Tired of dull prints?

[mrdougeran]

you are awesome! i love how you go over things so nice and slow. i have elements 10 on one of my puters, (can't afford ps on all of them) is there any way of working in a channels mode in elements 10 thanx

[dharuacharya]

OMG. This issue has plagued me for months and I thought I was just crazy. You are a life saver. I love you !!!!! Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you (you get the point). :)

[Mpathize]

Hi Shan,

long time no speakie, Q. Is this happening when we output to our home printers or does it only apply to outside labs etc.

I ask this because when i'm printing i turn off the printer driver, tick let PS manage colours ( say srgb from adobe rgb i  will also have assigned a profile from my paper supplier..say HW Matt or canvas etc) are you saying if i dont "convert"--then these settings are being ignored by the printer..ignored is prob' the wrong word, i mean not interpreted correct-

[photoshopmama]

@Mpathize All printers have different set ups. Basically, you choose one or the other to manage the color, either photoshop or the printer but not both!

[BradburyGuy]

Does it matter what file type, tif, png, jpg? Is one better than another? What about lzw compression an such?

[photoshopmama]

@BradburyGuy Sort of! For print use only jpg quality 10 or higher or .tif without LZW compression.

[shrugbutt]

Finally, a tutorialist whose explanations totally clarifys the subject of colour space conversion for sending files to the printer. many thanks 'mama'; wish I'd discovered your tutorials years ago. I am now a dedicated follower !

Hihhly recommended, and many thanks

Jacob Thomson

[kispix]

Awesome tutorial and very clear! I'm also did an action to run for the whole folder when I need to do that for many images.

[TripleMFilmWork]

Yeah i had some proof prints sent to me from millers an they came our dull. Now I use adoramapix, but still come out dull. Idk what I'm doing wrong! I calibrate, I set them as srgb! Lol it's retarded. I use lightroom 3 to edit my photos, do I need to import them to Photoshop afterwards before I upload them to a lab? Sorry I'm just having a hard time getting these photos to match.

[photoshopmama]

@TripleMFilmWork That might be worth a try! I don't use LightRoom, and I don't use spyder.

[TripleMFilmWork]

Question MamaSham, I did everything you mentioned and my prints still came out dull. Now I noticed when I right click on my jpeg picture and hit info it says color profile srgb , but the color space reads rgb. Could that be why? If so how do I change that. Oh and yes I calibrated my monitor, i used the spyder3elite.

[photoshopmama]

@TripleMFilmWork rgb is the color mode, there are several working spaces that you can choose in that mode, one of which is sRGB IEC....etc. A lot depends on where you send your prints, too. 2 places that I like are Miller Lab and White House Custom Color. Both places have a tutorial on profiles, both places send you some free 8x10's of your own prints for you to check against what you see on your monitor. Other resources for you to google is "Andrew Rodney" he is the "KING" of Color Management.

[fernandoDaniel1]

by the way love your vids thx for showing us all and helping us to move on and be better at photoshop you are so helpfull thx a lot really really helpfull..=)

[fernandoDaniel1]

Awsome so wen I save it (save for web and devises) it will work?? Ill try it if i dont get a reply back soon hopefully it is the same! should be rite? Please let me know if it is not or how to save it when I'm ready to take it for print. Thx

[photoshopmama]

No, the Save for Web feature usually freaks out when you save large images. Just embed or convert to the sRGB profile from the menu if it's not already embedded. Save as a jpeg quality 10.

[bbaileystl]

great tip from a great teacher. thanks!

[erics1959]

Wow ! Light bulbs went off inside my head ...finally somebody explained it so it made sense. I really appreciate the fact that you provide visual examples.

Can you provide a tutorial about using the printer profile provided by labs ( ie Miller's aka Mpx ) and how to ensure what you see is what you get.

Thx's

[6655665566556655]

thanx a lot

[johnyo1349]

When I go to print on my printer I get this"some postscript specific settings will be ignored since your are printing to a non-postscript printer".What do I need to correct this? I have CS3 and a epson R2400

[photoshopmama]

That usually occurs when you are printing a layered file that contains Type and/or Shape layers. If you flatten a copy and save as a jpeg quality 10 or higher, you shouldn't get that warning...and yes you can also ignore the warning, which would also might pop up if the file was saved as an eps, so avoid that format too!

[frlindsay]

This is the best explanation on the subject than I have seen anywhere.

[padmanabhbaadkar]

Hi friends where i can get video tutorials full with tricks....Can anyone give me the link please....

[bluemooncanoe]

photoshopmama! I was blown away when I came across this and saw Caitlin, my daughter. Gotta say you are a mean shooter. Recently saw the last shoot you did for her. Great stuff!

[photoshopmama]

You have a beautiful daughter, and it is my daughter that shot Caitlin. Since we are business partners I get use of the images.

[omnicleaner]

This is something I needed to learn. Thanks mama.

Great as usuall!

C & A

[jroxyraggs]

thank you so much for this tutorial...............such an important topic, as so often the prints don't look like they did on the monitor............a lot of information here, and I'll have to watch this video several times, and hopefully be able to understand more...............thanks so much for the excellent tutorial, and trying to help!

[demofactory]

Thanks for posting your great vids. I've learned soooo much from you. I do a lot of photography, and have struggled with this topic extensively. Thanks

[photoshopmama]

You are welcome! Glad to be of assistance.

[photoshopmama]

For those of you who need hands on observation and practice with this, I added an ADDENDUM to the video description (more info link) to further hone in the concepts outlined in this tutorial.

[punaguy]

Thanks Mama, I've always complained about this very subject. I thought it was my monitor not being calibrated correctly....You rock! Aloha~

[photoshopmama]

I'm not saying that it's NOT your monitor, as that can have an effect on how you are perceiving color casts, what I'm saying is that there are many folks who have calibrated and created a seemingly correct profile for their monitor but are still experiencing getting dull prints...and the reason for that is more than likely because of the file's color numbers residing in the Adobe RGB or Pro Photo color working space.

[photoshopmama]

ABSOLUTELY NOT! CMYK is only for Magazines and you'd let them do the conversion. Now some high end large format inkjet printers do print cmyk files but THAT should be discussed with your print provider. Your working master file--ALWAYS RGB!

[photoshopmama]

Check with Epson on that! If it ain't broke don't fix it. If you are getting great prints doing what you are doing now, don't change it. What you don't want is a conflict between the Color Management Systems. If you already have it so your printer handles that conversion you don't want to do a double conversion by having Photoshop convert AND Epson. Those results are horrible! Epson has complicated software or used to, so be careful!

[padmanabhbaadkar]

THANKS

[tooquick4u2]

great video, thanks... So you wouldn't ever convert to CMYK to send to the printer?

[mangoa2]

Thank you!!

[robmags56]

Thank you so much for solving a problem I've been frustrated with for ages. You are the photoshop oracle!

[paul777jj]

Thank you so much for everything you do!!!

Your tutorials are the most professional, thorough and interesting I have seen online.

I think you should write a book. If you do, I am sure it will be a bestseller.

God bless you!

[photoshopmama]

You are so kind. Thanks for the blessing and God bless you, too!

[pennycam]

thank you Mama for this tutorial, I may not understand all of the theory but I now get how to send off the right colours for good prints!

You are a marvel

[photoshopmama]

You're welcome Penny. Hope this is the ONLY step you'll have to make...pretty sure it is, though!

[jmalonear]

my system is set to default show sRGB color. So when I load my files from my Canon into Adobe PS do I still need to convert them? or should they already be set to sRGB?

[photoshopmama]

If your camera is embedding sRGB (check the metadata or the doc status bar in Photoshop) it should be fine. Check it by going to View>Proof Setup>Custom and choose sRGB IE61966-2.1 Then check View Proof Colors or Ctrl Y. There should be no color shift...and so your prints should closely match what you see.

[photoshopmama]

It's the FILE'S color numbers that are important here! The monitor could be black and white, it's a device for viewing and it's profile does not change the files numbers. A Red value of 198 in Adobe RGB (1998) may appear bright and saturated but that same 198 value appears dull in the sRGB space and would need to be converted to 230 to appear as bright and saturated. The same color number value has different meaning or appearance depending on the color space it's in.

[photoshopmama]

Just remember, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" If you are already happy with the color/contrast relativity between your Monitor and your prints....DON'T CHANGE A THING! If you are getting dull prints, I would start with checking your files embedded profile first. If it is listed as anything other than the sRGB profile, then convert it to sRGB and send it off to get printed. If it comes back close to your monitor, don't mess with monitor profiling software. If the print is bad, -mess with it!

[biterocco]

Thanks again mama, this is really uesful and im sure theres a lot of people out there, like me not aware of soft proofing

with regard the numbers, can challege the grey matter, but if you learn to color correct using sample points with channels in curves then you understand the numbers a lot easier.

[darrylhughes]

Excellent tutorial, keep up the great work.

[MerlinsWheel1964]

Love the tutorials. For the subject of color spaces, I have a couple questions.

1.) If you know that you will be sending the finished product to a photo lab, why wouldn't you simply set the camera to capture in sRGB in the first place?

2.) While AdobeRGB and ProPhoto are wonderful, most monitors can't display the color range of the data contained in the image, and the photo lab isn't likely to be using those color spaces, why work in those color spaces?

Thanks, and keep those tutorials coming!

[photoshopmama]

Yes...that is the 64,000 question indeed! Perhaps someday when technology and even our own ability to differentiate between a few hundred colors rather than thousands or millions, expands and improves...we will kick ourselves in the behind for not capturing and embedding the Pro Photo or Adobe profile. Ya think?

[photoshopmama]

Because, you know when it does improve we all will go dig up thousands of our old image files to reprint and give a boost to them...perhaps a holographic boost if we live long enough! grins!

[photoshopmama]

Here's another thought, science tells us everything is comprised of millions of molecules, right? --- but how many of us walk around with high powered microscopes strapped to our eyes?

[zazylife]

Thank you so much photoshopmama !

this is exactly what I've been trying to figure out for so long! and you explain it so well :)

[photoshopmama]

YAY! Another light goes on!

[photoshopmama]

EVERYONE--Be sure to click the "More info..." link on the right if you want to get the best PDF's on Color Management. I posted my personal Color Management HERO, Andrew Rodney's Web site address there!

[dian3tte]

Thank you. This made sense for me, finally :)

[photoshopmama]

YAY! Thanks...that's what I just LOVE to hear!!!

[photoshopmama]

While calibrating monitor and creating a decent profile for it is important, I have found it less important because so many folks I've helped have had good monitor profiles but still were getting dull prints due to the lack of awarness of Soft Proofing, and the concepts of Converting vs.Assigning profiles affects the end print result. These folks spent a good amount of money on Calibration software and still were not happy.

[acousticwie]

Oh really? Thanks for that info. I'm planning to get a Spyder Express to calibrate my monitor but now I'm thinking twice. Thank you so much for this video.

[photoshopmama]

Yes try this first along with calibrating with your normal system resource for monitor. If your print color is still way off then Spyder. Also if a person is color blind I do recomment these types of softwares that have the eyecup that goes on the monitor.

[acousticwie]

Hello photoshopmama. I love this video. This was also my problem when it comes to printing. Now I understand how to Softproof and Conver to Profile!

What about calibrating your monitor?

[photoshopmama]

We've used Adobe Gamma (FREE) for years on the PC and on the Mac the native montior calibration utility. Our prints are fabulous and match what we see, without any other type of software. The biggest key is to CONVERT TO sRGB. There are a few folks out there that give sRGB a bad name, but truly it's the BEST if you are using online photo print services.

[augustkm]

Isn't Adobe Gamma only for calibrating CRT monitors, not LCDs?

[photoshopmama]

This is true. We still have one large CRT in addition our LCDs. The WCS Windows Color System is already in the newer computers. Right clicking on the Desktop will popup a menu where you can choose Properties or Personalize (XP/Vista) and investigating the Advance tab you can set your Syestem default to the WCS profile for sRGB viewing conditions. Usually the Monitor Manufacture still provides a icm profile for the LCD Monitor .

[Goldmangun]

I would add just one thing in terms of colour management - you need to calibrate your screen as well so that the brightness, gamma, contrast, colour saturation etc are accurate and as close as possible to how your printed photograph will look.

[sethorlando]

you always have the best tips but i guess that's why you're "photoshop"mama!

[photoshopmama]

Thanks. If you understand this...then I'm a happy camper!

Hey folks, don't forget to RATE, FAVORITE, AND COMMENT, as that is my community paycheck of sorts! Thank you all!

[melisabela]

This video helped me a lot. Thanks mama...