Soft Proofing

If you are using a calibrated monitor and want the most accurate color you can get from your prints, soft proofing is most important. By using ICC profiles, it essentially helps your monitor “see” they way the printer will print your image. Because your monitor is backlit and prints are not, it is not perfect but it sure helps get you much, much closer to that perfect print on the first try.

I have provided custom made ICC profiles - one for each paper type - that you can download and use for soft proofing in your choice of editing software. Once you have calibrated your monitor and edited your photo to your liking, then you can make another edit for soft proofing in which you bring the image back to your liking once the soft-proofing has been applied.

Typically small levels adjustments and maybe a bit of color adjustments are usually enough, but when using a matte paper you will see a bigger difference since matte papers can’t reproduce the deep blacks the same way, though they look deep black on the paper.

TIP - If editing outside of a catalog system it’s best to save this proof image as a separate file so you don’t save over your original image…this comes from experience.

Photoshop

From the menu, select VIEW then PROOF SETUP then CUSTOM. From there click DEVICE TO SIMULATE and choose the correct ICC profile you would like to use for the paper you plan on printing to. Then you will need to choose a RENDERING INTENT. There is no hard a fast rule on which to choose, (Usually RELATIVE COLORIMETRIC and PERCEPTUAL tend to be best choices) you just have to preview both and see which looks best to you. It’s best to write which intent you used down and add it to the file name as these are used in the printing to mimic your choice.PRESERVE RGB NUMBERS should be unchecked and BLACK POINT COMPENSATION can be checked (see which looks best) while SIMULATE PAPER COLOR and SIMULATE BLACK INK should be unchecked.

Once selected, then proofing is turned on (VIEW then PROOF COLORS in the menu), you can begin to adjust the image to compensate for the proofing. Check the gamut warnings for anything out of gamut and adjust if necessary. You may not get everything in gamut and that is okay. Once to your liking, turn off the proof (VIEW then PROOF COLORS in the menu) FLATTEN the image and choose SAVE AS to save the image. Again, I recommend saving as a duplicate and naming the file with some basic info in case you choose to print again or to not get mixed up with other paper choices later.

imagename_paperchoice_renderingintent which could look like:

sailboats_CansBar_RCbpc for Canson Baryta paper with relative colorimetric intent w/black point compensation or
sailboats_RRPolMat_Per for Red River Polar Matte with perceptual intent with no black point compensation

Lightroom

From the Develop module hit ’S’ to enter soft proofing mode and click CREATE PROOF COPY. It may ask you if you would like to create a virtual copy, if so, click CREATE PROOF COPY in that dialog box. Now you have you original image copy for posting to the web and a new proof copy that you can edit for print. In the soft proofing module choose a PROFILE. Typically Adobe RGB is the default but this is where you would choose your paper ICC profile. Then you will need to choose a RENDERING INTENT. There is no hard a fast rule on which to choose, (Lightroom only offers two choices) you just have to preview both and see which looks best to you. Take note of which intent you choose as you’ll want to add that to your file name later. I prefer to leave SIMULATE PAPER & INK unchecked.

Once a profile is chosen, you can begin to adjust the image to compensate for the proofing. Check the gamut warnings for anything out of gamut and adjust if necessary. Once to your liking, now is the time to export.

Open the EXPORT dialog and choose an export location. For file name, I recommend naming the file with some basic info in case you choose to print again or to not get mixed up with other paper choices later.

imagename_paperchoice_renderingintent which may look like:

sailboats_CansBar_RCbpc for Canson Baryta paper with relative colorimetric intent w/black point compensation or
sailboats_RRPolMat_Per for Red River Polar Matte with perceptual intent with no black point compensation

Under FILE SETTINGS choose TIFF, no compression, COLORSPACE - Adobe RGB, and 16 bits for BIT DEPTH. Do not resize the image and change RESOLUTION to 300 PPI. Do not choose OUTPUT SHARPENING. Feel free to include METADATA if you’d like but isn’t very important. No watermark and no POST-PROCESSING.

Capture One

Select the image you would like to soft proof, then from the menu choose IMAGE, then CLONE VARIANT, to give you a duplicate variant with your current edits. Select the new image.

Go to the OUTPUT tab and create a new PROCESS RECIPE and title it PRINT OUTPUT. In the PROCESS RECIPE panel under BASIC choose TIFF and 16 bit, Uncompressed. For the ICC PROFILE select the correct one for the paper you plan to print on, choose 300 px/in for the RESOLUTION, SCALE should be FIXED at 100% and OPEN WITH should be none.

You should now see the effect of the profile. Go ahead and make any adjustments to compensate for the profile effect. Once all adjustments are complete, go back to the OUTPUT tab and (IMPORTANT!) change the ICC PROFILE back to ADOBE RGB. Choose an export location. For file name, I recommend naming the file with some basic info in case you choose to print again or to not get mixed up with other paper choices later.

Click PROCESS in the PROCESS RECIPES tab and you are all set.

Affinity Photo

From the menu select LAYER then NEW ADJUSTMENT LAYER, then SOFT PROOF. A panel will pop up with the ICC profiles and choose the one for your paper choice. Then you will need to choose a RENDERING INTENT. There is no hard a fast rule on which to choose, (Usually RELATIVE COLORIMETRIC and PERCEPTUAL tend to be best choices) you just have to preview both and see which looks best to you. It’s best to write which intent you used down and add it to the file name as these are used in the printing to mimic your choice. BLACK POINT COMPENSATION may be checked (see what looks best) and leave GAMUT CHECK unchecked.

Once selected, go ahead and close the dialog box and ensure the SOFT PROOF ADJUSTMENT layer is checked then you can begin to adjust the image to compensate for the proofing. Once to your liking, turn off the proof layer, FLATTEN the image from the DOCUMENT menu then choose EXPORT to save the image as a duplicate. SIZE should default to the full size of the file, naming the file with some basic info in case you choose to print again or to not get mixed up with other paper choices later.