# Photo Color different when printed



## bazzaboy2010 (Mar 30, 2017)

I used a online store for some quick printing and they came back a little lighter and also with a
yellow green tinge. Like the sunset should be orange and it is now yellow.

I ask the printing company on what icc they use and the responce i get is the icc match the printers 
to the papers. 

Any ideas would be a help. 

Kind regards 
Barry


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## BrentC (Mar 30, 2017)

Did you edit in Adobe RGB not sRGB?  I only know from what I have read but it seems when printing you want to edit your work in Adobe RGB and that also means you should use a calibrated monitor that can display the full aRGB gamut.

I am sure the more experienced people will correct me if I'm wrong.


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## bazzaboy2010 (Mar 30, 2017)

The mode is set to RGB 16 bit. 

I dont know much about printing. 

I ask what profile they use i was told, Profiles aren’t use in commercial printing only on home printers.
Dont know the truth to this.

They also said that Colours are controlled using ICC profiles that match the paper to the printer. Our printers are calibrated and print heads aligned on a daily basis.

Still they can not answer why the prints have a lighter green, yellow overcast to them.


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## KmH (Mar 30, 2017)

There is a lot more to successfully having prints made than many people realize.
The Digital Negative: Raw Image Processing in Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop (2nd Edition)
The Digital Print: Preparing Images in Lightroom and Photoshop for Printing
Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)

It is recommended by editing experts to edit in the broadest color space available.
In Photoshop/Camera Raw that is the ProPhoto RGB color space.
Lightroom doesn't offer a choice of editing color space. Lightroom uses a special version of the ProPhoto RGB color space.

If you download the ICC profile for the printer/paper combination the print lab will be using to print your photos you can 'soft proof' the print if your editing application can soft proof.
Soft Proofing: Matching On-Screen Photos with Prints

Most print labs also give you the choice of having them color correct your photos, or not.
Labs that do offer color correction generally guarantee prints you let them color correct.
If you don't let them color correct your photos they don't guarantee their prints.

I have always done my own color correction.
Photo Editing Tutorials
Tutorials on Color Management & Printing


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## bazzaboy2010 (Mar 30, 2017)

Is it difficult to send the profile. Because it seems they keep on avoiding that ??


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## bazzaboy2010 (Mar 30, 2017)

This is a reply i got just now. The ICC profile will only work with our printer and paper, that’s what an icc profile is for. Unless you have the same printer and paper it won’t work. I have sent you a proof of what I can do.


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## bazzaboy2010 (Mar 30, 2017)

KmH said:


> There is a lot more to successfully having prints made than many people realize.
> The Digital Negative: Raw Image Processing in Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop (2nd Edition)
> The Digital Print: Preparing Images in Lightroom and Photoshop for Printing
> Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)
> ...




This is the reply i just got. The ICC profile will only work with our printer and paper, that’s what an icc profile is for. Unless you have the same printer and paper it won’t work. I have sent you a proof of what I can do.


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## Ysarex (Mar 30, 2017)

How is your monitor calibrated? What calibration device are you using?

Joe


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## bazzaboy2010 (Mar 30, 2017)

Ysarex said:


> How is your monitor calibrated? What calibration device are you using?
> 
> Joe


Colormuki smile


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## Ysarex (Mar 30, 2017)

bazzaboy2010 said:


> Ysarex said:
> 
> 
> > How is your monitor calibrated? What calibration device are you using?
> ...



Good, and what post processing software are you using?

Joe


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## bazzaboy2010 (Mar 30, 2017)

I use lightroom and photoshop. photoshop is always the end of my process 


Ysarex said:


> bazzaboy2010 said:
> 
> 
> > Ysarex said:
> ...



I use lightroom and photoshop. photoshop is always the end of my process


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## vintagesnaps (Mar 30, 2017)

You said you used an online store - is it a printing company? There is so much out there online that isn't necessarily reputable. I print my own and if I can figure out how to do it (not being a computer whiz), shouldn't a professional printing company be able to make some adjustments? or figure out why the color is off? or offer to refund your money? so then you could try elsewhere.


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## Ysarex (Mar 30, 2017)

bazzaboy2010 said:


> I use lightroom and photoshop. photoshop is always the end of my process
> 
> 
> Ysarex said:
> ...



OK, then under the View menu in Photoshop you can select the option Proof Setup. Select Custom and then you'll need to provide a device to simulate. Here's is where you chose the ICC profile supplied by your printer. If they won't supply that for you find another printer that will. Printers can be reluctant to supply ICC profiles to customers because they rightly fear that most of their customers don't have a clue what to do with them and will use them incorrectly and only make matters worse. Hard to blame them because they're right about that unfortunately. I got ICC profiles from MPIX but it took an email exchange in which I was able to convince them I understood how to use them.

Once you have the profile in place on your system you can go to the View menu and select Proof Colors to get a soft proof -- Photoshop uses the profile to simulate how your print will likely appear on that device.

Joe


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## vintagesnaps (Mar 30, 2017)

Can't you look up ICC profiles? Or am I thinking you can look it up for a specific printer? I'm trying to remember if I did that thru the company that manufactured my printer, it's been long enough ago that I don't remember.


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## Ysarex (Mar 30, 2017)

vintagesnaps said:


> Can't you look up ICC profiles? Or am I thinking you can look it up for a specific printer? I'm trying to remember if I did that thru the company that manufactured my printer, it's been long enough ago that I don't remember.



You can look up and download generic ICC profiles for some printer brands from the paper manufacturers. These are better than nothing but not ideal. We would expect a commercial print shop to adopt standard color management practice and build and maintain custom ICC profiles for their hardware and standard paper. To be able to soft-proof at home to their device you need that profile. They should be willing to supply it to customers who know how to use it.

Joe


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## ashleykaryl (Mar 30, 2017)

Printer profiles are device specific, so in that sense you cannot use their profile with your own printer. You can soft proof the image on your display though if they are willing to provide you with an ICC profile for the chosen paper. It's not an unreasonable request. 

One caveat here is that you not only need a properly calibrated display, but also a display of reasonable quality. If you are on a laptop or perhaps an older low end display soft proofing can create more problems than it solves. 

It's worth remembering that a display and a print will never be 100% identical, since they are completely different media, but nevertheless the perception of accuracy should be excellent if everything is properly profiled. 

Assuming your display is good there are basically two reasons why the prints might not be as expected. Either your display is improperly profiled for whatever reason or possibly the lab is not that great. 

In situations like this, especially if working with a lab for the first time it can be a good idea to send in a file and make a print at a very small size, before moving forward with a bigger order.


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## jsecordphoto (Mar 30, 2017)

Some labs resist giving out their ICC profiles because lots of people don't even understand how to properly use them.


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## KmH (Mar 30, 2017)

Which is a pretty lame excuse.


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## bazzaboy2010 (Mar 31, 2017)

Ysarex said:


> bazzaboy2010 said:
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> 
> > I use lightroom and photoshop. photoshop is always the end of my process
> ...




Thank you for your help. They have sent me the profile and now i have added that to my photo. Lets hope that now it works.


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## Ysarex (Mar 31, 2017)

bazzaboy2010 said:


> Ysarex said:
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> > bazzaboy2010 said:
> ...



You don't add the profile to your photo. If they sent you their printer/paper profile that's a device profile. You use that for soft-proofing. Your photo should have a device independent color space profile assigned -- preferably sRGB when dealing with a commercial lab that doesn't specify otherwise.

What you should do:

1. Check in Photoshop that your file has the correct color space profile. (Edit -> Convert to Profile). In the dialog box you'll see the assigned profile for you photo. If it's not sRGB you should convert it to sRGB.

2. Soft Proof the print output using the lab supplied profile. (View -> Proof Setup -> Custom). In the dialog box for Device to Simulate: select the lab suppled profile. The other settings in the dialog box you should get from the lab.

3. Finish editing your photo to your satisfaction and then soft proof to the print lab's profile. (View -> Proof Colors). You can toggle the soft proof back and forth to see how Photoshop simulates the change to your image when it's printed. You then have to decide what to do. If the change is very slight you may chose to do nothing and be happy with the understanding that it's unreasonable to expect an exact match. If the change is substantial *DO NOT CHANGE OR EDIT YOUR FILE!!!!* Create a duplicate of your file and with soft proof activated make edits to the duplicate to bring the image to the colors/tone you would prefer. Save that duplicate (sRGB) and send that file to be printed.

Joe


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## ashleykaryl (Mar 31, 2017)

Joe has explained it pretty well and I would agree you shouldn't become too anxious about small differences.

The only proviso I would add is that successful soft proofing really requires a calibrated desktop display of a certain level in a suitable environment for visual reference. If you are editing on a laptop outdoors on a balcony all bets are off.

One little trick you can use is to apply edits on an adjustment layer, while soft proofing with the gamut warning enabled. Give that layer the name of the paper for reference and leave the background layer untouched. At the end export a flattened copy with the edits for the lab and this process can be repeated for different paper types.


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