Soft proofing or calibration targets

[pyracine]

Operating System

1. macOS 10.15 Catalina

Hello,

I am a bit confused when it comes to emulating the paper and ink appearance when developing in LR.

Is it better to soft proof in LR or to create a specific calibration target that refelcts your paper and ink combination ? I use nec Spectraview software and sensor.

If I soft proof in LR, do I have to calibrate my monitor to a more "neutral" D65 target (ie. a target that does not reflect the specificities of a particular paper, for instance warm and low contrast) ?

Is there a risk of confusion of I adjust the target to emulate the paper that I use (warm white point and low contrast) and then softproof in LR with the paper profile, thus "doubling" the simulation ?

What is the best workflow ?

Thank you for your help

 

[clee01l]

I will give you my workflow and describe how Softproofing fits in.

1. First I think it is critical to maintain a calibrated monitor at all times using your calibration tool. I do this for all work whether it gets printed or not.
2. For printing I develop my best image look and feel for a screen media display. I then take that image back into the Develop module and invoke SoftProofing.
3. The SoftProofing icc profile is selected for my selected printer and paper. These are usually provided by the paper manufacturer.
4. With that icc profile set in the Develop profile, I then adjust the develop settings to render an image that is acceptable to me.
5. The next step is to switch to the Print Module and print a test print of a small crop typical of the whole image using the icc print color profile for Color Management. From that test print I can determine if I need to adjust the print Brightness and /or Contrast.
6. I repeat Step 5 until I determine to print the full image.

If I am using a third party printer, My workflow ends at Step 4. I follow their print requirements (which are often to save the image file using AdobeRGB or sRGB) and export a file to send

 

[pyracine]

I will give you my workflow and describe how Softproofing fits in.

1. First I think it is critical to maintain a calibrated monitor at all times using your calibration tool. I do this for all work whether it gets printed or not.
2. For printing I develop my best image look and feel for a screen media display. I then take that image back into the Develop module and invoke SoftProofing.
3. The SoftProofing icc profile is selected for my selected printer and paper. These are usually provided by the paper manufacturer.
4. With that icc profile set in the Develop profile, I then adjust the develop settings to render an image that is acceptable to me.
5. The next step is to switch to the Print Module and print a test print of a small crop typical of the whole image using the icc print color profile for Color Management. From that test print I can determine if I need to adjust the print Brightness and /or Contrast.
6. I repeat Step 5 until I determine to print the full image.

If I am using a third party printer, My workflow ends at Step 4. I follow their print requirements (which are often to save the image file using AdobeRGB or sRGB) and export a file to senTh

Thank you Cletus !

My question concerns the first step of the process : do you set the monitor calibration to a standard target (ie D65) or do you set it to emulaute the paper that you're using ?

In which case, how can you be sure that you don't "double-soft proof" ie soft proof in the calibration tool (target) and then in the software (paper ICC) ?

 

[clee01l]

Thank you Cletus !

My question concerns the first step of the process : do you set the monitor calibration to a standard target (ie D65) or do you set it to emulaute the paper that you're using ?

In which case, how can you be sure that you don't "double-soft proof" ie soft proof in the calibration tool (target) and then in the software (paper ICC) ?

You set the monitor to a standard target and Calibrate. What you are trying to do is get the pixels of the monitor screen to transmit true colors. Your calibration tool will handle this and even compensate for variances in ambient light. Displays are transmissive media. So you want your monitor to transmit a true color when the pixel receives a value corresponding to that color. e.g. a red pixel is going to transmit red light.

Paper prints are reflective media. A red photo dot is going to absorb all colors except red and reflect red. Soft proofing emulates the reflective qualities of ink on paper in a transmissive media. You only ever nee to calibrate your monitor for everyday use. The develop soft proofing will take that calibrated monitor and emulate a certain icc color profile so that you can see something close to what the print will look like on paper using transmissive media to emmulate reflective media. Only the Develop module is affected by the softproofing icc profile.

 

[Conrad Chavez]

Is it better to soft proof in LR or to create a specific calibration target that refelcts your paper and ink combination ? I use nec Spectraview software and sensor.

If you are using the SpectraView sensor and software, then is it correct to assume you are also using an NEC SpectraView display?

Because if you are using a SpectraView display, although Cletus’s answers are correct for most of the displays out there, there are more specific answers about an NEC SpectraView display (which I use) that you need to know about.

 

[pyracine]

If you are using the SpectraView sensor and software, then is it correct to assume you are also using an NEC SpectraView display?

Because if you are using a SpectraView display, although Cletus’s answers are correct for most of the displays out there, there are more specific answers about an NEC SpectraView display (which I use) that you need to know about.

Yes I use a PA271W with spectreview and spectrasensor.

So you can set calibration targets, just like with eizo colornavigator software I think.