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OK, so my expectations and those of the folk at Adobe with
responsibility for such things seem to have been a tad optimistic
because the print dialog in Photoshop CS3 is different from CS2. In
many areas it's better, but in others there is still scope for
improvement. On this first page of the tutorial I will discuss these
differences in detail. Hopefully, by the time you finish reading it,
you too will be an expert in Photoshop printing ;-)
Before I get into describing the various Photoshop and Print Driver
configurations I need to clarify two aspects of print making that still
seem to confuse a lot of Photoshop users:
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Desktop inkjet printers from Epson, Canon, Hewlett
Packard, et al may use CMYK or CcMmYK coloured inks but this doesn't
make them CMYK printers. Occasionally you'll see this type of printer
referred to as Non-Postscript printers. The reason I stress this
point so much is that the device drivers supplied with these printers
are not designed to print CMYK mode documents. So be warned, any
attempt to produce a CMYK document directly from a desktop
inkjet printer will result in disappointment.
-
The image displayed on a typical computer monitor
whether it be a CRT or LCD cannot be fully replicated in print. Yes
we can often get close, but an "exact" match is rarely if ever
possible.
Note that while the initial screenshots used for this
tutorial are based upon the Mac OSX version of Photoshop CS3 they
should still provide more than ample guidance those of you using either
Windows XP or Vista. The printer driver screenshots are OS specific;
therefore I've included separate instructions for both Mac and Windows
XP. Depending on the operating system you choose, the instructions and
screenshots are based on the Epson Stylus Photo R2400 or Epson Stylus
Pro 3800, but should be compatible with most other current models from
Epson.
Producing a Print
As I mentioned at the outset Adobe has made some very
significant changes to the Print workflow, alas I fear that many
of these changes will likely lead to as much confusion as previous
attempts to simplify printing from within Photoshop. Most of the
confusion will likely be experienced by Windows users and is a result
of the shift to "Document Specific" settings. In other words, users
will need to reconfigure the Print dialog for each and every image
rather than once for any given print session. OK, so that was the bad
news, on a more positive note Photoshop CS3 only has 3 menu options
(CS2 had 5) associated with printing : Page Setup, Print,
Print One Copy and Print Online. The old Print with
Preview option is gone, but don't despair you still have a preview.
Tip: Remember, the Print menu
option is only available for selection when an image is open on your
desktop so if you're going to read this tutorial whilst following
along I suggest that you open an image now. Figure 1 below shows the
default view of the Print dialog.
Figure 1 - Photoshop CS3 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 print 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 (i.e. Match Print Colors). Anyway, to keep
things simple I will focus on only those settings that fall within the
Print and Options area in figure 1 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 1 shows ProPhoto RGB, but it could be any user specified
profile (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 it will be the printer
profile name shown rather than a Photoshop working or color space
profile.
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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:
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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.
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Printer Manages 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 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 (more
on this later).
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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.
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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 or convert the document color space. 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.
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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.
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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. Simulate Paper Color allows you to simulate, the
shade/color of the paper white, whereas Simulate Black Ink
will enable you to simulate, the dynamic range defined by the media
profile (i.e. how dark black will appear on the media you're printing
to) However, it is important to note that they are only available as
options for Proof printing, so don't expect them to be
available when Document is selected.
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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.
It's all about Workflow
As outlined above there are four choices or more
accurately workflow options contained within the Color Handling
pop-up. However, this tutorial will only discuss three of them, leaving
the fourth (i.e. Separations) for others to explain. Most of what
follows has been copied across from my Photoshop CS2 tutorial, which
should explain why it looks familiar to those who have already read it.
The default configuration for the Print dialog
is shown below as Figure 2. Notice that Color Handling is set to
Printer Manages Colors. For the purpose of this tutorial we'll
call this setting Print Workflow 1.
When you choose Printer Manages Colors you're
informing Photoshop that the document should be passed directly to
printer driver with instructions on how to convert the document colors
into the printer optimised equivalent. Photoshop CS3 will not convert
the document nor will it take any account of the media specified in
your printer driver. Using this option Photoshop tags the document
so that the printer driver has all of the information needed to ensure
accurate color rendering of the print. The document color management is
handled solely by the printer driver.
Figure 2 - Print Workflow 1
Tip: Depending upon your printer model it
is possible that Rendering Intent may not be active for this
workflow. Even if it is active there is every possibility that the
printer driver will ignore your choice and use Perceptual, but don't
worry either way.
This workflow, which is often referred to as
application color management, is really intended for the more
advanced/demanding Photoshop worker who needs total control of how
their documents are rendered to print. With Color Handling set
to Photoshop Manages Colors you are able to choose: specific ICC
media profiles, the Rendering Intent, and whether or not
Black Point Compensation is to be used. Trying to relate this
particular option back to versions of Photoshop prior to CS2 (aka
Photoshop 9 and before) is difficult because there was no direct
equivalent.
When Photoshop Handles Colors is selected you'll
immediately be given access to the Printer Profile pop-up. By
default the profile shown in this pop-up is the Working RGB
profile (defined in Photoshop Color Settings), but you'll very
seldom want to leave it at Working RGB. As mentioned above it's
important that your actual choice of Printer Profile matches the
media and printer model that you'll be using, otherwise poor quality
prints are a virtual certainty. The best quality will be obtained when
you use an ICC media profile that has been created for your specific
printer. These can be created by you using specialist software/hardware
or purchased from a third party.
Tip: Many Epson photo printers are now
supplied complete with ICC media profiles for a range of media types
although with some models you may have to install the PIM driver (see
the cd-rom supplied with your printer) before they become available.
You should also check the Epson support sites to see if new ICC
profiles are available.
Figure 3 - Print Workflow 2
Notice that once a printer profile is selected both
Rendering Intent and Black Point Compensation" (BPC) are
activated. Generally you'll want to use Perceptual or
Relative Colorimetric, and have BPC checked. It's worth
noting that with many of the newer models from Epson (e.g. Pro3800,
SP2100, SP2200, R1800, R800, etc.) it is probable that choosing
Relative Colorimetric will produce the more pleasing prints.
Tip: The important point to note about this
workflow is that your printer driver MUST be configured so
that ALL color management features are disabled. Often you'll
see this workflow referred to as the No Color Adjustment (NCA)
or Application Color Management workflow.
The final workflow choice is No Color Management.
This particular workflow is primarily intended for users who are
creating customised ICC media profiles or printing the multi-patch
targets for others to create them on their behalf. It's NOT
recommended when printing normal documents. If you've just upgraded to
Photoshop CS3 from CS or earlier then No Color Management is the
direct equivalent of Same As Source. With this option Photoshop
simply passes the document straight to the printer driver without
making any color adjustments or conversions.
Figure 4 - Print Workflow 3
Tip: As with Print Workflow 2 it is
important that your printer driver is configured so that ALL
color management features are disabled. I'll show this can be
achieved later in the tutorial.
Tip: by holding down the Alt/Option
keyboard button you will find that the Done button changes to
Remember. Using this keyboard modifier will allow you to save
the document specific print settings for future use.
Once the Print dialog has been configured to
suit your requirements it's time to press the Print button.
Each
operating system has it's own unique printer driver configuration and
in some case the drivers differ from printer to printer. Given this
variation it's not possible for me to provide specific settings for
every case, but the following should give a good indication of how the
respective OS/driver combination should be configured.
Mac OS X 10.4x (aka Tiger)
When you press the Print
button (i.e. bottom right hand corner of Photoshop Print dialog)
the "System" Print dialog as shown in Figure 5 should
appear. The System Print dialog might appear quite complicated in so
far as it includes menu options for many print setting that are better
set within Photoshop itself or the actual Print driver, and are
therefore best avoided. In particular, you should not need to access
options such as: Layout, Scheduler, Paper Handling, ColorSync, and
Cover Page. I really can't emphasise enough how important it is
that you configure the printer driver in the sequence that I
describe otherwise there is a good chance that one of the settings will
revert to the Epson default.
Figure 5 - "System" Print
dialog
Press the popup labelled Copies and Pages (shown in the
screenshot with a red asterisk). Choose Print Settings from the
list of options. When the Printer Settings panel (figure 6)
appears choose the type of Media (1)
that will be used. Next select the Advanced (2)
mode.
Figure 6 - Epson Printer
Dialog - Main Window
Choose Best Photo or Photo RPM for the highest
Print Quality (3) option
compatible with the printer/media combination that you require. Also,
for best quality High Speed (4)
should be disabled.
Return to the popup now labelled Print Settings (5)
and choose Color Management. The remainder of this page is
separated into two parts, the first deals with Print Workflow 1
and the second Print Workflow 2 and 3.
Print Workflow 1 (Contd.)
For Color Management (figure 7 below) we have three options
(radio buttons): Color Controls, ColorSync and OFF (No Color
Adjustment).
Figure 7 - Epson Print Driver:
Print Workflow 1
The first two options, and for this workflow we're only interested
in these two, are designed to automate the process of printer colour
management, and you have the choice of Color Controls or
ColorSync (6). I suggest that
you avoid choosing ColorSync as it has been known to produce
very unsatisfactory results with some printer models. Actually, I
believe that Color Controls is the best option for
novice users. Also, remember that when this setting is selected the
Photoshop Print dialog should be configured as shown in
Print Workflow 1.
With the latest Epson drivers for printers such as the Stylus Photo
R800, R1800, R2400 and Pro3800 you will see at least 3 modes. I don't
recommend the use of the Advanced Settings adjustment sliders
and suggest that Mode set to either Epson Standard or
Vivid. Lastly, unless you have good reason to choose differently I
also recommend leaving the Gamma setting at 1.8.
Print Workflow 2 and 3 (Contd.)
The third setting for color management is referred to as Off (No
Color Adjustment) (6a) and is
ONLY appropriate when you're using ICC media profiles in
Photoshop or printing the targets required for creating ICC media type
profiles. In other words you should only use this setting if you have
chosen to configure Photoshop Print dialog as shown in
Print Workflow 2 or
Print Workflow 3.
This setting is by far the best setting for advanced Photoshop users.
It's also worth mentioning that if you find your final prints are light
and magenta in appearance then there's a very good chance that you
chose one of the other two settings in error or that the sequence in
which you configured the print driver was not exactly as I described
above.
In the following screenshot you can see that choosing Off (No
Color Adjustment) (6a)
resulted in the Mode pop-up, Gamma and adjustment sliders
disappearing from the dialog; this is how it should be, so don't panic.
Figure 8 - Epson Print Driver:
Print Workflow 2 and 3
Once you have configured the driver for your preferred media, print
quality and color management settings it's a good idea to save them for
future use. This is achieved by opening the Presets (7)
popup and choosing "Save As" - do be sure to choose a meaningful
name. Next time you need to make a print you can simply choose this
media type from your list of Presets. In the example shown in figure 9
you can see that I have preset settings for Epson Enhanced Matte and
Semi Gloss media.
Figure 9 - Saving your settings as Presets
Mac OS X 10.5 (aka Leopard)
When you press the Print
button (i.e. bottom right hand corner of Photoshop Print dialog)
the "System" Print dialog as shown in Figure 10 should
appear. Like the System Print dialog in Tiger the Leopard dialog might
appear quite complicated in so far as it includes menu options,
although most are better set within Photoshop. In particular, you
should not need to access options such as: Layout, Color
Matching, Paper Handling, Cover Page and Scheduler.
Also, I really can't emphasise enough how important it is that
you configure the printer driver in the sequence that I describe
otherwise there is a good chance that one of the settings will revert
to the Epson default.
Figure
10 - "System" Print
dialog
Press the popup labelled Layout. Since it's partially hidden
in above screenshot I have shown a red splash symbol adjacent to it.
Next, choose Print Settings from the list of options. The
Printer Settings panel (figure 11) will appear.
Figure
11 - Epson Printer
Dialog - Main Window
Readers familiar with Epson driver for Tiger will immediately notice
that all of the options they need to set are now contained within a
single panel. Also, for the purposes of this tutorial I will
concentrate on the type of Media Type (1),
Color Settings (2), Print
Quality (3) and printer
specific options (4) such as speed
and detail.
For best results you should make sure that the settings Media
Type (1) is set to match the
paper that you'll be printing with and Print Quality (3)
should normally be set to the highest available resolution that is
compatible with the printer/media combination you're using. Generally,
High Speed (4) should be
disabled.
The remainder of this page discusses the options available for
Color Settings (2) and is
separated into two parts, the first deals with Print Workflow 1
and the second Print Workflow 2 and 3.
Print Workflow 1 (Contd.)
When developing the new Leopard compatible drivers Epson appear to
have took on board many of the criticisms that were levelled at
previous drivers. For example, Color Settings (2)
now has only two options: Color Controls and Off (No Color
Adjustment), this workflow only uses the former. Also, remember
that when this option is selected the Photoshop Print dialog
should be configured as shown in
Print Workflow 1 above.
Figure
12 - Epson Print Driver:
Print Workflow 1
Of the four sub-options available under Color Controls I
think Epson Standard (sRGB) and Adobe RGB are the best
choice for printing photographic images.
I don't recommend the use of the Advanced Color Settings
adjustment sliders, nevertheless, I have shown the panel for
information. Leaving it at the default settings and fixing tonal or
color issues within Photoshop is more likely to produced better results
because you have a live preview the adjustments. Using the adjustment
sliders usually requires multiple iterations of adjustment and print
before everything is correct.
Figure
13 - Advanced Color
Control Panel
Print Workflow 2 and 3 (Contd.)
The other option for Color Settings option is referred to as
Off (No Color Adjustment) (2)
and is ONLY appropriate when you're using application color
management (i.e. you have selected ICC media profile in Photoshop
Printer Profile pop-up) or printing the targets required for creating
ICC media type profiles. In other words you should only use this
setting if you have chosen to configure Photoshop Print dialog
as shown in Print
Workflow 2 or Print Workflow 3 above. This option produces by
far the best print quality. It's also worth mentioning that if you find
your final prints are light and magenta in appearance then there's a
very good chance that you chose Color Controls by mistake.
Figure
14 - Epson Print Driver:
Print Workflow 2 and 3
Once you have configured the driver for your preferred media, print
quality and color management settings it's a good idea to save them for
future use. This is achieved by opening the Presets (red
splash symbol shown on figure 15) popup and choosing Save As -
do be sure to choose a meaningful name. Next time you need to make a
print you can simply choose this media type from your list of Presets.
Figure 15 - Saving your settings as Presets
Windows XP
When you press the Print
button (i.e. bottom right hand corner of Photoshop Print dialog)
the "System" Print dialog as shown in Figure 16 should appear.
Figure 16 - Windows "System"
Print dialog
Press the Properties button. Once the Printer driver dialog
(Figure 17) appears choose the type of Media (1)
that will be used. Next select either Photo or Best Photo
for Quality Type (2). The
last setting to choose in this dialog is the Advanced button (3).
Figure 17 - Epson Basic
Printer Dialog - Main Window
Print Workflow 1
For Color Management (5)
we have a number of options, many of which only serve to confuse and
are completely unnecessary. Also, for this tutorial I'm ignoring
Advanced B&W since it's only available on higher end Photo printers
such as the Epson Stylus Photo R2400 and Stylus Pro3800.
The following screenshot (Figure 18) is where we make the important
selections. For best print quality you should disable High Speed
(4).
Figure 18 - Epson Print
Driver: Print Workflow 1
The first two Color Management options are designed to automate the
process of printer color management and you have the choice of Color
Controls or PhotoEnhance. Both these options are intended
for novice Photoshop users but I suggest that you avoid using
PhotoEnhance since it applies additional processing and sharpening
to the image and can produce very unsatisfactory results with some
printer models. I also suggest that you stick with Epson Standard
or Vivid for the Color Mode (6).
Also, remember that when this setting is selected the Photoshop
Print dialog should be configured as shown in
Print Workflow 1.
Lastly, unless you have good reason to choose differently I recommend
leaving the Gamma setting at 1.8.
Figure 19 - Epson Print
Driver: Print Workflow 1 (ICM Mode)
By choosing ICM (5a)
(see Figure 13 above) you gain access to the internal Epson printer
color management system (i.e. Applied by Printer Software) and
the Off (No Color Adjustment) mode. The later mode (i.e. Off
[No Color Adjustment]) is NOT compatible with Print
Workflow 1 and should NOT be selected. When the former (Applied
by Printer Software) is selected the driver automatically makes use
of the Epson media profiles but does so in a way that means their
selection in Photoshop should be avoided. Actually, with previous
versions of Photoshop using this method to select an ICC media profile
in Photoshop and the Epson driver would have lead to double profiling,
so the final prints would have looked awful (light and magenta).
Photoshop CS3 now includes a feature that should prevent this problem
occurring, but it's likely that it only works with more recent
printers. Therefore, to obtain the best results from this particular
mode of operation Photoshop should be configured as shown in Print Workflow 1
above.
Print Workflow 2 and 3
The last setting for color management is referred to as Off (No
Color Adjustment) (7) and is
ONLY appropriate when you're using ICC media profiles in Photoshop
or printing the targets required for creating ICC media type profiles.
In other words you should only use this setting if you have chosen to
configure Photoshop Print dialog as shown in
Print Workflow 2 or
Print Workflow 3.
This setting is by far the best setting for advanced Photoshop users.
Figure
20 - Epson Print
Driver: Print Workflow 2 and 3
Tip: In the screenshot shown above you can see
that choosing Off (No Color Adjustment) (7)
resulted in the Mode pop-up, Gamma and slider controls being removed
from the print dialog; this is how it should be so don't panic when
they disappear.
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