A calibrated monitor, but now what?

[dhoggan]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me in understanding the correct way to use a calibrated monitor or more correctly, how to use Lightroom with a calibrated monitor. I've read many posts across several forums and I am thinking that my problem is bourne of a fundamental misunderstanding of the whole colour calibration process.

I'm using a Dell 24'7WFP monitor as the display on a Windows OS with Adobe Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS2 (although I'm ignoring Photoshop for the moment). I primarily edit for the web, although I do have a Canon iP9''' printer that I am hoping to use.

In an effort to ensure what I see is what others are most likely to see, I have recently purchased a Huey Pro and downloaded the latest software off their web site. Using the software seemed pretty straightforward (although there in no contrast setting on the Dell monitor) and I have created a custom profile with a white point of 65''K and gamma of 2.2. I've checked and it appears that this is the default profile as seen under Control Panel > Display > Advanced > Colour Management. Certainly, when I toggle the profile ON/OFF in the Huey sotware, there is a big difference. I have also used the F/8 trick on my camera to ensure that the display is around the 12'mcd mark.

At this point, I *think* I have done everything more-or-less correctly...

The confusion starts when I actually try and use this. As I understand the process when I import a RAW shot from my camera, Lightroom sees the in-camera AdobeRGB as irrelevant and dumps the RAW shot into its internal ProPhoto RGB space.

My first question is: At this point, the image I see on the screen in front of me is, in essence, these ProPhoto values that have been converted by the custom monitor profile such that a given value for red in the internal ProPhoto space is accurately represented on screen. Is this correct?

Now as I make the usual changes to the image such as white spot, exposure, curves and the like. I'm pretty sure that I am making changes directly to the values held in the internall ProPhoto space. I say this as I am assuming that Lightroom has no knowledge of the customer display profile in use as it's set at the OS level.

The biggest confusion I have is when I come to export the image. At this point I have an image sitting in Lightroom's internal colour space, that I can either save as either a JPG for uploading to the web or print directly from Lightroom. When I go to the export screen, it asks
for the colour space to use. It is here I get totally confused! What should this be? If I use sRGB, will this not completely change the colours when displayed on another monitor as it is ignoring my custom monitor profile? Should I specify the custom monitor profile as the colour
space?

Sorry to ask what must seem like a really simple question, but I'm really tearing my hair out on this! I feel like I'm so close to actually understanding it, but juts need a little shoving in the right direction

Thanks and regards,

Dave

 

[Bosse]

Sorry - long post again. I will try to get better in writing short posts.

I have created a custom profile with a white point of 65''K and gamma of 2.2... the display is around the 12'mcd mark.
At this point, I *think* I have done everything more-or-less correctly...

Those numbers are OK.

The confusion starts when I actually try and use this. As I understand the process when I import a RAW shot from my camera, Lightroom sees the in-camera AdobeRGB as irrelevant and dumps the RAW shot into its internal ProPhoto RGB space.

When you use the RAW-format your in-camera colorspace doesn´t matter. RAW-converters use their internal color-space or the cameras colorspace. In LR it is Melissa-ProPhotoRGB, in AdobeCameraRAW it is your cameras colorspace. When you export your photo you decide which colorspace to export into.

At this point, the image I see on the screen in front of me is, in essence, these ProPhoto values that have been converted by the custom monitor profile such that a given value for red in the internal ProPhoto space is accurately represented on screen. Is this correct?

Yes, the numbers you see are the percentage values of the ProPhoto-space. However your monitor cannot accurattely show all colors. No monitor can show such a large space as ProPhoto. If your red-value is outside of what your monitor can show it isn´t shown accuratelly.

Now as I make the usual changes to the image such as white spot, exposure, curves and the like. I'm pretty sure that I am making changes directly to the values held in the internall ProPhoto space. I say this as I am assuming that Lightroom has no knowledge of the customer display profile in use as it's set at the OS level.

You are working within ProPhoto-space. Just remember that when working on a RAW-file you are starting out with an untinkered file (just RAW-data) and then telling LR what to do with it. Giving it a whitebalance, correcting exposure etc and then writing those changes into the metadata. Your monitorprofile is trying to correct whatever "flaws" your monitor has compared to the ideal world. Ie making grey look grey.

The biggest confusion I have is when I come to export the image. At this point I have an image sitting in Lightroom's internal colour space, that I can either save as either a JPG for uploading to the web or print directly from Lightroom. When I go to the export screen, it asks for the color space to use.

It has to. You have been working with the photo in Melissa-ProPhotoRGB but now when you export the photo you have to tell LR what colorspace to export it in. Normal ProPhoto or AdobeRGB or sRGB or any other. Up till now the photo has no embedded profile.

It is here I get totally confused! What should this be? If I use sRGB, will this not completely change the colours when displayed on another monitor as it is ignoring my custom monitor profile? Should I specify the custom monitor profile as the colour space?

First; If you want to use sRGB after exporting from LR no change should occur to those colors that fit inside of sRGB. LR is converting from one space to another and preserving the colors. But that is only for the colors that fit inside the space you are converting to. Colors outside of this space will change. How and how much? No way of telling when you are inside LR. No way of Softproofing. Sad but true.

Second: I assume you are talking about exporting for webviewing (viewing on a monitor). Never use your monitorprofile - always use sRGB. sRGB is the closest to a webstandard we have. That is what the average users monitor can display and will attempt to show. Many web-browsers do not read profiles. I am not sure of the windows-side but on a Mac Safari and Firefox can read profiles. If the browser cannot read profiles it doesn´t matter what you do - it might be right, it might not.

Your monitor profile is specific to your monitor and that profile attempts to show a working profile (such as AdobeRGB or sRGB) as correct as possible. And so does the monitorprofile of the person looking at your photo. The other problem is that the two monitors are different therefore you cannot embed your profile.

// Bosse

 

[Jddolbee]

I want to thank you for the detail of this response, I never really understood how this worked either, but your response makes it easy to understand.

I am always struck by the depth of knowledge, patience and willingness to help that is offered on this forum, by those that respond to questions by sometimes very upset people. This is an outstanding resource for those of us trying to learn more. Thanks to all that provide responses.

jim

 

[dhoggan]

Hi Bosse,

Thanks for the detailed reply - the point-by-point breakdown really helped me clear things up in my head.

So, when exporting for the purposes of displaying on the web, always export as sRGB because the viewer's browser most likely cannot read embedded colour profiles. At this point we are relying on the monitor manufacturer to have approximated sRGB *AND* the viewer's monitor settings not be be completely off?

My usual workflow is export as 16bit TIFF from Lightroom and then import into Photoshop CS2. So I am assuming that I can export from Lightroom with, say, the AbobeRGB colour space so ensure that I'm keeping the colour range as great as possible (ProPhoto is better, but as I understand it few printers can accommodate such a range).

I'm assuming that CS2 has a similar concept of Lightroom's internal Melissa-ProPhotoRGB colourspace and that this is defined under Edit > Colour Settings. Would I be right in thinking it is the Working Space > RGB setting? I'm pretty sure it is, but just checking.

So when I import the TIFF (with it's embedded AdobeRGB profile) into CS2 (which is now set with a RGB working space of AdobeRGB) then I can continue to work on the image much as I did in Lightroom. At this point, all my changes are being made within the Adobe RGB space and my monitor profile is simply converting those changes for accurate display on my monitor.

Here, I have another confusion: Under View > Proof Setup > Custom I can set a device to simulate. As I understand it, this is to allow me to specify a printer profile so I can be as sure as possible how the printed output will look (presuming the printer profile is accurate). However, what if I editing for web display? I assume that this should be set to the working RGB space, in this case AdobeRGB?

Now, at some point, I am going to have to save the image for display and I'm assuming that, not only do I have to move from 16bit to 8bit, I also have to use Edit > Convert to Profile. This is something I've never done before - I've always used File > Save As. Of course, this meant that I had to export from Lightroom in sRGB. So, am I right in thinking that I can export from Lightroom as AboebRGB, work on an image in CS2 with the larger colourspace and then, when ready to upload to the web, simply convert the colour space to sRGB? I am assuming that I will have the same problems you mentioned - that is colours in the image that fall within the scope of sRGB will be converted correctly, but colours outside the sRGB scope will be unpredictable? You mentioned that there is no way in Lightroom to see how many colours will go into this photographic twilight zone, is there a way in CS2?

Apologies - this has less to do with Lightroom and more to do with CS2, but I'm hoping that many people here also use Photoshop.

Kind regards,

Dave

 

[Bosse]

Hi again,

So, when exporting for the purposes of displaying on the web, always export as sRGB because the viewer's browser most likely cannot read embedded colour profiles. At this point we are relying on the monitor manufacturer to have approximated sRGB *AND* the viewer's monitor settings not be be completely off?

If the viewer is opening your photos in Photoshop there shouldn´t be any problems unless they have set their colormangement all wrong. It should be set to preserve embedded profile. If viewing through a webbrowser it could be anywhere from the person aware of the possible problem and who is therefore using a browser that honours the profile or at least uses sRGB as a default. On the other end of the scale you have a person with a cheap office-monitor with no knowledge whatsoever. And maybe that is the person deciding whether you should get the next photojob or not.

My usual workflow is export as 16bit TIFF from Lightroom and then import into Photoshop CS2. So I am assuming that I can export from Lightroom with, say, the AbobeRGB colour space so ensure that I'm keeping the colour range as great as possible (ProPhoto is better, but as I understand it few printers can accommodate such a range).

That is a good workflow. Works very well unless you have colours in your photo that is outside of AdobeRGB and STILL printable by a good inkjet printer. If you can get a hold of an application that can show you the size of different colourspaces you will see. On the Mac you get a free app called ColorSync when installing the OS. I don´t think there is a free windowsapp for that but ColorThink is very good (for Pc and Mac).

I'm assuming that CS2 has a similar concept of Lightroom's internal Melissa-ProPhotoRGB colourspace and that this is defined under Edit > Colour Settings. Would I be right in thinking it is the Working Space > RGB setting? I'm pretty sure it is, but just checking.

When installing Photoshop you also install some colourspaces. The one you are looking for is called Kodak ProPhoto. I suggest you set AdobeRGB as your main working space (in Edit > ColourSettings) and make sure to preserve embedded colourprofles when opening files. In that way you can export photos with suspicious colours in a larger space and then after softproofing in PS convert to your workingspace.

So when I import the TIFF (with it's embedded AdobeRGB profile) into CS2 (which is now set with a RGB working space of AdobeRGB) then I can continue to work on the image much as I did in Lightroom. At this point, all my changes are being made within the Adobe RGB space and my monitor profile is simply converting those changes for accurate display on my monitor.

Correct. Actually I do quite a lot of my work in LR (more and more) but I always go via PS to do the final colourbalancing, local adjustments, sharpening and softproofing.

Here, I have another confusion: Under View > Proof Setup > Custom I can set a device to simulate. As I understand it, this is to allow me to specify a printer profile so I can be as sure as possible how the printed output will look (presuming the printer profile is accurate). However, what if I editing for web display? I assume that this should be set to the working RGB space, in this case AdobeRGB?

If you have AdobeRGB set up as your working space and you want to softproof for the web just choose sRGB when you do the softproof. I have saved a few softproofsetups for different occasions (ProPhoto > AdobeRGB, AdobeRGB > sRGB, AdobeRGB > Fogra39 (a common almost standard for !better! quality paper), AdobeRGB > mu preferred paperstock on my inkjet etc.

Now, at some point, I am going to have to save the image for display and I'm assuming that, not only do I have to move from 16bit to 8bit, I also have to use Edit > Convert to Profile. This is something I've never done before - I've always used File > Save As. Of course, this meant that I had to export from Lightroom in sRGB. So, am I right in thinking that I can export from Lightroom as AboebRGB, work on an image in CS2 with the larger colourspace and then, when ready to upload to the web, simply convert the colour space to sRGB? I am assuming that I will have the same problems you mentioned - that is colours in the image that fall within the scope of sRGB will be converted correctly, but colours outside the sRGB scope will be unpredictable? You mentioned that there is no way in Lightroom to see how many colours will go into this photographic twilight zone, is there a way in CS2?

16bit > 8bit is correct. Since you are going to the web and therefore saving as jpg you must save it as 8bit. And yes Edit > Covert (never, never assign). You can of course (and many do, including myself sometimes) go straight from LR to the web. What you loose then (apart from the possibilities of working with your file inside PS) is the control you get via softproof. And of course an even greater control of sharpening etc.

And correct again, LR cannot show you what will happen to your photo once converted to a smaller colourspace. Photoshops RAW-converter (AdobeCameraRAW) can. And in CS2 you have softproof.

Apologies - this has less to do with Lightroom and more to do with CS2, but I'm hoping that many people here also use Photoshop.

Understanding colourmanagement in PHotoshop is essential for undertanding how your Lightroom workflow affects your photos.

// Bosse

 

[dhoggan]

Hi Bosse,

Apologies for the late reply - been single-mindedly planning a holiday so haven't had much time to practice.

Thanks for the detailed information. I've had a bit of time to play with this and I think it is beginning to make sense.

One question. I export an image from LR in AbobeRGB and import into CS2 (with a working space of AdobeRGB). At this point if I switch between LR and CS2, the image brightness and colours look the same. I then change the image to 8bit, covert it to sRGB and save as a JPG. If I then load the picture in Picasa Viewer (or IE) on the same monitor then there is a noticable shift in the blue colour of the sky. Brightness across the image is not affected, and other colours also seem to be the same as the image shown in CS2. Would this is due to the sky having part of its colour range outside that of sRGB? I am guessing so as other parts of the image do not appear affected.

So, up to now I *think* I have understood. However there are three very confusing things:

(1) when I have the image in CS2 and I use the Convert to Profile image, selecting sRGB) , then no colour shift is seen. It's only when I save the image out and then view the image.

(2) Even more confusing is that, if I then load the converted JPG (selecting 'use embedded profile') image in to CS2 and compare the original TIFF and JPG - they look the same! Why would that be? Surely at this poing the JPG is using sRGB and the TIF using AdobeRGB?

(3) With both the original TIF and the newly converted and loaded JPG displayed, if I then select proof colours, the colours on the TIF image shift slightly - not just the blue sky, but all of them. I am assuming that the JPG colours do not shift because it is already in the sRGB colour space?

Apologies for the further questions - it's just that I feel that I'm halfway through the journey of understanding this!

Many thanks,
Dave

 

[Denis Pagé]

The simple answer is that Picasa and IE don't care at all about colors. So, don't care about those programs.

I know, your audience is most likely to use IE > and as you can't properly setup each machine in the world, this is why sRGB is you best bet.

EDIT: I forgot to add that the monitor model you use is above average and will more easily show subtle variations from converting from one color space to another compared to a cheap monitor...

 

[dhoggan]

Hi Denis,

Thanks for the reply... I'm pretty happy with the idea that sRGB is the way to go for 'general web viewing' and that an sRGB image will display differently depending on the monitor and its configuration. I'm also relying on the fact that IE isn't profile aware as, if I can get the image looking OK in that on my uncalibrated Samsungs, then I've done as much as I can.

The issue I have here is, based on that, I would expect a change in brightness and/or a change in all colours. What I am seeing is a shift in the blue of the sky only. Other colours appear to be unchanged.

But you raise an interesting question. Working on the basis that IE is not profile-aware (and as a result it simply uses the RGB values) *and* that I am displaying this on my calibrated Dell (that should take the RGB values and use use my monitor profile to display them), shouldn't the blue be the same (or a very close match) to the original. Unless of course something else is affecting it?

Thanks all for the ongoing help... and to think I took colour for granted a few days ago

 

[Bosse]

Apologies for the late reply - been single-mindedly planning a holiday so haven't had much time to practice.

My turn to be late - sorry

One question. I export an image…etc

• If you have the picture in AdobeRGB and in Photoshop do a softproof targeting sRGB - what happens? And if you turn on Gamut warning? I guess that you will get a grey overlay in your sky indicating that those colors are out of the sRGB range. You have to take care of those colors with for instance a hue/saturation adjustment layer.

(2) Even more confusing is that, if I then load the converted JPG (selecting 'use embedded profile') image in to CS2 and compare the original TIFF and JPG - they look the same! Why would that be? Surely at this poing the JPG is using sRGB and the TIF using AdobeRGB?

• They will look the same if there were no colors outside sRGB when you converted. Then nothing happened - just some numbers describing the colors that changed. It all depends on where the colors are. Are they all within sRGB then they should look the same.

(3) With both the original TIF and...etc

• You say you select proof colors. Proof to? …to sRGB? If that is the case then that slight shift indicates that those colors are out of gamut. But this goes against what you said in (2) above.
Have you tried using Gamut Warning in combination with softproofing? Gamut Warning will give you a grey overlay to what is out-of-gamut (OOG). Be careful though: it only shows that those colors are OOG - not by how much or how.
Also be careful if you try to move them inside. The gamut problem can be a hue problem or a saturation problem or a combination. A good profiled monitor will help you adjusting.

I am assuming that the JPG colours do not shift because it is already in the sRGB colour space?

• Assuming your are softproofing to sRGB then correct.

But you raise an interesting question... etc

• You have a shift when looking at the picture in Picasa and IE? Then those apps are not colormanaged and they show the picture in sRGB or the monitorprofile. Don´t know which one. Another problem might be your very good monitor. Have a look at the links below.
I googled for: "how does windows xp display untagged photos" <http://korta.nu/c4ce> and got many answers. Haven´t read them all but this one (http://korta.nu/568f) and this (http://korta.nu/7513) and this (http://korta.nu/4229) and this (http://korta.nu/8e28) looks like they explain a lot.

I am getting curious now. Is there a way for you to send me the file (in AdobeRGB) so I can have a look at it? Or for me to download. It can be very small in pixels, My email is in my profile.

 

[dhoggan]

Hi Bosse,

Tanks for the info and the links. I've had a quick look (as I'm still sidetracked on other things), but there is a lot on information there, especially on the tutorial. Should be able to dediacte time this weekend. Martin Evening's CS2 book arrived today as well and that has a big section on colour management as well.

In point 1, the process is to take the AbodeRBG image and soft proof to sRGB. Here all colours change, and possibly a change in brightness (although I think it just the colours muting down). At this point the gamut warning option is disabled. Presumably it is only enabled if CS2 thinks there is an issue...

Your explanation of (2) makes sense. I think I had a mental block that AdobeRGB was somehow magically different to sRGB, but having you spell it out for me has helped me rethink this: AdobeRGB and sRGB will look identical if all colours are withing the sRGB space. Obvious now you said it

And yes, point (3) does go against (2), now that I understand point 2. I even re-exported the image from Lightroom and ran through the tests again and get the same results. So unless I'm doing something fundamentally wrong, which is always possible.

I'll drop you a PM about the image.

Many thanks,

Dave

 

[EdMacke]

PMJI, but this is by far one of the most helpful dialogs on LR color management I've seen.

I've decided to bite the bullet and buy a monitor calibrator. Let's *assume* that all goes well and my monitor is now calibrated.

For me, most of my images end up printed instead of on the web, so I'm wondering how I can best control that process.

Some background:

• 
  [li]99% of the time, I send my pics to SmugMug for printing - which uses EZ Print labs.[/li]
  [li]By default, prints are automatically color corrected, but you can opt to turn that off.[/li]
  [li]EZ Print provides an ICC profile[/li]
  [li]I only have Photoshop Elements 7, not full-blown CSx.[/li]
  [li]Most of my pics are for family photo albums. I'm picky enough to spend the $$$ for a calibrator, but it's not like they are going to National Geographic or something. Once in a while I'll do a family portrait or similar that deserves the full-blown treatment.[/li]
  [li]I've never done soft-proofing[/li]

If I understand correctly, it sounds like a good workflow would be to use LR for whatever, export to Photoshop CS as a 16-bit TIFF with AdobeRGB colorspace, soft-proof using the EZ Print ICC profile, and finally export as a JPG with sRGB colorspace for printing.

However, for me that presents a few questions/problems.

• 
  [li]Realistically, how critical is soft-proofing? My workflow is almost 1''% LR. I really don't want to open PS and soft-proof every image I do. Ugh![/li]
  [li]If I skip soft-proofing, should I still tell SmugMug to NOT color-correct my images? I get the impression the color correction is the printer's attempt to "fix" your image, as opposed to making sure your image prints well. For example, if I purposely created an image where the people had orange skin, automated color correction would attempt to make that skin "normal" as opposed to making sure the color orange I selected printed well on their equipment.[/li]

Let's say I have a really important image that I want to be perfect, or at least important enough to involve the trip to Photoshop.

• 
  [li]Can PS Elements do soft-proofing, or is that just PS CSx?[/li]
  [li]If PS Elements can do soft-proofing, can it do it with 16-bit images? I know the vast majority of Elements functionality is only available for 8-bit images.[/li]
  [li]Is colorspace something you specify as part of the soft-proof along with the ICC profile?[/li]

Basically, my assumption is that with a color-corrected monitor, my LR tweaking will be the best it can be.

So now I'm looking for the best workflow to ensure my carefully crafted images coming back from SmugMug are the best they can be, both with and without invoking Photoshop.

 

[sizzlingbadger]

You can sort of soft proof in LR by exporting the sRGB jpeg and then comparing it to the original but this isn't ideal!

 

[sizzlingbadger]

[quote author=dhoggan link=topic=88''.msg5973'#msg5973' date=126324'342]
Your explanation of (2) makes sense. I think I had a mental block that AdobeRGB was somehow magically different to sRGB, but having you spell it out for me has helped me rethink this: AdobeRGB and sRGB will look identical if all colours are withing the sRGB space. Obvious now you said it
[/quote]

This isn't entirely true.... the colours can shift depending on the 'rendering intent' used during conversion. However for the purposes of this LR thread I would say that is a fair way to think of it.

 

[EdMacke]

[quote author=sizzlingbadger link=topic=88''.msg61''3#msg61''3 date=1264631'76]
You can sort of soft proof in LR by exporting the sRGB jpeg and then comparing it to the original but this isn't ideal!
[/quote]

But that doesn't factor in the ICC profile (from EZ Print), does it? Wouldn't that just show you the conversion from the ProPhoto colorspace to the sRGB colorspace? Or am I missing something?

 

[sizzlingbadger]

I think you can load the icc from EZ Print in the Print Module and then print to a jpeg, I haven't tried this but I have heard of people doing this. Like I said though it's not really ideal.

 

[Studio2401]

Very helpful thread indeed. I get confused when I see colour space and colour profile mixed. I always thought that a colour profile is something that "adjusts" digital data to show correctly on an output device. Colour space is something different.

Am I correct if I say: The only hard data we have are the values in the RAW (or whatever) file. Whites are #FFFFFF, blacks #'''''' and the greys are also represented by equal numbers such as #222222, #333333
When we record an image. colour casts can be caused by the light condition and the characteristics of the input device (camera, scanner).
lr's (and ACR for that matter) white balance selector should do nothing else than ensuring that the point that is sampled (and all other values), will be calibrated to that point having a value that is the same for each colour channel.

The correct monitor (or printer) profile ensures that we indeed see those values translated into what we would call shades of grey.

Correct ?

 

[Brad Snyder]

Yes. Colorspaces divvy colors up amongst the available numbers. Profiles pin the numbers to real life swatches.

 

[Replytoken]

[quote author=EdMacke link=topic=88''.msg61''7#msg61''7 date=1264632881]
[quote author=sizzlingbadger link=topic=88''.msg61''3#msg61''3 date=1264631'76]
You can sort of soft proof in LR by exporting the sRGB jpeg and then comparing it to the original but this isn't ideal!
[/quote]

But that doesn't factor in the ICC profile (from EZ Print), does it? Wouldn't that just show you the conversion from the ProPhoto colorspace to the sRGB colorspace? Or am I missing something?
[/quote]

Hi Ed,

I have sent LR-processed prints to SmugMug for printing from EZ prints. My monitor is calibrated, and I normally export the final product with an sRGB profile. Andy at SmugMug recommended that the color correction feature be turned off if you have processed the image as you like with a calibrated monitor. I was happy with the results that I received, but I did not do a comparison between the prints and the monitor image when they arrived. Amd, SmugMug will refund your money if you are not happy with the results (at least they used to offer a refund). Some food for thought.

--Ken

 

[EdMacke]

sizzlingbadger: I think you can load the icc from EZ Print in the Print Module and then print to a jpeg, I haven't tried this but I have heard of people doing this. Like I said though it's not really ideal.

Ah! So the key is printing to a JPG using the ICC, not exporting a JPG, correct? Interesting thought. If nothing else, that would make for an interesting experiment... look at the "printed" JPG and the corresponding soft-proof in Photoshop.

 

[EdMacke]

Replytoken: I have sent LR-processed prints to SmugMug for printing from EZ prints...SmugMug recommended that the color correction feature be turned off...

I was kind of thinking the color correction should be turned off, too. So that's nice confirmation.

So you did not do a soft-proofing step with the EZ Print ICC profiles, correct?

I did not do a comparison between the prints and the monitor image when they arrived.

I just discovered that SmugMug has a pretty cool feature. You can order a calibration print from EZ Prints' Gallery (http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/929'2'_nQvid#42491224_x9HTm) which automatically has color correction turned off.

I'm hoping that between my hardware calibration and the test prints, I can get to a point where 99% of my work can be done without soft-proofing.

SmugMug will refund your money if you are not happy with the results (at least they used to offer a refund)

My experience has been that SmugMug has astounding customer service, so I have no doubt that they'd offer a refund. They actually still point that out in several places on their site.

 

[Replytoken]

Ed,

You are correct. I did not do a soft proofing step with that batch of images.

--Ken

 

[sizzlingbadger]

[quote author=EdMacke link=topic=88''.msg61'42#msg61'42 date=12646895'2]
Ah! So the key is printing to a JPG using the ICC, not exporting a JPG, correct?
[/quote]

That's the theory, but I haven't tried it...