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ICC/ICM color profile/characterizing .. epson.. sun.. arrg!?

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2003 4:51 am
by ColorConfused
I just bought photoshop 7 off a wealthy, impulsive friend... hence my savings of $400 since I just play with digital photos. I'm no pro as you've probably guessed. anyhoo I'm terribly frustrated and confused by all this technical stuff about color management. I don't want to come off like a grungy newbie. To the contrary I have been doing much reading

http://www.google.com/search?q=ICC+moni ... systems%22
http://www.adobe.com/support/techguides ... orset.html
http://www.adobe.com/support/techguides ... /main.html
http://www.color.org/links2.html

..\Help\1_7_0_0.html
You can add color profiles to your system so that they appear as choices in the Color Settings dialog box
/windows/System/Spool/ Drivers/Color

According to abode then I guess I need more information about "color characterization" since I don't want to buy any tools to "conform my hardware to existing standards". am I close? :)

Here are the four things I'll be using:

montor: 21" Sun Microsystems
(got it for $400 haha)
printer: Epson stylus photo 780
camera: Canon powershot G3

I also want to get prints from my local WalMart

I've searched google until my eyes went bloodshot looking for a color profile file for Windows XP pro and photoshop7 for each of the above devices. Is there such a thing?

sun.com is a nightmare
epson.com was not helpful
adobe.com is waaaaay too abstract.

Since I'm taking pictures with a digital camera I'll be using all RGB right? not CMYK.

If it can be simple... I simply want to have good color matching on my Sun , from my digital camera to one of: my epson inkjet, the photo printer at WalMart, or posting them on a website.

Is this supposed to be nearly impossible? and hiddeously expensive??



thanks in advance for all your patient help :) :)

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2003 9:08 am
by ColorConfused
I'm reading this other adobe artilce about "soft proofing" color and in following the directions I noticed I have a color profile for my Epson

http://studio.adobe.com/learn/tips/phs7 ... page2.html

Image

I didn't put it there so I'm guessing photoshop picked it up when I installed my printer? but I installed photoshop after I bought and isntalled the printer.

to my grreat sadness this amazing sounding article is inacessible:
Tame the color management beast
Produce great color with no surprises; learn the ins and outs of Photoshop's powerful color handling capabilities.
http://studio.adobe.com/learn/tips/phstamecmb/main.html


sooooooo if I tweak the colors with "soft proofing" what good would it be for my to try using the Color Wizard plugin? Doesn't that just adjust the colors onscreen? arrrg I'm even more confused than ever before!

I also have a Canon CanoScan scanner.. $49 from amazon.com :)

Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2003 3:50 pm
by HaraldHeim
First of all the most important thing is to calibrate your monitor. If your monitor isn't calibrated correctly, you can forget about the other stuff. To do that please use the "Adobe Gamma" tool which was installed into Start > Settings > Control Panel by Photoshop. Run its wizard and follow it step by step.

Secondly, select your defaults from Edit > Color Settings in Photoshop. If you mostly do web design, choose "Web Graphics Defaults", otherwise use one of the Prepress settings.

The Proof feature of Photoshop can be used to get a preview of how your image might look on other devices or when printed with a certain printer. I don't find it very useful, because it doesn't really work for my Epson printer. There are so many other factors that influence the look of the print. e.g. brand of ink cartridge, print mode or paper type, that you can forget about this option as far as ink jet printers are concerned.

To save me work, cost and time, I let a professional service do my prints. You usually also get better quality than with with a cheap desktop printer. And if they did a good job and you calibrated your monitor correctly, the print looks almost like what you see on your monitor.

By the way, the URL
http://studio.adobe.com/learn/tips/phstamecmb/main.html
works. I had no problem to access this page.

All in all, the many color management features that Photoshop offers are more interesting for prepress professionals. As a home users you should not bother too much about them. Just use the default settings and you will have no problems.

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2003 7:33 pm
by S Williams
The following webpage will provide youwith some help on monitor calibration. http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html

I like to use the link he recommends to do my calibration: http://www.photoscientia.co.uk/Gamma.htm

I print all my own photographs as it is more economical for me and I do not get correct color from outside sources. At least not without going to an expensive professional printing service. I have had no success printing through Adobe Photoshop. I prefer to use Paint Shop Pro as it gives me much eaiser control. I have an Epson 777 I use it's 1440ppi setting and have only once noticed any color issues.

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/swilli41/www

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2003 8:53 am
by HaraldHeim
The information at http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html
looks very interesting. Thanks for posting that link!

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2003 12:53 pm
by Guest
HaraldHeim wrote:The information at http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html
looks very interesting. Thanks for posting that link!
You're welcome. I stumbled on his site looking for help on my own monitor calibration. He was great about responding to my emails. A very nice guy.