Color Settings For Photoshop and InDesign

[maryw58599983]

Note - I thinkI found the answer to the following in the Illustrator threads but please check my post here and let me know if I should also check those Profile Mismatches/Missing Profiles warning boxes. Thank you! Sorry for such a long post! 

We are preparing in InDesign a small color booklet for children with some 70 pages of text and pictures of flowers; a few scans of small landscape paintings I have done. All these images have been edited in Photoshop, using adjustment layers, curves; some images are cut outs of the flowers on transparent backgrounds. We are working in sRGB and inserting them into InDesign at this point, as psd documents.

1. We are totally newbies into this process experiencing many difficulties and setbacks, cry a lot when the button we click doesn't do what we expect, but keep on trying to learn and find answers from others and so eventually we take a few steps forward. So very grateful for the help we receive through this forum.

2. Reading about “color management” in both InDesign and Photoshop we understand we should have these two set up using the same color settings. Knowing that the final printing will be done commercially, we have set up as follows: In Photoshop – North America General Purpose 2; Working spaces – RGB – sRGBIEC61966-2.1; CMYK -US Web Coated (SWOP)v-2; Gray – dot gain 20percent, Spot – dot gain 20 percent. Under Color Management Policies the RGB, CMYK and Gray are all checked: Preserve Embedded Profiles. Nothing is checked below that in either the Profile Mismatches (ask when opening or ask when pasting), nor in the Missing Profiles – ask when opening.

   On the other side of this dialog box is Conversion Options – Engine is set at Adobe (Ace); Intent – Relative Colorimetric and the three boxes under that are all checked: (Use black point compensation, use dither (8-bit/channel images) Compensate for Scene-referred Profiles)) The box below that is titled Advanced Controls. The first two listed boxes are not checked which are: Desaturate Monitor colors by 20 percent, Blend RGB colors Using Gamma -1.00, but Blend Text Colors using Gamma is checked at 1.45. The radial circle says Synchronized:Your Creative Cloud Applications are synchronized using the same color settings for consistent color management.

Do we have the above settings correct for our project? There's also a LOAD and SAVE boxes over on the right, do we check both of those (eventually?)I will wait for an answer to the above and make modifications if needed, before I go into the settings for InDesign. Then after we get the color settings correct for both applications, then we need help with the Assign Profile and Convert To Profile for both applications. And those have us stumped for sure. But let's not get too far ahead yet. Grateful for assistance!

[maryw58599983]

As added information, right now we have some of the images  - using that top menu bar dropdown -  Image>Mode> CMYK. but some are RGB. This is how we started out several months ago. Someone, several years ago, had told us we should be working in CMYK because that's how it would be printed. I think we're kind of in a mess so really want to understaand better and correct all our settings in both Photoshop and InDesign.

[Gusgsm]

Hi,

I'll try to keep it as simple as possible: To print a colour managed work nowadays you need four things:

1. A profiled monitor.
2. A profiled printer or press.

3. Knowing which CMYK ICC colour profile describes your papel-press-inks combination.
4. Knowing which RGB ICC colour profile describes your pixel-based images.

Once you have (1), you don't have to do much afterwards with the monitor but keeping it as it is (that is: profiled and properly mantained).

As for (2), you don't profile the press. That's something that the printer (human beings, not machines) do. Fortunately, nowadays standardization of presses is very common, so, presses are usually profiled and set to print well known standards, whith colour data and procedures well-stablished.

That leads to (3): The ICC CMYK colour profile of the printer. This is perhaps the most important of the four points. This is something your printing company must tell you, as in "we print offset using ISO Coated v2 CMYK profile, blah blah, blah...".  You've got to set your CMYK according to this CMYK profile.

If you don't have the precise data, you can make an educated guess, setting your CMYK output profile to a reasonable standard common in the area you work. That is what US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 "could be", but that depends on the kind of work you want to print (paper, inks, method of printing, etc.).

Then (4) should describe the RGB colour profile your pixel images have.

Once you've got all this four things, you prepare your work in InDesign. No need to convert the images to CMYK prior to making the PDF.

When you have the work ready, you export to PDF/X-4 with "Convert to destination, (preserve numbers)" and the CMYK colour profile "Destination" set as the colour CYMK profile you selected point (3).

That should give you a press-ready CMYK PDF profile.

Of course, this is a very trimmed version of what you've got to do, but I tried to give you a summary so that you get the idea of what you've got to do.

Hope it helps

[Gusgsm]

"All these images have been edited in Photoshop, using adjustment layers, curves; some images are cut outs of the flowers on transparent backgrounds. We are working in sRGB and inserting them into InDesign at this point, as psd documents."

I think that is a very good approach but I would add that it won't serve much if you don't validate what you see in Photoshop previewing your pixel pictures using "Customize proof condition" with the "device to simulate" set as the same CMYK colour profile you are goint to export the PDF to and print the job (ins your case, we will suppose it's US Web Coated (SWOP) v2).

That is a goood idea to do when evaluating colour in InDesign as well (not the whole time because this previewing is very machine demanding for normal work).