Red River Inkjet Papers

Suggest an Inkjet Tips subject. Click here

Color Profile Primer

We get asked about color profiles and their use on a regular basis. This installment of Inkjet Tips offers a quick definition of color profiles, why they are important, and how to use them effectively. Think of this article as a beginner's guide to the basics of printer color management.

Color profiles are often thought of as too technically complicated by many users. The fact is that color profiles are relatively simple to understand and are very helpful in achieving consistent output quality. After you understand the basics, you can move on to more advanced levels of color management. The web offers many sources of information on color management and digital workflow to help you understand the details of creating a true color managed workflow. Links to helpful resources are at the end of this article.

Simply put, an ICC printer output profile is a piece of software code that defines the color space of a certain inkjet printer, inkjet paper, and ink set. The idea is to standardize the color space so you know what to expect from your output. When everything is working right (in a color managed workflow), you should get what you see on your monitor from your printer!

Color Profile n: software code that defines the color space of an input or output device and that allows different devices to reference the same standard color space as defined by the International Color Consortium

It is helpful to visualize where profiles are used in a workflow. Profile usage flows down from capture (camera or scanner) to output. Cameras and scanners both capture images using a profile. These profiles can be "stock" or they can be customized with a program like Monaco EZColor. A captured image usually moves on to a photo editing program. Here, the working space is also a profile. Most of us work in Adobe RGB (1998) or sRGB. In any case, be aware that your working space definitely has an effect on your color output. Finally, when printing an image, a printer profile is used. Printer, or output profile define the optimal color output of a particular printer/paper/ink combination.

An example would be to shoot with a Fuji S2 capturing in Adobe RGB 1998, editing the image in Photoshop with working space set to Adobe RGB 1998, and finally printing to an Epson 2200 using Red River's UltraPro Satin profile made specifically for the 2200.

Using Printer Profiles

Using a profile starts with installing it on your computer. However, To say that a profile is “installed” is not entirely accurate. Installation implies a program that sets itself up on your hard drive to run. A profile is actually a passive file that you employ using an ICC aware application like Photoshop or Q-Image Pro.

ICC profiles usually reside in a system folder on your computer. Red River's profile instructions tell you where to place the profile, depending on your OS. Once it is in the proper folder, photo editing software will be able to see and apply the profile to an image for proofing or printing.

To use a profile for printing, you need to understand how your particular photo software works with output profiles. Our example will be with Photoshop CS.

Click what type of computer you use to continue. PC Mac