Creating a Monitor Profile

Let's start by making sure Photoshop knows how to display images correctly on your screen. We'll do that by measuring the exact colors of RGB that your monitor uses and also measuring how bright your monitor is. I wouldn't even think about using a canned profile for a monitor unless it's an LCD screen. Unlike standard CRT monitors, LCDs are much more consistent among batches and over time. It would be most ideal to use a hardware measurement device to profile your monitor, but since they cost money and each one comes with different software and most offer few options, I'll just show you how to profile your screen using your eyes and free software that comes with your machine. The method for creating visually measured profiles varies depending on which operating system you use. In Mac OS X, choose System Preferences from the Apple Menu, click the displays icon, then click the Color tab, and finally click the Calibrate button. In Windows, choose Start > Settings > Control Panel and then double-click on the Adobe Gamma icon. No matter which operating system you are using, the setting will be very similar to what you see later. You'll get different choices depending on what type of monitor you have (LCDs have fewer settings). Let's take a look at what you might expect when creating a profile in Mac OS X. Not every option that you see here will be available when you try it—it depends on the type of monitor you own and how much information your monitor can share with the calibration software. Since you'll find similar settings in Adobe Gamma on Windows, this information should apply to everyone, regardless of what type of computer you have.

Using Apple's Calibration Utility

When the calibration utility starts up, you'll be presented with an Introduction screen. Checking the Expert Mode check box requires you to make more adjustments than the standard mode, so I suggest you turn it on because you'll end up with a more accurate profile (Figure 7.18).

The second screen (Figure 7.19) will ask you to adjust the brightness and contrast of your display so that it can use the full range of your monitor's capabilities. There's not much to say here, so let's continue to the next step.

The third screen will ask you to adjust the gamma of your monitor. It's really just trying to figure out what it takes to get all three colors (red, green, and blue) at the same brightness level, which will make it possible to display a true gray when it's requested. The outside of the three squares are created from alternating stripes of solid black and whichever color you are adjusting. The general idea is to squint your eyes so those strips blur into a single tone and then move the slider until the middle portion of the square matches the edges in brightness (Figure 7.20). After you've done that, it will ask you what gamma setting you'd like to use (Figure 7.21). Gamma is a technical term that describes how bright your monitor will be. The standard setting for a Mac is 1.8, so go ahead and choose that (use 2.2 for Windows).

The next screen is the challenging one (Figure 7.22). That's where you're supposed to indicate which shades of red, green, and blue are used by your specific display (known as phosphor colors). For most people, this will be a total guessing game because their specific brand of monitor is not likely to be listed, and even if it is, it will be a generic description of a similar monitor that isn't the same age as theirs. Trinitron displays are rather popular and you can find out if you have one by looking very closely at your screen. See if you can find two very thin dark lines running horizontally across your screen. They will be about ⅓ and ⅔ of the way down your screen. If you can see them, then you have a Trinitron; if you don't, then it's anyone's guess which choice to use (although you might be able to find your phosphor colors listed in the specifications page of your monitor's manual). If your brand of display isn't listed and you don't find those two thin lines on your screen, then you're going to completely end up guessing—that's why I really would prefer to use a different method to create a profile.

After you're done fumbling around trying to find the name of your monitor from that list, you'll be asked to select a white point (Figure 7.23). That will determine what color you get when your screen is displaying the brightest white of which it is capable. I find that most of these settings darken your screen too much, so I'd use the No White Point Correction setting. It's more important that Photoshop knows the setting that you've chosen than to choose the one that makes the white look its best because Photoshop can compensate for whichever setting you decide to use. The last step is to give your newly created profile a name (Figure 7.24). I usually call it something like “Ben's display 10/15/2005” so I can remember how long it's been since I created it.

Once you've saved your profile, the Calibration utility will automatically save it in the proper location so that Photoshop uses the proper information. Your monitor profile doesn't get loaded into Photoshop; instead, your operating system gets the profile so it can use the same profile with all applications that are designed to deal with color management. Then when Photoshop needs to display your image properly, it talks to your computer's operating system to figure out which profile should be used. You can always check which profile is being used and make sure Photoshop is aware of it by checking the RGB Working Space pop-up menu in the Color Settings dialog box (Figure 7.25). (It will be listed as the Monitor RGB setting.) Just be sure not to actually set your RGB Working Space to that setting because it's most ideal to have that setting be independent of your monitor or printer. The color and brightness of your screen changes over time, so you should create a new profile at least every three months.

Now, I don't know about you, but I didn't feel overly confident when I was creating that profile. After all, I had to guess at what colors of RGB my display uses, and it seemed to be overly easy to screw things up (such as choosing an unusual white point setting). Because of that, I don't suggest you rely on a visually measured profile if you do any serious color work in Photoshop. Instead, I'd invest in a color-measurement device that will do all the work for you and will deliver a much more accurate profile.

Creating a Custom Profile

This is where you'll have to start shelling out some bucks if you want accurate color. I think it's well worth the money for anyone who is a true Photoshop professional. After all, you can easily end up paying just as much to fix a mistake that was made because of inaccurate color (such as reprinting a brochure). You'll need to purchase a colorimeter (Figure 7.26), which start at about $100, to get an accurate profile. You can purchase one from computer catalogs or web sites such as www.rodsandcones.com or www.profilecity.com. When you open the box, you'll find three things: the colorimeter, a manual, and a CD. So, plug the thing in (it usually connects via a USB port), pop the CD into your computer, and install the software. Then, when you run the software, it will ask you to put the colorimeter on the middle of your screen. Then it will flash a bunch of colors in front of it, and before you know it, you'll have a custom profile. In general, this hardware/software combo ends up measuring the exact shades of RGB that your specific display uses and it measures how consistent it is across the range from bright to dark.

If you're going to drop the cash needed to purchase a colorimeter, then you might as well profile your display once a week. After all, it takes only a few minutes, and you never know how much your display has changed over time.

Creating a Printer Profile

The next step is to create a printer profile so that we can get the printer to accurately simulate what you see on that newly profiled display of yours. When profiling a printer, you have three choices: a canned profile, a scanner-based profile, and a custom profile. Let's see what's needed to get those set up.

Most desktop color printers come with an ICC profile right on the CD that shipped with the unit. If you don't find it there, try visiting the manufacturer's web site. It will often be part of the driver software you can download. They don't always mention that it contains a profile on the web site, though. That's what happened to me with my old Epson Stylus Photo 2000P inkjet printer. I went to Epson's web site and didn't find any downloadable item that mentioned a profile, but when I downloaded the drivers for my printer, the profiles just happened to be part of the installation. This is what would be considered a canned profile because it was created using someone else's printer (same model though), using their batch of paper and ink. Canned profiles are usually perfectly acceptable for casual Photoshop users. You just have to be aware that they are specific to the ink and paper set used when the profile was made. That means that the profile might produce unsatisfactory results if you use a brand of paper or ink that is different from what the profile was designed for. Once you download that canned profile, you'll need to put it in a special place on your hard drive so that Photoshop knows where to find it. Here's where they belong:

• Windows 2000: WinNT/System/Spool/Drivers/Color

• Windows NT: WinNT/System32/Color

• Windows XP: Windows/System32/Spool/Drivers/Color

• Mac OS X: Users/CurrentUser/Library/ColorSync/Profiles

While you're playing around in that folder, you might as well throw away the profiles that are for devices that you'll never use (but only delete ones that you're absolutely sure you won't need; otherwise, you'll have to reinstall Photoshop to get them back). That way Photoshop's Profile pop-up menu (we'll talk about that in a little bit) won't be so cluttered with choices.

If you really want the most accurate color reproduction from your desktop color printer, you should think about having a custom profile made. Creating a profile isn't very difficult. All you do is purchase a color-measurement device that's know as a spectrophotometer and install the software. Then you get the reference image that comes with the software and measure the result using the measurement device (Figure 7.27). The only problem is that the measurement device can easily set you back $1,000 or more! That's fine if you work for a large company that has dozens of printers or if you are a commercial printing company, but it's out of reach for most other users. But that's OK, because there is a way to get the benefit of a custom profile without parting with the money for that spiffy measurement device. You can visit a web site such as www.profilecity.com, where they will create one for you. Here's how it works: You pay them just under $100 (don't quote me on that now) and they email you a reference image. Then, you print that image and snail mail it back to them. They use one of those expensive measurement devices to create a profile and then they email it to you. The only problem is that you really should have a profile for each ink and paper combination that you'll end up sending through your printer. That means one for the extra-glossy stuff that almost feels like plastic and works great for photos and another for the slightly shiny version you use for brochures and maybe a third for that dull cheap paper that you have loaded most of the time. As you can guess, the money can add up quite quickly. But that kind of money is pocket change if you work for a commercial printing company and you want to make sure that you can supply your customers with an accurate profile of a particular ink/paper/press combination.

There are two more alternatives, and they will cost about as much as two or three of those custom profiles. You can buy a special scanner designed specifically for creating printer profiles (but not as accurate as the device I mentioned previously), or for a little less money, you can use your own scanner and a piece of software called Monaco EZ Color. Let's take a quick look at how each of those choices work.

Your first choice is Color Vision's PrintFIX. It's a small desktop scanner (Figure 7.28) that can be used to create printer profiles. It's pretty simple to use. After installing the hardware and software, you choose File > Automate > PrintFIX (Figure 7.29), and simply choose the model of printer you'd like to profile and click the OK button. That will open a special image (Figure 7.30) that you should print on the printer you'd like to profile.

The next step is to scan that printed image back into Photoshop. To access the scanner from Photoshop, choose File > Import > PrintFIX (Figure 7.31). That's where you specify the resolution of your printer and which type of image you're scanning (grayscale or color). But before you scan your printed image, you'll want to calibrate the scanner to ensure that you get an accurate scan. The PrintFIX scanner comes with a small sheet of paper that contains some black strips. All you have to do is insert that image into the slot on the PrintFIX scanner and then click the Calibrate button in the PrintFIX software. Then to actually scan your printed image, slip it into the little plastic sleeve that came with the printer, insert it into the slot on the scanner, and then click the Read button to start the scan. Once the scan is complete, you'll have the resulting image open in Photoshop.

To turn that scanned image into a profile for your printer, choose File > Automate > PrintFIX and choose Build Profile from the pop-up menu (Figure 7.32) and then click OK. The PrintFIX software will prompt you for a name for your profile (Figure 7.33) and will save it in the proper location so that Photoshop will be able to see it.

Once you have a profile made, you should print a few images to see just how accurately it reproduces your images. If you find that it's not 100% accurate, then choose File > Automate > PrintFIX once again and tweak the settings that appear at the bottom of the dialog box (Brightness, Contrast, and so on) and do another test print to see if you've improved your profile.

If you don't want to spend the money on the PrintFix solution, then you might want to consider purchasing a special piece of software (such as Monaco EZcolor) that will allow you to use your flatbed scanner as a measurement device to create a printer profile. Let's see how it works: You start by choosing what type of profile you'd like to create (Figure 7.34). The software is capable of creating display, printer, and scanner profiles and can use a colorimeter for the display portion if you own one.

When you indicate that you'd like to create a printer profile, it will walk you through a series of steps that include printing a reference image (Figure 7.35). Then, once that print has dried, you grab a special image that was supplied in the box for the product and put both the special image and the image you just printed onto your scanner and scan them. Then you indicate where the edges of the images are (Figure 7.36) and the software measures all the colors based on what your scanner captured. The end result is a set of profiles—one for your scanner and one for your printer. That way, you can create as many profiles as you'd like and you don't have to pay $100 a pop for each one. I've found that these profiles are good enough for most Photoshop users, although it can be hit or miss depending on how good of a scanner you use.

Profiling a Printing Press

If you ever plan to reproduce your images on a commercial printing press, you'll have to convert your images to CMYK mode before you send them off. For Photoshop to correctly convert your image to CMYK mode, it will need a bunch of information about how the image will be reproduced (supplied by an ICC profile). When I'm creating an image that will be printed at a commercial printer, the first thing I do is call my sales rep and ask if he has an ICC profile for the press/paper combination that I'll be using. Most of the time he tells me that he doesn't. I don't blame him because commercial printers deal with hundreds of ink and paper combinations, so it would be very time consuming and expensive to profile each one. But sometimes I get lucky, and if so, I simply plop the profile in the proper folder, choose Edit > Color Settings (Photoshop > Color Settings on Mac in CS), and set the CMYK Working Space pop-up menu to that choice. Most of the time, though, I have to take a different approach.

Adobe was nice enough to include a bunch of profiles that can be used for different printing conditions. They show up in the CMYK Working Space pop-up menu that I mentioned previously. You just have to make sure you have a profile selected that accurately reflects the printing conditions that will be used to reproduce your image before you convert to CMYK mode. I'll attempt to translate their names and then show you how to get better results.

Here's the rundown on choosing a profile for many standard publication types:

• Use U.S. Sheetfed Coated for glossy brochures.

• Use U.S. Sheetfed Uncoated for dull-finish brochures.

• Use U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) for magazines.

• Use U.S. Web Uncoated for dull-finish publications.

The profiles that come with Photoshop are making huge assumptions about the paper and inks that you are using.

That means it's possible to get a much better result if you happen to have a custom profile created specifically for the paper and press on which you'll be printing. If you find that your printing company doesn't have a custom profile available and you aren't getting acceptable results from the profiles I mentioned previously, then you might want to bypass profiles altogether and set up the CMYK conversion the traditional way. You'll find information about that on my web site: www.digitalmastery.com/book.

Profiling Your Scanner

You don't have too many options when it comes to scanners. There aren't too many manufacturers that provide canned profiles (some high-end ones do), and you can't visually create a profile. But the good news is that you don't have to buy any expensive hardware to get the job done. All you need is a piece of software (such as Monaco EZcolor). The software will come with a reference image that's known as an IT8 target (Figure 7.37). All you have to do is scan the image and then feed it to the software and out pops an ICC profile for your scanner. You'll want to place it in the same location I mentioned when I was talking about printer profiles.