Understanding the basic principles of color management empowers the user to consider the reproduction device that will ultimately reproduce the image. As I said above, many image editors today will now provide a means to
simulate the the way an image file will look when reproduced with another device. The use of these tools is called "soft proofing."
I "soft proof" in Photoshop whenever I am looking to print something where my colors are critical to the success of the image.
In Photoshop on a PC: View>Proof Setup>Custom
Many of the image editors with color management options will also allow you to make a decision about what
you want to do with the colors that are outside of the gamut of your chosen output device. In other words, if the printer you are using can't reproduce
all of those colors, to
that level of saturation, what do you want to do with the file? That is to say, your color management system is asking you,
"what is your rendering intent?"
There are four basic rendering intents to choose from in Photoshop. (I'll explain a little about each in a moment)
- Perceptual - Best for photography, not for accurate color reproduction.
- Relative - Good for photography, good when color accuracy is important.*
- Saturation - Good for business graphics, and logos where "color pop" is most important. Very bad for reliable color reproduction.
- Absolute - Best used for soft proofing only. May use the white of the paper stock as the white point of the gamut, thus shifting everything accordingly. Good to use when printing on paper that is not bright white, or non-white.
Sounds like a lot? It's not too bad,
really . . . read on!