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Support » Paper Profiles

To evaluate the final appearance of the printed image on the monitor of your computer, you can use our paper profiles for different machines.

When preparing an image for printing, you should not convert it in accordance with the profile of the machine; this will be carried out by our automated system or by the printing machine. Using profiles in image processing is possible only in the Proof Colors mode.

You can send files in any RGB or grayscale spaces. The most common ones are sRGB or Adobe RGB. When files are transferred to the working directory of the operator, they will be converted according to the current printing profile automatically, if necessary. Automatic conversion will be made depending on the selected material, and also depending on the machine, which will receive the order. When editing order parameters, the files will be automatically converted. If the order parameters are changed, the original files will be saved in the archive of the customer; they can be used for repeat orders, as well as for printing on other machines or materials.

It is important to understand that the use of profiles for preview is only possible on a calibrated monitor.

Instructions on How to Use Profiles

1. To evaluate the results of future printing using profiles, your monitor should be calibrated and profiled. The result of calibration and profiling will be an ICC profile set as the profile of the monitor in your operating system. Learn more about monitor calibration and organization of your workspace in the "Monitor Settings" section.

2. Download the required profile for printing (depending on the machine and material).

3. Add this profile to the list of your operating system profiles.

• Windows XP and Vista
  Profiles are located in the following directory:
  C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\color
  You may also click on it with the right mouse button to open the menu and select "install profile".
• Mac OS X
  Profiles are located in the following directory:
  Library/ColorSync/Profiles
• Mac OS 9 and below
  It is sufficient to place the profile in the System Folder, then it will be moved to ColorSynk automatically.

4. You can judge how the image will appear in your future print using the Proof Colours mode in Adobe Photoshop. To do this, select the required profile in View - Proof Setup - Custom menu. Make sure that Preview and Use Black Point Compensation are checked and that the checkbox Preserve RGB Numbers is unchecked. Select Perceptual as the Rendering Intent algorithm, this is the optimum mode for most image types.

Now it is similar to your future printed image. However, the contrast of a monitor is usually significantly higher than the contrast of a print. You can compensate for this if you check Simulate Paper Color. For a moment, the change may seem excessive, but do not be alarmed by this, your eyesight will adapt within a minute. If it still seems difficult for you to work in this mode, disable the Simulate Paper Color.

To save your selected settings click the button "Save", and the created preset will be available for loading from the View - Proof Setup. You can enable and disable the Soft Proofing mode pressing the hot keys CTRL + Y.

In the Proof Colors mode with the selected profile, you will be see those elements of the image, whose colours will be printed incorrectly, for instance, intense blue water in underwater photography, or a flaming sunset. As a rule, out of range colours (those that go exceed the standard range) become duller as when an image is displayed on the monitor with a narrower colour spectrum: similar, albeit not identical with, the original colours are selected. If the accurate rendition of such colours is crucial, you can adjust them using the standard tools in Adobe Photoshop, for example, Curves, Hue / Saturation, Selective Color etc. Use moderation when making corrections; do not strive to match the original display of the file in the Proof Colors mode, it is impossible. Adobe Corporation recommends using the Proof Colors mode optionally, that is primarily for informative purposes. We recommend making corrections when viewing in the Proof Colour mode only if strictly necessary. It is not necessary to do this for most situations. Especially, it is not worth increasing the value of saturation in this mode. Remember, all images will be automatically converted to the printing colour range. Thus colour rendition capabilities are used to the maximum extent possible in printing, including colour saturation.

5. When saving a file, make sure that the ICC Profile check box is checked in the "Save As" dialogue window, i.e. the image is attached to the profile of the colour space in which it exists. As a rule, these colour spaces are Adobe RGB or sRGB, other spaces such as ProPhoto RGB, ColorMatch RGB and Apple RGB are used more rarely. You can create images and work with them in any RGB space you wish. However, it is important to understand that the range of most monitors is considerably narrower than the complete colour range, therefore image display is not always correct. We recommend using wide colour schemes (the most common being Adobe RGB) for advanced users of colour management or for those who use monitors with a colour scheme similar to Adobe RGB. To avoid colour rendition errors, other users should base their work on the sRGB space used by default in most programmes and cameras and set as default in Adobe Photoshop. It is not recommended that you use your monitor profile as the working colour space, as this profile is only designed to display an image on a specific monitor. Using the monitor profile as the working space for your graphic file can cause significant colour problems. If the profile is not attached to the file, Fotoproekt, following, international standards will consider the file to be in sRGB space.