How to set a color profile in Photoshop. How to set the desired color profile
According to my observations, even experienced photographers often have difficulty setting up their workspace Adobe Photoshop. This happens primarily from a misunderstanding of the tasks and processes of color management. In this case, I recommend starting with mastering the basic article by Andrey Frenkel and Alexey Shadrin Color Management System (CMS) in the logic of color coordinate systems. The second reason is a misunderstanding of the processes that occur with certain Photoshop settings. We will assume that, to a first approximation, we have already figured out color spaces and profiles. Now let's look at the workspace settings.
We, as photographers, are primarily interested in RGB spaces, and we will talk about them. In a group of bookmarks Working Spaces in field RGB, in fact, the basic working space in your Photoshop. Why basic? Because no matter what workspace is given, in certain situations work can be carried out as in given space, and in other spaces. The group of parameters is responsible for this Color Management Polices, which determines what will happen if the workspace and color profile of the file being edited do not match, and also to what extent you want to talk to Photoshop about this.
Preserve Embedded Profiles(Save attached profile)
In this case, for this specific file the workspace will be set according to the profile attached to the file. That is, it will be different from a given workspace in Photoshop if these spaces are different.
Example. The workspace in Photoshop is set to sRGB. Open the file with the attached Adobe RGB profile. Workspace for this file Adobe RGB will be specified, in which all further work will be carried out.
Attention, potential problem! If you try to copy the image or part of it (copy-paste) into another open document created in the base workspace, you will encounter a color change in the pasted file. This can be avoided (more on that below).
Convert to Working RGB(Convert to workspace)
In this case, the image will be converted to the workspace with the settings specified in the advanced More Options.
will be converted
Off(Color management disabled)
In this case, the picture will be assigned new profile, without conversion. In essence, the operation is completely similar to Assign Profile.
Example. The workspace in Photoshop is set to sRGB. Open the file with the attached Adobe RGB profile. The working space for this file will be set to sRGB, the file itself will not be converted from Adobe RGB to sRGB, the file is assigned a new sRGB profile.
The following group of checkboxes determines whether the selected action will be performed automatically by default, or whether Photoshop will ask for confirmation with the option to select another action.
Profile Mismatches- in case of a mismatch between the profile of the file being opened and the workspace. Ask When Opening - ask when we open the image. Ask When Pasting - ask when pasting using paste. In this case, when the file is opened, the following dialog box will appear.
Missing Profiles- if the file being opened does not have a profile. In this case, at the moment of opening the file, the following dialog box will appear (the selection options repeat the points described above).
Leave As Is (don't color manage) - leave “as is” (do not manage color)
Assign Working RGB - assign a working space profile
Assign Profile - assign the profile selected in the list
In the first option, Leave As Is (don't color manage), the image remains without a profile, but Photoshop treats it as if it were given a workspace profile.
Which workspace and Color Settings should I set?
If you are asking this question, in the Edit - Color Settings menu I recommend setting the following settings.
And when further work with Photoshop, carefully read the dialog boxes that pop up if necessary and select the required action (described above). In particular, for the problem described above of inserting a picture with a profile different from the working space with these settings, a warning will appear where, in order to avoid color distortions, you will need to select Convert document's colors to the working space.
One of the most common and gross mistakes is to set the monitor profile as the workspace. To avoid further color management problems and various surprises when displaying the image on other monitors or printing, it is strictly not recommended to do this. One of the following should be used as a workspace. abstract profiles(profile of some abstract, idealized device), but in no case not the profile of a specific device, because it is not ideal. This is how the color management system and conversion algorithms work.
sRGB. If your main task is preparing photographs for publication on the Internet, sometimes for photo printing. And also if you are not very well versed in color management. With this workspace you will experience minimal difficulties in your work. Although you will not be working with the widest color gamut, it nevertheless conveys most of the colors found in nature and everyday life.
Adobe RGB. If your monitor displays Adobe RGB (such as the Nec 2690WUxi), then you have a fairly good understanding of color management. Those. is able to configure the management of advanced (relative to sRGB) color rendering capabilities and solve emerging difficulties. And also, if you plan to print pictures on devices whose gamut is mainly not within sRGB (printing, inkjet printers).
Pro Photo RGB (or other ultra-wide spaces). For those who print photos on devices with a wide color gamut (such as inkjet Epson printer Stylus Pro 11880), while being a specialist high level in matters of color management (in particular, he is able to navigate colors by numbers, seeing real picture only after printing).
Why is this so important for a photographer?
First of all, in order not to encounter similar (quite common) problems.
(screenshot of one of the presentation frames for my seminar
The final part of the series on image color profiles includes practical aspects of this topic. Readers will learn where and how to select and adjust a color profile, as well as how to convert an image from one color space to another.
So, let's move on to practice. Let's look at algorithms for choosing color space for a camera and various graphic editors.
In the camera settings JPEG color space selection (also affects the built-in RAW preview) is done in the menu:
IN Adobe Lightroom The choice of color space occurs in:
IN Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) The choice of color space occurs in the menu that opens by clicking on the “link” under the main image preview:
In Capture One The color space of the exported file is selected in the Process Recipe settings:
In Nikon Capture NX-D Color space settings are located in the Tool → Preferences menu:
At Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) The choice of working color space is in the settings menu:
And also in the Tool Palette:
It is worth noting that DPP does not have the ability to work in ProPhoto RGB, however, instead it is possible to choose also very large space Wide Gamut RGB.
To Adobe Photoshop processed images in the color space in which they arrive to it without forced conversion to the working color space, you must select Preserve Embedded Profiles in the color management policy settings (Edit → Color Setting → Color Management Policies):
If an image is processed in a color space different from the one in which it will be used in the future, it must be translated (converted) into the final color space.
If the image is used on the Internet or if it is not known how it will be used in the future, it must be converted to sRGB space.
. However, when working in 16-bit mode, it is recommended to first carry out the conversion procedure, and only then convert the image to 8-bit mode.
To convert an image from one color space to another in Adobe Photoshop, use Edit command→ Convert to Profile (Editing → Convert to profile).
As a color conversion algorithm (Intent), it is necessary (except in very specific cases) to select Perceptual (for maximum possible preservation visual relationship between the most and the least rich colors) or Relative Colorimetric (in order to preserve colors that fit into a finite color space, without any visual change and discard colors that are not included in the final color space).
The Perceptual mode compresses colors in order to avoid posterization of “out-of-spectrum” colors and, if possible, maintain the visual relationship between highly saturated and low-saturated colors.
Relative Colorimetric mode converts an image to another color space without visually changing the colors included in the final color space and “cuts off” “out-of-spectrum” colors.
The choice between the Perceptual and Relative Colorimetric options is usually made by the user visually, based on the preview. It should be noted that if the difference between the results is very visible, it means that in some part of the image the colors go beyond the final color space. In this case, if you select the Relative Colorimetric option, posterization of the image will occur in this area).
If the area of the image with “out-of-coverage” colors is small, you can 1) correct it locally (reduce the saturation in this place), or agree to posterize the image in this area and select Relative Colorimetric to obtain the most visually pleasing image overall, 2) select Perceptual, to avoid posterization as much as possible (however, the overall saturation of the image will decrease).
Often, when printing on a printer, problems arise due to incorrect color reproduction relative to the monitor. To eliminate such “inconsistency”, you should perform profiling of the printer.
In general, color profiles are files that contain descriptions of the characteristics of a particular equipment, as well as settings for working with colors. Similar data in a certain way reflected during playback finished image on paper.
All color profile files have the following extensions: .icm and .icc. The abbreviation icc profile stands for “International Color Consortium”. This name was obtained thanks to the color consortium formed in 1993. Several took part in it famous companies, namely: Kodak, Adobe, Apple, Agfa and some others. It was thanks to the cooperation and fruitful work of these companies that icc profiles, making it much easier to print high-quality and well-processed images.
Factory settings
To begin with, it should be said that you can use the printer's factory color profile. Usually it is recorded on a CD along with the software and comes bundled with the device. If it is not on the disk, then open the manufacturer’s official website and download the already configured color profile from there. But there is no complete confidence that this color profile will provide optimal color reproduction when printing images, even if you use only original Consumables which are recommended by the manufacturer. Key reason The fact that using the printer's factory profile may result in incorrect color rendering is that in this case there is no consideration of the individual characteristics of the device. But in general, if you do not plan to print any high-quality photographs, where it is very important that all tones match those displayed on the monitor, then the factory settings should suit you.
Creating a color profile: methods
If you want to create or set individual settings so that color calibration is completely satisfactory for you, then take this task seriously and responsibly. To ensure that the calibration really goes the way you want it, and the print color ultimately satisfies you, download the Color DarkRoom plugin, designed for Adobe Photoshop software. This method of making a change in printer profiling is for the user to achieve desired result You need to print out the test scale one by one and change the location of the channels and RGB curves at your discretion.
So, to configure the printer color profile in this way, launch Photoshop software and open the so-called. a color map with which you plan to edit your color profile. To do this, select “File” => “Open” => “…..\Color DarkRoom\Color_Card”. But it is worth noting that this plugin only works with files with the extension * icm. Therefore, change the *icc extension to this one in advance. Next, complete the following steps to calibrate:
- Go through the “Start” menu “Devices and Printers” to find out in the device properties which profile it uses in this moment. In the device properties, open color management and click on the button of the same name. Find your device and remember the name of the color profile, which will be displayed below. In the folder "System32\spool\drivers\color" find this profile, copy it and rename it - this will create the basis for a new color profile.
- Print a color map so you know which colors you need to calibrate. In the settings, be sure to indicate “color is controlled by the printer”, because Printing will be done using the printer's color filter.
- Go into Photoshop software with the above plugin and the gray card open. Open "Filter" and go there from "AMS" to "Color DarkRoom". Through the window that opens, add your profile that you created earlier.
- Now you can start performing a task such as profile calibration. To do this, find the “Graph” button in the “Print Colors” menu and click on it. Next, your profile will open in front of you, presented in the form of a graph consisting of red, green and blue curves.
- Configure your profile settings as you wish. It is very important that both at the beginning and at the end of this schedule, all the color lines converged into one point. Save the calibrated profile.
- To solve a problem like “how to set a color profile,” open the properties of the printing device, click on “Color Management” and the button of the same name. Next, in the profile selection item, click on “add”. Then select the desired profile from the list that opens and click “OK”. Select it and set it to "default".
Another way to solve the problem of how to configure optimal parameters Printer color transfer involves using a scanner. The essence of this method is that first you need to print a test target, i.e. profile card, and then scan it without pre-color processing. The file obtained after this procedure must be loaded into Adobe Photoshop, or more precisely, in the Pantone Colorvision Profilerplus plugin. This plugin will generate a new color profile in semi-automatic mode. The difference in source file and colors of the profile card reference image.
But this method solving the problem “how to change the color of a printer’s transmission” has a drawback, which is the possible deviation of the scanner’s color transmission. You can bring the results closer to the most suitable ones using the plugin used in the first method of printer profiling.
Briefly about how to profile a monitor
In addition to calibrating the printer's color output, it is very important to solve the problem of how to calibrate the monitor. Without an established monitor-printer connection, achieving optimal results will be very difficult or even impossible. To perform this task, you can use the factory settings by installing the software of your monitor.
If such a profile does not suit you, then for manual creation new option, you need to use a calibrator (colorimeter). This procedure consists of external lighting measurement and installation initial settings using display controls, namely: brightness, contrast and color temperature. Then you need to compare the colors that are actually reproduced on the screen with the reference values. Finally, you need to generate a custom profile for your monitor, taking into account the ambient lighting. Thus, adjusting the display's color rendering to specific conditions is not so easy.
For most color management workflows, we recommend using Adobe-tested color presets. You should only change specific settings if you understand color management and are confident in the changes you are making.
- To save your color settings as a style, click the Save button in the Color Settings dialog box. To have the application display the preset name in the Set Colors dialog box, save the file in the default folder. If the file is saved in another location, you will have to download it to select a setting.
- To load a color preset that is not saved in the default location, click the Load button in the Color Setup dialog box, select the file you want, and click Open.
Note.
IN Acrobat application there is no provision for saving custom sets color settings. To apply in Acrobat application custom set color settings, you need to create a file in InDesign, Illustrator, or Photoshop, and then save it in the default Settings folder. It will then be available under the Color Management category in the Preferences dialog box. In addition, you can add files with sets of settings to the Settings folder manually.
About working color spaces
working environment is an intermediate color space with which Adobe applications colors are defined and edited. Each color model has its own profile working environment. You can select a workspace profile in the Color Settings dialog box.
The workspace profile serves as the source profile for documents created that use the corresponding color model. For example, if the current workspace profile for the RGB model defines the Adobe RGB (1998) color space, then in each document being created This model will use colors within the gamut of Adobe RGB (1998). In addition, the working environment determines the color rendering in unmarked documents.
When you open a document with an embedded color profile that doesn't match the work environment profile, the application determines how the color data is handled using a color management strategy. In most cases, the default strategy is to keep the built-in profile.
Work Environment Settings
To view workspace options in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, choose Adjust Colors from the Edit menu. In Acrobat, select the Color Management category in the Preferences dialog box.
RGB: Defines the application's RGB color space. Generally, it is better to use Adobe RGB or sRGB space rather than choosing a profile for specific device(for example, a monitor). sRGB is recommended when preparing images for publishing on the Internet because it defines the color space of the standard monitor used to view images on the Internet. Additionally, the sRGB color space can be used when working with images captured using digital cameras consumer grade, since most of these cameras use the sRGB color space by default.
Adobe RGB color space is recommended for use when prepress documents, because the Adobe RGB color gamut includes some printable colors (particularly cyan and blue) that lie outside the sRGB space. Additionally, the Adobe RGB color space is well suited for images taken with professional digital cameras, since most of these cameras use the Adobe RGB color space by default.
CMYK: Specifies the application's CMYK color space. All CMYK working environments are device-dependent, that is, based on the actual combination of ink and paper. CMYK environments supplied by Adobe are based on standard letterpress printing conditions.
Grayscale (Photoshop)/Grayscale (Acrobat): Defines the grayscale color space of the application.
Spot color(Photoshop): Determines the dot gain used when rendering spot channels or duplexes.
Note.
In Acrobat, you can view and print using the embedded output method's color space rather than the document's color space. additional information For output methods, see help system Acrobat.
Adobe apps come with standard set Workspace profiles tested and recommended by Adobe for most color management processes. By default, only these profiles are available in the workspace menu. To display additional color profiles installed on your computer, choose More Options (Illustrator and InDesign) or More Options (Photoshop). For a color profile to appear in the workspace menu, it must be two-way, meaning it must contain instructions for converting to and from color spaces.
Note.
Photoshop allows you to create user profiles working environments However, Adobe recommends using standard profile. For more information, see the Photoshop Support knowledge base at http://www.adobe.com/support/products/photoshop.html.
About missing and mismatched color profiles
The color management process for a new document is usually straightforward: unless otherwise specified, the document uses the workspace profile associated with the color mode to create and edit colors.
However, some existing documents may use a different profile than the one specified, and others may have no color management at all. In workflows that involve color management, the following exceptions may occur:
- Open a raw document or import color data from it (for example, when copying and pasting or dragging an object). This situation often occurs when you open a document that was created in an application that does not support color management, or in an application where color management is disabled.
- Open a document that has a profile different from the current work environment, or import color data from such a document. This may happen when you open a document created with different color management settings or a scanned document that is assigned a scanner profile.
In both cases, the application determines how color data is processed using a color management strategy.
If the profile is missing or does not match the workspace, the application may display a warning depending on the settings you make in the Color Settings dialog box. By default, warnings about missing or mismatched profiles are disabled, but can be enabled for customized color management in your documents. Warnings vary across apps, but in general your options are as follows.
- (Recommended) Leave the document or imported color data unchanged. For example, you can use the embedded profile (if there is one), leave the document without a color profile (if there is no profile), or store the numeric color values in the inserted chroma data.
- Adjust the document or imported color data For example, if you open a document without a color profile, you can assign it the profile of the current working environment or some other profile. When you open a document with a color profile that is different from your work environment, you can remove the profile or convert the colors to the current work environment. When you import color data to preserve color rendering, you can convert the colors to your current work environment.
Color Management Strategy Options
The color management strategy determines how an application handles color data when you open a document or import an image. You can choose different strategies for RGB images and CMYK, and specify when warnings should appear. To display color management strategy options, choose Edit > Color Adjustments.
RGB/CMYK/Grayscale(The Grayscale option is only available in Photoshop.) This option determines the strategy used when rendering colors for the current work environment (when opening files or importing images into the current document). Select one of the following options:
Leave built-in profiles: Always preserves the embedded color profiles of the documents you open. This option is recommended in most cases because it provides consistency in color management. The exception is if you want to preserve CMYK numeric values, in which case you should select the Preserve values (Ignore associated profiles) option.
Convert to Workspace: When selected, when opening files and importing images, the color is converted to the profile of the current work environment. Select this option if you want all colors to belong to the same profile (the profile of the current work environment).
Keep values (Ignore associated profiles): This option is available in InDesign and Illustrator for CMYK. This way, color numerics are not converted when you open files and import images, but you still have the ability to manipulate color for accurate color reproduction in Adobe applications. Select this option if you want to use stable CMYK rendering technology. In InDesign, you can change this strategy to individual objects using the Adjust Image Colors option in the Object menu.
Off: When you select this option, when you open files and import images, their embedded color profiles are ignored and the workspace profile is not assigned to new documents. This option should be used to remove all color metadata provided by the original document creator.
Profile mismatch: Displays a message when you open a document with a profile different from the current work environment. The user is given the opportunity to change the default behavior of the strategy. Select this option for customization color management in documents.
Profile mismatch: Displays a message if color profiles do not match when importing colors into a document by pasting or dragging. The default behavior of the strategy can be changed. Select this option if you want to set custom color management options for the colors you import.
Lack of profiles - Ask when opening: Displays a message when you open a document without any annotations. The user is given the opportunity to change the default behavior of the strategy. Select this option to customize color management in your documents.
Color Conversion Options
Color conversion options let you set how your application converts numerical values colors from one color space to another. It is recommended to change these settings only if you are well versed in color management and are confident that changes are necessary. To view color conversion options, select Adjust Colors from the Edit menu, then select Additional mode" (Illustrator and InDesign) or "More Options" (Photoshop). In Acrobat, select the Color Management category in the Preferences dialog box.
Module: Specifies the color management module (CMM) used to map the gamut of one color space to the gamut of another. For most users, the default Adobe algorithm (ACE) will satisfy all conversion requirements.
Method (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign): Defines the rendering method used to convert one color space to another. The differences between rendering methods only become noticeable when the document is printed or its colors are converted to a different working environment.
Black point compensation: Black point compression provides shadow detail in an image by simulating full dynamic range output devices. Select this option if you plan to use black point compensation when printing (which is recommended in most cases).
Use dither: Controls color dithering when converting between image spaces with a pixel depth of 8 bits/channel. When you select the Use Dither option Photoshop application mixes colors in the target color space, simulating the missing color that was in the source space. While dither can reduce the effect of squares and stripes, it can also increase file size when compressing images for publication on the web.
Scene Profile Compensation (Photoshop): Compares video contrast when converted from scene to output device profiles. This setting reflects the default color management in After Effects.
More options in Photoshop
To display Extra options color management in Photoshop, select Adjust Colors from the Edit menu and then select Advanced Options.
Reduce monitor color saturation by: This setting determines whether to reduce color saturation by a specified amount when displaying images on the monitor screen. Selecting this option allows you to reproduce the full range of color spaces with wider color gamuts than the monitor. However, in this case, the image on the monitor screen will not correspond to the one that should be obtained in the color space of the output device. If this option is not selected, then different colors in the image may merge into one.
Overlay RGB colors with gamma: This option determines how RGB colors are applied when creating fused data (for example, when overlaying or coloring layers in normal mode). If this option is selected, then RGB colors are superimposed within the color space in accordance with the specified gamut. A gamma of 1.00 is considered "colorimetrically accurate" and minimizes artifacts around the edges of the image. If this option is not selected, RGB colors are overlaid directly within the document's color space.
Note.
When the RGB Color Overlay with Gamma option is selected, documents with layers will look different in other applications than they do in Photoshop.
If you do not change the default settings, Photoshop will export files so that the colors will change when viewed in the browser. This occurs because the default workspace in Photoshop is set to the Adobe RGB profile. While this profile is ideal for photos that are intended to be printed, using it for web design may result in incorrect display design. For this reason, you need to change your workspace when working on web projects. There are two main opinions about which workspace is best to use for web projects. Some argue that the workspace should match the designer's monitor profile, while others suggest using sRGB. With both methods you can actually achieve the same thing good results, but in different ways.
The advantage of using a monitor profile as a workspace is simplicity. There is no need for any conversions or adjustments. However, when exporting images, the "Convert to sRGB" option must be turned off in the "Save for Web and Devices" dialog box. Otherwise, when saving, a color change will occur. This method is extremely simple and works well if the designer is working on the project alone. However, in essence, in this case you are tying the display of the document to the profile of your monitor. If you open the PSD file on another computer, the color values may remain unchanged, but they will look different than they do on your monitor.
To maintain a high degree of color consistency both after export and during editing, I recommend using sRGB for all workspaces. The sRGB profile creates a baseline that ensures accurate color reproduction on all computers. However, when you set your workspace to sRGB, the document display will not match what the browser will ultimately show (unless you embed an ICC profile in the image file and the browser can interpret it correctly). This can be easily corrected by working with Proof Color. On the menu View → Proof Setup change the setting to "Monitor RGB". Then check that the option is installed View → Proof Colors. You should see changes in open document. The image should match the view displayed by the browser. It may be difficult to enable the option all the time Proof Colors, but you should make it a habit.
Using the sRGB workspace - The best decision to ensure that the edited image matches the exported copy in Photoshop. So be sure that you have enabled the option Proof Colors and configured the monitor profile. When you save an image using the "Save for Web and Devices" method, it does not matter whether the "Convert to sRGB" option is turned on, but it is important that the "Embed Color Profile" option is turned off. To change the workspace, open the Color Settings dialog box ( Edit → Color Settings). You can change the RGB workspace to sRGB IEC61966-2.1. You can also see a number of other settings in this dialog box.
