What's the use of output profile?

Hi Eugenio

Yes

It's true that a wide gamut monitor display can better enable accurate softproofing in Adobe app's, because it can better encompass the gamut (colour and tonal range) of a decent printing press (as defined buy it's ICC profile, if accurate) than a typical "sRGB"display can. 

I hope this helps

neil barstow, colourmanagement.net :: adobe forum volunteer

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In addition to all this nice material, if you have a monitor close to 100% Adobe RGB, you can soft proof more accurately in many cases.

Take care

Hi, Color Management can be uneccisarily confusing. I understand that PDF printing is the way of the future and is available now. however I am oldschool and I prefer to use Xrite's Color Munki Photo 2. It firt starts with your 1st shot of the shoot, you have a subject or place the "X-rite Passport Color Checker next to thearea you are focused upon and take a shot. you must preinstall the software that coes ith the Passport checker in order for it to write a calibration file for your specific camera. This software sees the color cheker and provides that it attaches a profile correction for your camera when you import the files into lightroom. 

You then calibrate your color system using the physical unit: The color Munki Photo 2 which isabout as big as a large tape measure. It comes with software which gudies you through the process. The first step is to set the correct luminance you wil be viewing your shots to color correct them . this is a process which the software guides you through. You want to always process your shots under the same lighting conditions, usualy at a low level of light. Color Munki will tell you when your contrast and brightness on your monitor are set for the measured Lumanence of your area you work on your photos. When set, correctly, you are prompted to place the cpolor Monkey into the case with a sand filled strap which holds the device in the correct possition to scan the test black and white and colors that the software uses to calibrate your monitor. Make sure that the device is possitioned as described and flat against the monitor , over the yellow target area on your monitor. it takes about 5-10 minuets for the software to flash all of the different colors and greys into the lens on the botto of the device. Once it is through it will ask you to name the Monitor ICC and date it. the next step is to manageyour printer. as well as the type and specs of the paper you are using. If I am Using roll paper I use my mat cutter to cut 8.5"x11" sheets that are perfectly square,(in terms of no skew), hence the mat cutter. be esspecally careful not to dirty the roll. If you can afford it, buy a letter sized box of the exact same paper if available. As I shoot Art Reproduction and Ltd Ed. Prints for other professional artists, this is key. Load the paper and print the swatches of colors that the software has compiled from he colors it scanned into the device. You then print the 1st page of swatches, then you must allow the resulting page of swatches to dry for at least 10 minuets. (VERY IMPORTANT). After allowing thepage of swatches to dry, place them in a protecive sheet and entitle it the date, the paper you used and any infor that can help you to recal all information. Place that 1st page in a notebook as you may use only the 1st page over when updating your calibration, which can be done every two weeks for each update which is exactly the same paper and setting you have documented in the title. Then the software will ask you (Prior to placing the sheet into a proctive sleeve) scan the colors which are lined up in five columns of eight or so per column. This is done with a lens in the devise, it takes a steady hand and practice to smoothly glide the device over the color columns. if you do it correctly, the next coloumn will higlight, if not it will ask you to rescan the column until it gets a good reading. When finished scanning all the five columns you then will see a second set of adjusted colors in the very same manner. This is the corrections that the Color Munki has dertermined that needs to be addressed in the calibration so that it is precise. Basically it is a repeat of steps which the swatches are corrected by the software and a pattern of swatches is produced to be printed and scaned after the 10 minuets of drying time. Once you are finished rescnning the second page of swatches, you are asked to title and date the ICC profile that is generated and stored into the file in your Library "Color Sync". Some folks throw the second sheet away, not me, LMTd ED Prints areusually very thich 100% cottom mattepaper that is extreamly expensive. Being Scottsish, I use a portion of the sheet as Provenence. the Substright the print is Printed on When it was created, by whom and what medium the work is done in, along with my signature as the photographer and printer, and most importantly the Artist's signature. If this is a part of a small run of LTD Ed. Prints the artist also number 1/50 & so on. If not a Blu Ray is burned of the print in Tiff format and that package is with the work for its commercial lifetime, who bought it who they sold it to, the awards itmight have garnered and so forth. they are demanding shots that must be gotten perfectly "IN THE CAMERA" no fudging. the most demanding of htis type of photography is that the plane of the lens and the Plane of the Peice must be perfectly parellel. also the middle of the lns and the exact middle of the peice must be in line exacly. All must be gotten IN THE CAMERA. I learned from doing my own art, and by happen-stance Ted Degrazia was a friend of mine, and  he gave me invaluable insights. we drank many Cassadores, before he died of Pancreatic Cancer. my main hurtle to get results as good as professional shops that provide this service is: They work vertically with a 8X10" on the ceiling, and a computerized easel which the peice lays upon and as they brin down the camera it is geared to keep the centers of the lens, and the center of the peice exactly in line. 

More to the point, x-rite is the best company in color management and the color munki I thought was their best device in terme of value. most of X-Rites devices, are 5x more expensive then the utilitarian color Munki, which the no longer manufature with the same capabilities.There is a book titled "Color" written by Betty Edwards which also wrote "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" she has the ability to cinvey knowlege in a manner that I can under stand, through assignments. although more for Artists I guarrentee that if you go through her "Colors" afer 6 Color wheels she has you make, and about 30 swatchs of different colors surrounded by other colors, you will have a basic idea of what "Color Harmony is.Color theroy is a more indepth critter. IN summary this device as well as the Passport color checker and it's software will clibrate color from the moment you take the shot, (the Camera Profile), to your Monitor, to your printer, and all the different papers you will use to print, and there are a lot of good papers out there, basically it allows you to obtain a print, that flawlessly is identical to what comes out of your printer. I have always favored Lightrooms color engine over any other. tha is only my opinion.Hope that it is not such a daughnting subject, get in touch with X-rite, or get a printr with a spectomitor and rip attached. Good luck to you in your endevors

Brett Turner

Hi

Yes you're right about the output profile, it characterises the output device. A good output profile will accurately characterise the printer well, its not the "nearest bet" you mentioned, if it's accurate - the ICC profile defines the exact printer / ink / media character, so good for soft-proofing (on a properly calibrated and profiled screen) and for printing, of course. 

More from me about ICC profiles here: https://www.colourmanagement.net/advice/about-icc-colour-profiles/

'Acrobat manages color' is generally going to be the better choice.

You can't even select the printer ICC (output) profile in the printer driver- its automatically selected when you use "printer manages color" select a 'media type'.

Select the correct ICC output profile there in Acrobat manages colour and be sure to switch off colour management in the printer driver interface, do select the right media choice there too of course.

Not sure why you'd output Photoshop as PDF and print through Acrobat but that's another subject

I hope this helps

if so, please "like" my reply and if you're OK now, please mark it as "correct", so that others who have similar issues can see the solution

thanks

neil barstow, colourmanagement.net

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