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AnnieVE
Participating Frequently
March 18, 2016
Answered

Calibrate vs Adobe RGB Profile

  • March 18, 2016
  • 4 replies
  • 16242 views

Hello!

I am desperately trying to get my paintings reliably printed.   I have photographed my paintings, uploaded them to PHOTOSHOP, edited and saved them then  printed them at a local print shop.  I did all this but what printed did not match my photoshop/monitor edits of paintings at all. 

They told me that I need to get my monitor calibrated using a product called Spyder5Pro, and then use Display Profile Adobe RGB 1998.

I used my iMac's monitor calibration feature, but it created some weird colors for my monitor.  It also seemed to create it's own Display profile different from the Adobe RGB 1998 profile.  They appear to be mutually exclusive profiles!

I did order the Spyder5Pro, but now I am wondering if it is going to create it's own Display profile, also different from the Adobe RGB 1998 profile.

How do I both calibrate my monitor AND use the Adobe RGB profile?

My goal is to be able to create my own JPEGs for printing purposes, since I like editing my own photos of my paintings, and the cost for the print shop to scan my paintings and then color correct them is crazy.

Help!  .... and Thank You!

Anne

    Correct answer Mylenium

    Basic thoughts on color management:

    My colors look different outside Photoshop. | Mylenium's Error Code Database

    My printed colors look wrong. | Mylenium's Error Code Database

    It's not one or the other, it's always the full mile. Once you "calibrate" anything, you have to carry it through consequently. Yes, your Spyder will create a custom monitor profile and you need to tell PS that by ways of prrof setup and assigning your Adobe RGB to your document.

    Mylenium

    4 replies

    AxelMatt
    Community Expert
    AxelMattCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 6, 2025

    You're anwsered on a 9 years old thread. I think the appropriate thread creator doesn't have a look on this after such a long time.

    Thread closed.

     

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 5 - Topaz Photo
      D Fosse
      Community Expert
      D FosseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 18, 2016

      You probably misunderstood what they were saying (or they have no idea what they're talking about, which is about equally likely I'm afraid).

      Document profile and display profile are two entirely different and separate things, don't mix them up!

      All color management requires two profiles, a source profile and a destination profile. One is converted into the other, changing the RGB values to maintain color appearance.

      In this case Adobe RGB is your source profile, and the display profile is the destination. Ideally the display profile should be an accurate description of your display's characteristics, and only measurement with a calibration sensor can do that. If the display profile is wrong, Photoshop will not display correctly.

      The display profile is set up at system level, and the (color managed) application will find it there and use it to display the image without any user intervention.

        Terri Stevens
        Terri Stevens
        Legend
        March 18, 2016

        I think you are misunderstanding how color management works with Photoshop. You have color management at the operating system level which acts as a service to the color managed applications like Photoshop and Lightroom. Most of the applications on your computer are not color managed. You can make color profiles for your operating system/monitor using a Spyder, but their are others like the ColorMunki and Eye One Display-this has just been discontinued in favor of the i1 display Pro so you may be able to get a good deal on the former. Neither have ever been particularly cheap though. You do not necessarily need to buy a hardware calibrator as most monitors ship with a color profile and that may suffice. The snag is monitors change with use and to get accurate color rendition you should have a new color profile at least once a month and of course the manufactures profile just gets older and older causing the color accuracy to drift off. So if you can afford a calibrator its a good investment. You can even set your operating system to sRGB or Adobe RGB depending on the quality of the monitor. So that's operating system color, but Photoshop has color settings itself under the edit menu. For you images to look the same in other apps and on the web as they do in Photoshop you would use settings similar to those below. If you are printing to your own printer you would probably put Adobe RGB into the first box in place of sRGB. Color Management puts my head in a spin, but most of this I think is correct.

        Terri

        ColorMunki Display - Advanced Monitor & Projector Calibration: Photo & Video

        https://www.xrite.com/i1display-2

        i1Display Pro Display Calibration: X-Rite Photo & Video

        I don't know much about the Spyder range but have heard good things about them

        Display Color Calibration With Datacolor Spyder5 - Datacolor Imaging Solutions

          D Fosse
          Community Expert
          D FosseCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          March 18, 2016

          MissTake wrote:

          You have color management at the operating system level which acts as a service to the color managed applications like Photoshop and Lightroom.

          Yes, you could put it like that, but to be very accurate the operating system in fact doesn't do any color management at all. It's all done (or not done) by the application itself. The OS does have a role in this, though - it makes all the profiles available for the applications. So when the app requests, say, a display profile, the OS goes, "hang on....here you go".

          But, Terri, one more thing: I'm really not comfortable with the "convert to working RGB"-policy you keep advising people to use. I'm sure it's right for you, and there are many situations where it makes sense. But as general advice it's dangerous. and if you're not aware of the implications this setting can cause a lot of damage to unsuspecting users.

          The default is "preserve embedded profiles", and it's the default for a reason. It's safe, and it doesn't change files irreversibly. It also keeps the original file's intent, as long as you know how to process it further. So could you please consider changing this, just for the posted screenshots?

            Terri Stevens
            Terri Stevens
            Legend
            March 18, 2016

            Point taken Dag. Preserve Embedded Profiles is less confusing and also more forgiving. I'll update that screen capture.

              Mylenium
              MyleniumCorrect answer
              Legend
              March 18, 2016

              Basic thoughts on color management:

              My colors look different outside Photoshop. | Mylenium's Error Code Database

              My printed colors look wrong. | Mylenium's Error Code Database

              It's not one or the other, it's always the full mile. Once you "calibrate" anything, you have to carry it through consequently. Yes, your Spyder will create a custom monitor profile and you need to tell PS that by ways of prrof setup and assigning your Adobe RGB to your document.

              Mylenium

                D Fosse
                Community Expert
                D FosseCommunity Expert
                Community Expert
                March 18, 2016

                Mylenium wrote:

                your Spyder will create a custom monitor profile and you need to tell PS that by ways of prrof setup

                Er...I normally wouldn't make a fuss over this, but since someone marked it as "correct answer" I feel I have to. Nitpicking time here today, but we really need to get this straight:

                • You don't need to tell Photoshop to use the monitor profile, and certainly not by proof setup. Photoshop always converts to the monitor profile and sends the result to the display.
                • The monitor profile is set up at system level and a calibrator will do that for you. Photoshop finds it there and loads it without any further intervention from the user. Photoshop uses whatever profile the OS offers as default for that display.
                • Proof is only used to check for gamut clipping in a printer profile, as a last step before going to print. If required, you can do print-specific corrections at this point. For normal work you don't proof.
                  A
                  AnnieVEAuthor
                  Participating Frequently
                  March 20, 2016

                  So there is a "hardware" monitor profile.

                  How is Mac's Display Profile used in conjunction with the monitor profile? 

                  When I specify in Photoshop to use Adobe RGB 1998, does that override whatever was selected in the Mac System Preferences, if say, I didn't specify Adobe RGB 1998 in the Mac System Preferences?  For example, what if I accidentally left my Mac Display Profile to the default Color LCD?

                  So, after I am done editing my photoshop file and save it as a jpeg (which I embedded with Adobe Jpeg 1998), do I have to do an additional step for the print shop so that they know what to print with?  My print shop uses RGB printers (not CMYK). 

                  I am trying to understand this before I run Spyder (due to arrive Mar 26th).

                  Thank you so much for your help!

                  Anne

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