How to apply profiles for Mac

Choose “Print with Preview” from the File menu in Photoshop. You will see the screen below:

The source space will reflect your working space. For many, this space is Adobe RGB (1998), sRGB, or ColorMatch. Many experts claim the Adobe RGB space to be the best for inkjet printers in terms of the range of gamut.

When you click on the drop-down menu under “Print Space”, you will see all of the ICC profiles installed on your computer. Many have nothing to do with inkjet printers. Look for the profile for the paper and printer you will be using. Select that profile.

Set Intent to Perceptual or Relative Colorimetric. From checking many color management articles and hearing from customers, these two intents are best for inkjet printing. We recommend experimenting with both to see which yields best results for you.

This link is to a short article on intents. There are many such articles found by searching Google.

Next, make sure to check Black Point Compensation.

When you are finished choosing the proper settings, click Print at top right.

When this dialogue box appears, click the third drop down menu - usually it will say "Copies and Pages". Choose the Color Management selection.

When you choose Color Management, the dialogue box will look like this:

Click the radio button labeled "Off (No Color Adjustment)".

Media type is very important. Your profile was created using a target printed with certain driver settings including media type and quality level. Each profile should come with instructions that tell you what settings to choose.

Once all of your settings are complete, you can click OK and begin printing.

Color profiles will be most helpful because you will know what to expect when making a print. If you calibrate your monitor, even more predictable results will occur. Most users do not have time to fiddle with driver settings until they "get it right". Even then, each image will present new challenges that require even more driver changes. In the long run, this means more wasted time and wasted money! Profiles are the best way to acheive pro level color control with minimal investment in time to learn a new technology.

Below are some great resources to help you learn more about color management.

The Internation Color Consortium - the people who set the rules for what color is supposed to be.

ICC's big FAQ of color management

Why color management? by James King of Adobe Systems

Red River Paper's profile page - Lots of info and three different How-To documents