After wasting significant time sorting out some colour profile issues, I thought I’d jot down a few notes (as a reference for the future and to spare someone else the grief). One great advantage of a colour managed workflow is the ability to soft proof images with Photoshop. Soft proofing is the ability to see what your print will look like (by mimicking the ink and paper properties) before you print. It’s never perfect, but it can save a lot of time, paper and ink. It’s especially useful if your images will be printed by someone else, down the street or across the continent.

Early Reflection, LaHave River

To soft proof, you need to know the colour profile of the printer. This is stored in a computer file, usually denoted with .icc or .icm on the end. In fact, every printer / paper / ink combination will have a different profile. You can build this file yourself (if you have the right hardware and software) or purchase it from a service bureau. Although not always the case in the past, these days the OEM profiles supplied with your printer may be good enough. Paper vendors also often provide profiles, as do printing service bureaus.

Once you have the profile, e.g. “myprinter.icc”, you just need to put it in the proper directory. I run Photoshop CS3 in Windows XP, so the file goes in “C:WINDOWS\spool\drivers\color”. It’s the same for Vista, and for CS4. Just put it there and Photoshop should see it. If you use a Mac, the folder is Library/ColorSync/Profiles or Users/~/Library/ColorSync/Profiles (thanks Ian Lyons).

Sunrise, Andrew's Point

When you want to soft proof an image in Photoshop, you go to “View->Proof Setup->Custom”, click on the “Device to Simulate” drop-down menu and choose your profile.

HERE’s the CATCH: Colour profiles have a “readable” name. This is what shows up on the list in Photoshop. But this name can be different from the file name. So even though you diligently copied “MyPrinter.icc” to your C:WINDOWS\spool\drivers\color directory, when you look for it in Photoshop it might be hiding out under an alias, like “PrinterA”. If you’re not wise to this little detail then, like me, you’ll waste a lot of time trying to figure out why Photoshop won’t recognize your .icc file.

HERE’s the OTHER CATCH: You can’t have two colour profiles with the same readable name on the list, even if they have different file names. Don’t even think about it.

Confused? I sure was. Hope this helps a bit.