print then these settings are generally regarded as being
less than ideal. So, if the General Purpose 2 settings are not
ideal, what is?
I could answer the above question by simply writing
"US or Europe Prepress Defaults", but doing so doesn't
really help explain why nor would it be strictly true. Therefore, I
will work my way through each section of the Color Settings
dialog in turn.
The first section is labelled Settings, and
is a simple pop-up menu with a list of preset Photoshop settings plus
any that you may have saved previously. You needn't worry too much
about this section just yet.
Figure 2
Working Spaces
The next section (figure 3) is labelled Working
Spaces, and as I discussed earlier the selections made here will
determine the Working Space profiles used for color handling of
your documents.
Figure 3 - Default Working Space Profiles
There are four Working Space types in
Photoshop: RGB, CMYK, Gray and Spot (occasionally called
Modes because they appear under the Image>Mode menu). Since configuring
the others follows a similar process I will concentrate on the RGB
Working Space.
Also note that the term Working Space should
not be confused with Workspace, which is used by Adobe to
describe the layout of palettes, menu bars, etc. Working Space
relates specifically to the various color modes available in Photoshop.
RGB - Working Space
Clicking the RGB pop-up menu with the mouse
will produce a list of options similar to that shown below (figure 4).
In this example I've selected Adobe RGB (1998) as the RGB
Working Space. You'll also notice that it appears grouped with four
other Working Spaces, these historically being the most popular
choices of Photoshop professionals, but not necessarily the best.
Typically, sRGB will be confined to situations were the user is
solely interested in web design. ColorMatch RGB was once a
favoured choice of many Mac users and Apple RGB is apparently
for Mac web design. Notice the inclusion of ProPhoto RGB, which
was previously only available from the extended list of profiles.
ProPhoto RGB has been my preferred working space for a few years
now. It's actually a very wide color space that encompasses the entire
range of colors that your likely to encounter. For this reason it's now
generally regarded as the optimum color space when your output is
destined for dye-sub, inkjet photo printers or Hi-fi color. However, be
warned that opening or viewing documents that use this color space in
non color savvy (non ICC compliant) applications can result in colors
appearing significantly different from those shown in Photoshop.
Figure 4
If you look just above the four common Working
Spaces you should also find options for Monitor RGB, and in
the case of Mac systems ColorSync RGB. Monitor RGB is the
color space of your monitor as created by your calibration utility or
hardware calibration device. Generally, it isn't a good idea to use the
monitor profile as your Working Space, but it's important that
does appear in the list.
It's often claimed that Photoshop has no obvious way
of informing the user which monitor profile is actually being used.
Well, a quick check for Monitor RGB in the RGB Working Space
pop-up should be enough to put your mind at rest. If Monitor RGB
is showing something other than the profile you created when
calibrating the monitor it is essential that you investigate the reason
and make the appropriate corrections.
The actual list of options available for selection
as Working Spaces differs according to whether More Options
is activate, or not. If you chose to activate More Options then
the list of available RGB profiles will be quite extensive.
CMYK - Working Space
Desktop type inkjet printers from Epson, Canon and
HP actually require RGB data rather than CMYK, which
means that the choice you make for this particular Working Space
will have no influence in their actual output. This is the main reason
that I leave it set at the default US Web Coated (SWOP) v2, and
if using a desktop inkjet, then I suggest that you do likewise.
So, other than the list of available profiles, the
procedure for choosing CMYK Working Space isn't that different
to RGB. Again, having More Options activated gives you a
more extensive list.
Note: the options available to you may
not exactly match those shown in the screenshot!
Figure 5
Grayscale - Working Space
With the Grayscale Working Space we have
access to two gamma settings, a series of five preset dot gain curves,
the ColorSync Gray Work Space (Mac only) and the ability to
customise the dot gain to our own requirements. The Gray Gamma 2.2
is probably the best for most users, but feel free to experiment.
Figure 6
Also note, that if you choose to use a Custom
Gamma or Dot Gain this will be the Working Space
listed in the Gray Working Space pop-up menu.
Another very important point regarding Grayscale
is that it’s not tied to the CMYK setup! This is why some legacy
grayscale documents might not look quite the same as they did in
Photoshop 5.x (does anyone still use Photoshop 5?)
Spot - Working Space
The Spot pop-up menu is broadly similar to
the grayscale, but for spot colors. The options that we find include a
series of five preset Dot Gain options and the facility for
customising the Dot Gain curve if required. The screenshot shown
below indicates that I've selected 20% Dot Gain version as my
default.
Figure 7
Color Management Policies
Color Management Policies was a new and very
important feature that was introduced by in Photoshop 6. Its importance
continues in CS3, which is why I tend to spend so much time trying to
explain the various options. Figure 8 below shows the new default
setup, but this hides a lot of important information.
Figure 8 - Photoshop CS3 Default Color Management
Policies
Based on feedback, this section of the essay is
probably the one that causes new Photoshop users greatest difficulty.
Nevertheless, it's an important aspect of Photoshop that is better to
understand than ignore. Therefore, the explanation that I give below
will appear quite wordy.
Basically, each Working Space will have the
same set of three policy options, although you need not configure each
identically. The Color Management Policies are: -
(a) Off
In simple terms, the Off Policy ensures that
Photoshop does as little as possible when dealing with ICC profiles. In
most situations it isn't the ideal choice and contrary to popular
believe it's certainly not the panacea for new users that some would
have them believe. The following explanation will give you some idea as
to the behaviour of Photoshop when this option is selected.
-
Choosing Off will mean that all new
documents will be created without an embedded ICC profile. Likewise,
when you save them there will be no embedded profile within the
document. Generally, documents that do not contain an embedded ICC
profile are referred to as being untagged, which invariably means
that their color appearance will vary on different monitors and
even within different applications on the same computer.
-
Opening an existing document with an embedded ICC
profile that matches the current Working Space means that
Photoshop will honour the embedded profile, and that this profile
will subsequently be saved with the document once you've completed
editing same.
-
The default Pasting behaviour between
documents is to retain numerical values (RGB pixel values), not the
appearance. This means that no conversion between color spaces will
take place and will often lead to the pasted section of the document
taking on a radically different appearance to that of the original.
-
Opening an existing document with an embedded ICC
profile that does not match the current Working Space (i.e.
profile mismatch) will cause that embedded profile to be stripped out
of the document. The document will subsequently be saved with no
embedded profile. With this policy you'll find that the Ask When
Opening warning checkbox is unchecked for Profile Mismatches,
so a warning similar to the following (figure 9) will appear.
Figure 9
The problem with this configuration is that the user
either accepts what Photoshop dictates or doesn't open the image at
all, not much of a choice. Activating the Don't show again
checkbox is generally accepted as a good move, and will ensure that
you're no longer nagged.
(b) Preserve Embedded
Profiles (Default)
For most situations this policy offers the greatest
degree of flexibility and therefore my preferred. The following
explanation should give you an idea as to the behaviour of Photoshop
CS3 when this policy is selected.
-
Choosing Preserve Embedded Profiles means
that when you open an existing document into Photoshop, which has an
embedded ICC profile that differs from the current Working Space,
then that document and its associated profile will be left intact. In
other words Photoshop will make no attempt to convert the document to
the current Working Space; the original embedded profile will
be retained and subsequently saved with the document. Nevertheless,
even though the document and Photoshop are no longer in sync, color
space wise, the document preview will still be accurate. If you're
unclear as to why this should be then see explanation of document
specific color in Section 1.
-
When opening an existing image with an embedded
ICC profile that matches the current Working Space Photoshop
will take no action; the image is opened and saved as normal.
-
The default behaviour when pasting either an RGB
or Grayscale document is slightly more complex whereby the appearance
of the pasted documented will be preserved but the numbers will
change (i.e. the pixel values will change). In the case of CMYK it is
the numbers that will be retained, not the appearance.
-
If the document being opened or imported has no
embedded ICC profile (i.e. the image is untagged) then Photoshop will
use the current Working Space for editing and previewing
purposes. However, the profile will not be embedded into the document
when it is subsequently saved.
-
Creating a new document with this policy setting
means that the current Working Space is used for editing and
previewing. The associated profile will eventually be embedded into
the file when saved. However, the default Working Space
profile for new documents can be overridden in the New
document dialog.
(c) Convert to Working Space
This policy behaves in an almost identical fashion
to color management Photoshop 5. It's for this reason that some
Photoshop dinosaurs still tend to favour it. Actually, this policy
isn't a bad choice but does need to be treated with care.
-
If an existing image with no embedded ICC profile
is opened or imported into Photoshop then the current Working
Space will be used for editing and previewing. However, there
will be no profile embedded into the image when it is saved (i.e. the
resulting image will be untagged).
-
If an image is opened or imported and has an
embedded ICC profile which is found to differ from the current
Working Space then that image will be converted into, and
subsequently saved in the Working Space. When the image and
the Working Space are matched then Photoshop takes no action;
the image is opened and saved as normal. New documents will be
previewed, edited and ultimately saved in the current Working
Space.
-
Finally, the default pasting behaviour is to
convert and thus preserve the appearance of the document. However,
the user will get the option not to convert the pasted image, hence
preserving the numbers if the pasted image doesn't match with the
target image.
The warning shown below (figure 10) will appear if the profile
warning Ask When Opening has not been activated for Profile
Mismatches. Again, my earlier comment about Photoshop imposing its
will on proceedings applies. It's worth reading the text and comparing
it with figure 9.
Figure 10
At first glance the above warning appears virtually
identical to that shown for the OFF Policy, but there is a
subtle difference - the document is converted to the Working Space
profile rather than discarding the embedded profile. Compare the text
of the two screenshots (figure 9 and 10) if you're in any doubt as to
the differences. Again you may wish to tick the Don't show again
checkbox so as to stop this warning reappearing in the future.
Overriding the Default Policy
Behaviour
The previous section described how your choice of
Color Management Policy determined the default behaviour of
Photoshop CS3 under various scenarios. However, you need not be
confined to these preset outcomes. A much better option would be to
configure the Color Management Policies as shown in figure 11
below.
Figure 11
Here we can see that each of the checkboxes for
Profile Mismatches and Missing Profiles be set for Ask
When Opening or Ask When Pasting as appropriate Basically,
the three checkboxes associated with the profile warnings have the
following impact on the Color Management Policies: -
(i) Profile Mismatches: Ask
When Opening
When this checkbox is active Photoshop has been set
to present the user with a warning when the image being opened or
imported has an embedded profile that does not match the current
Working Space. The warning looks like figure 12, and contains three
options with the default settings being dependent upon the actual
Color Management Policy in operation at the time. Noticed that
unlike the examples shown previously, all the necessary information
required to make an informed decision is present.
Figure 12
The above example is preset for how the dialog would
appear when the Color Management Policy is set for Preserve
Embedded Profile. The user can choose to leave the image as is
(default - Use the embedded profile), allow the conversion (Convert
document's colors to the Working Space) or strip out the embedded
profile and switch off color management (Discard the embedded
profile). Had the policy been Convert to Working Space the
dialog would have looked almost identical except that it would have
been preset for Convert document's colors to Working Space.
Basically, the answer to the question: How do you want to proceed? is
already decided for you when the Embedded Profile Mismatch
dialog appears. However, if you know this answer to be incorrect then
by all means make an alternative selection, otherwise leave well alone,
and click OK.
I think you will agree that the warning in figure 12
is a lot more user friendly than the one that appears under similar
circumstances when Ask When Opening is unchecked. At least with
this option you now have the opportunity to assign an alternative
profile to the image before it opens.
(ii) Missing Profiles: Ask
When Opening
Choosing this option means that Photoshop has been
set to present the user with a warning when the image being opened has
no embedded ICC profile. The warning looks similar to the following
(figure 13) and again contains three options. The preset or default
selection is dependent upon the Color Management Policy in
operation at the time.
Figure 13
The above example is preset for how the dialog would
appear when the Color Management Policy is set for Preserve
Embedded Profile. Since no profile is embedded Photoshop will try
to assign the Working Space profile to the image. No conversion
takes place, just the assignment of the Working Space profile.
The lower Assign Profile (and the associated
and then convert to working RGB) checkbox is the best choice if you
know the source images' true color space and you want the image to
appear correctly in Photoshop. Typically, this option will be used for
images from a digital camera or similar device that does not embed a
profile in the image file or provide accurate EXIF color space
information.
(iii) Paste Profile
Mismatches: Ask When Opening
Figure 14 below shows the Paste Profile Mismatch
warning that appears in the event of the color spaces of the two images
not matching.
Figure 14
Note that the terms preserve color appearance and
color numbers relate to the source image, not the destination.
The various warning dialog boxes shown above are
only a sample of those that may appear as you open or import images
that contravene the defined Color Management Policy. However, I
think that the text messages included in each should be more than ample
to explain what each option does and will therefore allow you to make
the appropriate choice.
Conversion Options
This section will only be present in the Color Settings
dialog if the user chooses More Options. Figure 15 shows this
section of the Color Settings dialog in its default
configuration.
Figure 15
Engine: this is the name of the engine, which
will be used for all color space conversions. Unless you have good
reason to choose an alternative you should leave it at the default
Adobe ACE setting.
ACE is the direct equivalent of the Built-in
engine used in Photoshop 5. Windows users should not be tempted to
choose ICM. Mac users should keep in mind that the option chosen here
will override the selection made in the ColorSync setup.
Intent: this pop-up menu allows the user to
select from four different rendering intents, namely Perceptual,
Saturation, Relative Colorimetric and Absolute
Colorimetric. Typically, most users will choose between either
Relative Colorimetric or Perceptual. A short description on
each is provided in the Description section of the Color
Settings dialog. A more comprehensive explanation can be found in
the Photoshop on-line help files.
With Relative Colorimetric it is only those
source colors that are out of gamut (i.e. can't be viewed/printed
accurately within the destination color space) that will be mapped to
the closest in-gamut color, the remainder are left unchanged. This
means that in the case of documents containing lots of out-of-gamut
colors the visual relationship between the colors (after conversion)
will almost certainly change. With Perceptual, all colors of the
source color space will be mapped to the nearest in-gamut color of the
destination color space thus maintaining the visual relationship
between colors. In other words, with Perceptual the whole
document color gamut will be compressed so that it fits within the new
color space. The Photoshop default is Relative Colorimetric.
Use Black Point Compensation: this should be
kept checked. Black Point Compensation ensures that the darkest
neutrals of the source color space are mapped to the darkest neutrals
of the destination color space. In most circumstances toggling BPC
ON or OFF will result in no obvious change to the image
appearance, but in some situations converted images will look/print
horrible if BPC is Off, so be very careful with this setting.
Use Dither (8-bit/channel images): as with
Black Point Compensation this should be kept checked. The
description box at the bottom of the Color Settings dialog box
will give you some clue as to what it does.
Advanced Controls
As with the conversion options, this section will
only be present in the Color Settings dialog if the user chooses
to activate the More Settings option. Figure 16 shows this section of
the Color Settings dialog in its default configuration.
Figure 16
An explanation on what each of these options do is
provided in the Description box and on-line helps files. The
consensus appears to be that both settings should be left in the
default Off condition.
The Desaturate Monitor Color option is the
one that has greatest potential to cause confusion, as it will result
in the image preview to become progressively less saturated as the
percentage is increased. Those choosing to work in very wide color
spaces may find it useful, however, the majority of Photoshop users
should leave it Off.
Saving Out Your Own Default
Color Settings
Select the Save button and give your settings
a Name and Description by which you can call them back in
the future, if for some reason you make a temporary change. Also note
that you can have as many different sets of settings as you wish,
although only one can be active at a time. Figure 17 shows my preferred
color settings.
Figure 17 - Customised Color Settings Configuration
If you're using Adobe Creative Suite 3 you'll
also want to make sure that all color handling within the other
application matches with Photoshop. To help you with this task Adobe
has provided a feature within Bridge (Edit menu > Creative Suite
Color Settings) that enables you to synchronise the color settings
for all of the suite applications. Remember, that this feature is only
available when you have Creative Suite 3 installed and
activated.
Figure 18 - Synchronise Creative Suite Color
Settings
Section 4 - Soft Proofing
A frequently asked Photoshop questions is: why don't
my prints match the screen? Generally it's down to poor monitor
calibration, but on other occasions it's simply the fact that the user
has an unrealistically high expectation of what can be printed.
This section will discuss the options and commands
associated with the Soft Proof feature. As you work your way
through it you'll notice that I haven't included any reference to
specific printer driver set-ups. This is because they have been covered
in a separate tutorial "Photoshop
CS3 - Managing Color When Printing".
So, what is soft proofing?
Basically, soft proofing is nothing more than using
your monitor to simulate a printing device. However, accurate soft
proofing is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of the monitor
profile and the media profiles for each printer/media/ink combination
that you're attempting to proof. Configuring Photoshop for soft
proofing is done via the View > Proof Setup > Custom menu as
shown below.
Figure 19
Proof Setup only affects the current or
active document on your desktop. So, if you want to define your own
default Proof Setup (a wise move) you need to configure the
proof setup via the Custom menu option with no documents open.
Alternatively, if you do have a document open then hold down the
Alt/Option key to activate the ->Default (i.e. Save proof
profile) button in the Customise Proof Condition dialog.
The various proofing options are:
-
Working CMYK - soft proofs the document
using the current CMYK working space defined in the Color
Settings dialog.
-
Working Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black Plate
or Working CMY Plates - soft proofs the document using the
current CMYK working space defined in the Color Settings dialog.
-
Macintosh RGB and Windows RGB -
soft proofs the document using the standard Mac or Windows monitor
profile (i.e. Apple RGB and sRGB respectively). Both options assume
that the simulated monitor will display your document without using
color management.
-
Monitor RGB - soft proofs the document
using your actual monitor profile. Again, this option assumes that
the simulated monitor will display your document without using
color management.
The screenshot below shows a typical view of the new
Proof Setup (i.e. Customise Proof Condition) dialog in
CS3. In this example, I'm showing the configuration required for
simulating Premium Glossy Photo Paper on an Epson R2400 inkjet photo
printer. From this dialog you can easily select, configure and save
your own customised soft proofing setup for any number of different
printer profiles.
Figure 20
You begin the process by choosing the Profile
from the Device to Simulate pop-up menu. In the example shown
above I have selected the Epson profile for Premium Glossy paper (i.e.
SPR2400 PremiumGlossy). In your case it will be the profile for the
media that you want to simulate on the monitor.
Preserve RGB/CMYK Numbers
This option will only be available when the document
and profiles are in sync, i.e. both are RGB or both are CMYK. Selecting
the Preserve RGB/CMYK Numbers checkbox will usually result in a
quite awful looking display, so don't make the mistake of choosing that
option. Basically we are simulating how the document will appear if
it's not converted to the actual device profile.
One use of this option is to enable you to see how
the document would print if the appropriate media profile is not
selected in the Print with Preview dialog. Normally it's best
the leave the checkbox unchecked.
Rendering Intent
Rendering Intent is the setting that appears
to cause most confusion and it's generally worth trying both
Relative Colorimetric and Perceptual. Typically Relative
Colorimetric will be best but some highly saturated documents will
benefit from choosing Perceptual.
Use Black Point Compensation
I described Use Black Point Compensation
previously when discussing the conversion engines. Typically, it will
be best to keep it checked.
There are two options (or checkboxes) shown in this
section of the Customise Proof Condition dialog. The first:
Simulate Paper Color allows you to simulate, on the monitor, the
shade/color of the paper white. The second: Simulate Black Ink
will enable you to simulate, on your monitor, the dynamic range defined
by the media profile (i.e. how dark black will appear on the media
you're printing to). Note that selecting the Simulate Paper Color
checkbox will cause the Simulate Black Ink to be selected and
greyed out. Not all profiles will support both options.
The resulting soft proof display can be quite
disconcerting at first. By this I mean that the overall tone of the
image may tend to look compressed or slightly color shifted (e.g. white
takes on a blue cast). This can often occurs when using printer
profiles that were created from scanner based profiling applications.
In such circumstances it's probably best to leave the Simulate Paper
Color and Black Ink options unchecked.
To save the customised proof setup simply choose the
Alt/Option+Save button and give the soft proof profile a name
that clearly indicates the printer/media combination for which it was
created. The name of a saved soft profile will be appended to the
bottom of the list immediately below Monitor RGB (Figure 21
below). A comprehensive tutorial describing the technique of soft
proofing can be found at the following link:
here
Figure 21
Section 5 -
Managing the Document Color Space
As with other aspects of color management we find
that color space conversion and profile-embedding hasn't changed in
Photoshop CS3. I suppose you could say that since it wasn't broken in
CS2 there was no need to fix it. Either way, for many Photoshop newbies
it's difficult to appreciate the difference between embedding a
profile and converting to a profile..
Assign Profile
So what does Assign Profile do and when do we
use it? Assign Profile allows you to associate any profile
of your choosing to a document. The command is intended for only a few
limited uses, e.g. documents that have been imported into Photoshop
using a Twain module or a scanner package that has no means of
embedding an ICC profile.
It’s important to note that assigning a profile does
not change the document (i.e. it will not change the RGB/CMYK numbers
or pixel values). Assign Profile simply provides Photoshop with
a description of the actual color space that you wish to edit and view
the document in. In other words it changes the document appearance or
meaning of the RGB/CMYK numbers.
Figure 22
-
The Don't Color Manage this Document:
option is used to instruct Photoshop to remove an existing embedded
profile (sometimes referred to as untagging).
-
The Working RGB: option tags the document
with the current default working space profile as defined in Color
Settings.
-
The Profile: popup option allows us to
assign a profile other than the default Working Space profile.
In the above example I chose to assign a customised profile for a
Nikon scanner.
Other potential uses for Assign Profile
include the removal of an embedded profile (i.e. don't color manage the
document).
Convert to Profile
Convert to Profile is basically an enhanced
version of the old Photoshop 5.0 Profile-to-Profile command, the
main difference being that with Profile-to-Profile you were able
to define the source color space. In all subsequent versions of
Photoshop, which includes CS3, this cannot be done since the source
profile for the image is predefined and locked. The only way that the
source profile can be changed is via the Assign Profile command
discussed above.
Figure 23
Figure 23 above shows a document with the Adobe RGB
(1998) profile embedded (Source Space) being converted to sRGB (i.e.
the Destination Space). Whenever we make this conversion it will be the
profile for the destination space that is embedded within the document
when saved. Convert to Profile changes the RGB/CMYK numbers
(i.e. pixel values) in order that the document appearance is
maintained. The Preview checkbox allows the user to compare the
conversion with and without Black Point Compensation,
Dithering, and any one of the four rendering Intents. The
ability to preview the conversion is a real boon and shouldn't be
ignored, so use it to your benefit.
Also notice that the screenshot shows the Intent
set to Relative Colorimetric. This was the default Intent
I chose when I configured the Color Settings dialog earlier.
However, as with many Photoshop setting the Intent is "sticky",
which means that if I was to change it to Perceptual then the
next time I choose Convert to Profile the Intent will be
set to Perceptual.
Section 6 - Printing
Whilst printing from within Photoshop is discussed
in separate
tutorial
it's still worth providing a brief overview to round off this essay
on color management.
The screenshot shown below shows the color
management options within the new Print dialog box that
enables you to define the source and destination (target) color spaces
along with the rendering intent used to convert the document between
the two.
Figure 24 - Print dialog
Even if you've been using a version of Photoshop as
recent as CS2 you'll immediately notice that the Print dialog has
undergone a radical rework. We now have a more extensive and very
different list of options available. You'll also notice
that Color Management is still the default view for this dialog,
but the preview window is now fully color managed with the ability to
soft-proof images. Anyway, to keep things simple I will focus on
only those settings that fall within the Print and Options
area in figure 24 above. I will also give a brief summary of each
option and hopefully give you better idea which combinations are best
suited to particular print tasks:
Print:
-
Document: denotes the ICC profile embedded
within or assigned to the source document. The example shown in
figure 24 shows ProPhoto RGB, but it could be any number of
user specified alternatives (e.g. sRGB, Adobe RGB (1998),
ColorMatch). If the document has already been converted to a
printer/media profile using the Convert to Profile command,
then the printer profile color space will be reflected here.
-
Proof: this field will normally display as
(Profile: N/A). Once it's activated via the radio-button it tells
Photoshop to convert the document on-the-fly from the source
documents color space to the ICC profile shown in brackets. You can
only alter the destination profile from within the Proof Setup
dialog (see: Photoshop View menu). Also, note that you'll only ever
need to use this option if you are intending to make Hard Proofs
or Match Prints (i.e. emulating another printer such as a
press), therefore I don't intend to elaborate on this workflow.
Options:
-
Color Handling - this is the pop-up
menu from which you choose the preferred method of managing
color when printing from Photoshop CS3. By adopting this approach
Adobe have separated the workflow aspects of printing from the
media choices. It was first adopted in CS2, and the theory at the
time was that it would be a lot more intuitive. However, I'm
not so sure that it actually achieved this. Anyway, there are still
four different color handling options, but the names used by CS3 are
slightly different from CS2. Also note that each has its own
associated preset configuration within the Print dialog
thereby helping the user avoid erroneous settings.
-
Printer Manage Colors - with this
option Photoshop instructs the printer to carry out the
conversion between the document color space and the printer
vendors preferred color space. Photoshop will not change
(convert) the document if this option is selected. This is the
most appropriate option when you don't have ICC media profiles
for your particular printer/media combination.
-
Photoshop Manages Colors - with this
option Photoshop will convert the document to the printer/media
profile selected that you have selected in the Printer Profile
pop-up. Many desktop printers are now supplied with generic media
profiles, but much more accurate prints can be obtained if custom
profiles are used. However, for this option to work correctly
color management must be switched off in the printer driver.
-
Separations - this option is used when
printing CMYK images where each channel is handled separately. If
your document is RGB the option will be greyed out.
-
No Color Management - with one
important difference, this option is similar to the Printer
Manages Colors option described above. The difference being,
that with this option, Photoshop will not instruct the printer to
change to convert the document. This option is intended for
special cases such as printing custom profile targets that
require document color management to be turned off in both
Photoshop and the printer driver.
-
Printer Profile - as its name implies this
is the pop-up menu from which you choose the ICC profile associated
with the printer/media combination you'll be using. This pop-up will
only be active when Photoshop Manages Colors is selected in
the Color Handling pop-up. By default, it will actually show
the document color space, so make sure that you don't forget to
choose the appropriate printer/media profile before hitting the Print
button.
-
Rendering Intent and Black Point Compensation
- again, depending upon your choice in Color Handling one or
both of these settings may be greyed out. Irrespective of whether
it's greyed out or not, most desktop photo printers (inkjets) will
ignore these two settings when Printer Manages Colors is
selected from the Color Handling pop-up.
-
Proof Setup - by default, this pop-up menu
is greyed out and will only be activated when the Proof radio
button is selected. As mentioned above, this option is normally only
used when simulating or proofing other output devices such as a
Press. The Simulate Paper Color and Simulate Black Ink
work in the same way as they do in the Customize Proof Condition
dialog described in Display Options, Section 4 above. However, it is
important to note that they are tied to Proof printing, so
don't expect them to be available when Document is selected.
-
Description - this is a useful addition to
the Print dialog in so far as it provides short explanations
for each of the settings and options. The description itself is
triggered when you hover the mouse over the various buttons and
pop-up menus (e.g. Color Handling, Rendering Intent,
Black Point Compensation, etc).
The last item I want
to mention is new and very welcome Match Print Colors
checkbox that you'll find tucked away at the bottom of the Print
dialog. With this checkbox activated the Preview
display will show a screen rendered soft-proof of the document - the
preview shown in Print dialog is now color managed (Whoopee!).
Section 7 - Saving Documents
Save As
Again, whilst saving your documents is not directly
related to color management the Save As dialog throws up a host
of useful features. The Embed Profile checkbox is very important
and will reflect your choice of Color Management Policy, which
was discussed earlier. The option to profile embedding ON or
OFF can come in handy in a few situation. but is generally
not a good idea. Notice that the dialog even informs us which profile
is being embedded.
The screenshot shown below (figure 25) is how the
dialog appears on a Windows XP system; the Mac OSX version looks
slightly different, but they are functionally identical.
Figure 25
The other save options present in the dialog are
those associated with Layers, Alpha Channels,
Annotations, etc. Again, you can choose to uncheck them and so save
the image without the layers, etc. The Save As a Copy feature is
engaged by default as soon as you uncheck Layers; this prevents
you trashing a lot of hard work.
Hopefully the material presented in this essay has
been helpful and improved your understanding of Adobe's approach to
managing color in Photoshop CS3. 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 key words Color Management is all that is required.
Whilst on the subject of things Color Management I
think it's worth mentioning a book "Color
Management for Photographers" by Andrew Rodney (aka as
the Digital Dog). This book contains a wealth of useful information,
tips, tricks and tutorials. The book predates Photoshop CS3, but this
shouldn't matter a lot since very little other than the Print workflow
has changed since CS2. Copies can be obtained from
Amazon
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