Digital Prints

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Mastering Digital Printing
3. Now it’s time to make any final edits
based on the previewed image. The
best way is with adjustment layers,
viewing both the reference and new
image side by side (see Figure 4.16).
In this case, I only need to flatten out
the contrast in their faces a little with
an RGB curve.
4. As a last step, I view the final image
full-screen (use the “F” key), check for
any out-of-gamut colors (View >
Gamut Warning), and, if needed,
make any last-minute tweaks. I can see
that the bright red top is out of gamut,
but I don’t worry about it because I can preview the effect with View > Proof Colors. Both
Gamut Warning and Proof Colors are working from the base of the Profile I’ve selected.
If I’m sending this file to someone else for output, I would save it as a flattened TIFF, which
automatically embeds the assigned Adobe RGB (1998) profile to it. That way, anyone
opening the file would know how I wanted it to look. However, since I’m printing it myself,
I don’t have to take this step but can print directly from the layered PSD file.
A few final notes about soft-proofing in Photoshop:
■ This applies to any profile-managed desktop printing: Don’t double dip your color management!
By that, I mean don’t use an ICC profile and have the printer driver do its own
color adjusting. While various Epson, Canon, and HP models have differing configurations,
the key is to turn off color adjustment, whether that occurs within the
ColorSync/ICM section, or outside it. Failing to do this can lead to unpredictable and
usually disastrous results.
Figure 4.15 Setting up Photoshop’s
RGB soft-proofing function with the
custom DIY profile made for this
combination of printing variables.
Figure 4.16 Soft-proofing at work:
the master, reference RGB image (top
left) and the new, soft-proofed preview
image after a curve is pulled to flatten
the contrast on the faces.