Soft-proofing colors
In a traditional publishing workflow, a hard proof of your document (sometimes called a proof print or match print) is produced so you can preview how the document's colors will look when reproduced on a specific output device. In a color-managed workflow, color profiles tell the color management system how to display a preview (soft proof) of your document directly on the monitor. This provides an on-screen preview of the document's colors as reproduced on a specified device. You can print the soft proof using your desktop printer to produce a hard proof. (See Printing a hard proof.)
Keep in mind that the reliability of the soft proof depends upon the quality of your monitor, the profiles of your monitor and output devices, and the ambient lighting conditions of your work environment.
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Previewing colors using a soft proof
If your monitor is properly calibrated and you have accurate profiles of your output devices, you can use Photoshop's soft proof capabilities to preview how your image will look when printed on your desktop printer, sent to a printing press, viewed on a particular computer operating system, made into color separations, and produced on a specific output device.
Photoshop also lets you open a document in two windows so you can compare the colors in the original image and the colors in the soft proof. (See below)
Using a soft proof to preview the final output of a document on your monitor A. The document in the working space. B. The document's color values are translated to the color space of the chosen proof profile (usually the output device's profile). C. The monitor displays the proof profile's interpretation of the document's color values.
To display a soft proof:
1. Choose View > Proof Setup, and choose the profile of the color space that you want to simulate:
· Custom creates a soft proof of colors using the color profile of a specific output device or of specific papers used in a desktop printer. Follow the instructions after this procedure to set up the custom proof. This option is recommended for the most accurate preview of your final printed piece.
· Working CMYK creates a soft proof of colors using the current CMYK working space as defined in the Color Settings dialog box.
· Working Cyan Plate, Working Magenta Plate, Working Yellow Plate, Working Black Plate, or Working CMY Plates creates a soft proof of specific CMYK ink colors using the current CMYK working space.
· Macintosh RGB or Windows RGB creates a soft proof of colors in an image using either a standard Mac OS or Windows monitor as the proof profile space to simulate. Neither option is available for Lab or CMYK documents.
· Monitor RGB creates a soft proof of colors in an RGB document using your current monitor color space as the proof profile space. This option is unavailable for Lab and CMYK documents.
· Simulate Paper White previews the specific shade of white exhibited by the print medium defined by a document's profile. This option is not available for all profiles and is available only for soft-proofing, not printing.
· Simulate Ink Black previews the actual dynamic range defined by a document's profile. This option is not available for all profiles and is available only for soft-proofing, not printing.
2. Choose View > Proof Colors to turn the soft-proof display on and off. When soft proofing is on, a check mark appears next to the Proof Colors command.
When soft proofing is on, the name of the current proof profile appears next to the bit depth in the document's title bar.
Note: The bit depth always appears in the title bar next to the color mode.
To create a custom proof setup:
1. Choose View > Proof Setup > Custom.
If
you want the custom proof setup to be the default proof setup for
documents, close all document windows before choosing the View > Proof
Setup > Custom command.
2. Select Preview to display a live preview of the proof settings in the document while the Proof Setup dialog box is open.
3. To use a preset proof setup as a starting point, choose it from the Setup menu. If the desired setup does not appear in the menu, click Load to locate and load the setup.
4. For Profile, choose the color profile for the output device for which you want to create the proof. The usefulness of the chosen profile depends on how accurately it describes the device's behavior. Often, custom profiles for specific paper and printer combinations create the most accurate soft proof.
5.If the proof profile you chose uses the same color mode as the document, do one of the following:
· Select Preserve Color Numbers to preview how the image would look when sending numeric values in the file to an output device with no color conversion to the proof profile space. This option could be useful if you have a CMYK file that was prepared for a specific printing process and you want to see how it would look when printed directly to a different output device such as your inkjet printer or a different press. The results would help you decide whether the image needs to be converted to a different color space, edited, or left as is.
· Deselect Preserve Color Numbers to simulate how the document will appear if colors are converted from the document space to their nearest equivalents in the proof profile space in an effort to preserve the colors' visual appearances. Then specify a rendering intent for the conversion. (See Handling colors with a rendering intent.)
6. If needed, select any of the following:
· Simulate Paper White to preview the dingy white of real paper. Selecting this option automatically selects the Simulate Ink Black option.
· Simulate Ink Black to preview the dark gray you really get instead of a solid black on many printers.
The availability of these options depends on the proof profile chosen. Not all profiles support both options.
7.To save your custom proof setup as a preset proof setup, click Save. To ensure that the new preset appears in the View > Proof Setup menu, save the preset in the Program Files/Common Files/Adobe/Color/Proofing folder (Windows), or Users/user profile/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Proofing folder (Mac OS).
Comparing the soft proof to the original image
Photoshop lets you open an document in two
windows simultaneously. The document can be viewed using the profiles of
two different working spaces or color modes. This is useful for
comparing the colors in your original image with the colors in the
soft-proof version of your image.
In Photoshop, you can compare the colors in a soft proof with the original image by opening the image in two windows, each showing the image in a different working space.
To view an image and a soft proof of the same image simultaneously:
1. Open a document in Photoshop.
2. Choose Window > Arrange > New Window for name of document.
3. With one of the document windows active, do one of the following:
· Choose View > Proof Setup and choose the profile you want to preview.
· Choose View > Proof Colors. The document window will display the image applying the profile previously chosen in the Proof Setup.
Department of Communication, Seton Hall University