In my
Soft Proof Preview
tutorial I described the process of using your display as a
Proofing device. However, a number of readers have asked how this concept
can extended so that they can use their own inkjet printer as a proofing
printer. In this short tutorial I describe the steps involved.
You should begin by setting up Photoshop's soft proofing feature so
that you can simulate on-screen how the final print will appear. The
press Profile (shaded red) would normally be supplied by the
company running the press or one you've created yourself for that press.
For the purposes of this tutorial I've chosen a profile I created for a
press that I have used in the past. Remember that the accuracy of your
proof print depends a lot on this profile so be sure that it is truly
representative of the press and paper stock to be used. The selection of
Simulate: Paper White is optional since it's only used for display
purposes. When this setting is checked the Soft Proof uses an
Absolute Colorimetric rendering when simulating the print on your
monitor. Using it should allow you to see how the base colour of the
media influences other colours within the image. A side effect of of
using this particular setting is that the appearance of the image will
become very flat and bluish. This is not really something that you should
be concerned about but if it does upset you then simply follow Bruce
Frasers advice and look away from the screen when you activate the
Simulate: Paper White setting.
Next you need to configure the Print with Preview
dialog so that you're using the profile chosen in Proof Setup as
the Source Space (Photoshop CS) or Print (Photoshop CS2) .
You then select the media profile for the inkjet printer that you'll be
using as the proofing printer. The profile shown in the blue shaded area
is a custom built profile for my Epson 2100/2400, but you'll be
using one that matches your own printer/ink/media combination. The
Intent can be either Relative Colorimetric (RC) or Absolute
Colorimetric (AC). Using RC leads to a proof print that has
the restricted CMYK gamut of the press but with the clean bright whites
of the inkjet media being used. Using AC tends to produce a proof
print that has the restricted CMYK gamut of the press but with the whites
of the press stock. Generally using AC will result in a proof
print that appears flat when compared to the RC proof print but in
overall terms it is a more accurate indicator of how the final print from
the press will appear.
Photoshop CS - Print with
Preview Configuration for Cross-rendering
Assuming that everything is configured correctly in both dialogs you
can hit the Print button and Photoshop will do an-the-fly
conversion from the document colour space to the press profile defined by
you in the Proof Setup dialog followed by a further conversion to
the inkjet printer profile defined in the Print with Preview
dialog.
