Soft proof

[screeny]

I have a calibrated monitor, I downloaded several printer profiles from various

labs with high end printers., I scan my slides on a coolscan V or a konica IV. I

proces my scans through PS7.0. Once I'm finished and happy what i see on my

screen I select a printer profile in the soft proof set up, hit soft proof...and

see my lovely image turn...well kind of liek a grey-ish lace has been laid over

it. All the "glimmer" and shininess has gone and it looks liek a dull,

contrastless image..on screen. Now am i expecting too much? will the prints turn

out good afterall? do I need to keep the soft proof and and fidlle around,? to

elaborate on the latter: I tried that but with the soft proof on no way I can

get a good result the more I fiddel around with curves, saturation etc the more

wierd and unnatural the image on my screen gets.

So what am i missing here? or is this soft proffing this somefink overrated and

works only if I have top nodge high end equipment? Or should pay no atention to

the soft proof?

 

thx and cheers

 

Marc

[Ed_Ingold]

You need to experiment with various settings. "Simulate Paper Color" and "Simulate Black Ink" will subdue the image in the way you describe. This is actually a fair representation of the appearance of a print as compared to a (self-illuminated) monitor. It is useful, but takes some getting used to. You will also see dramatic changes as you select various "Rendering Intent" options.

 

Have fun.

[robert lee]

The proof's in the pudding.

 

When I soft proof, I see what you describe as well. However, the print matches the soft proof and that's the whole point of the exercise. It really drives home that the monitor and print are different media. A mental reset helps sometimes. Bring the soft proof up. Look away from the monitor, then look back.

 

Also, you'll want to make sure to enable the out of gamut warning.

[les]

Soft proof is only an approximation of "how would the picture look like if printed on...". Neither the print can reproduce the monitor view, nor vice versa. In fact, soft proofs look worse on the screen than in print - although generally they indicate which way the contrast and colors swing when the image is printed.

 

Having the monitor calibrated (and custom profiles for my printer) - I never to work on soft-proofed image (apart from checking the final result). I have found out that when soft-proof is used for creating the final cut of the image - the effect in print is frequently exagerrated, with over-contrasty image and oversaturated colors.

So, I just do all editing in ADOBE RGB, then use soft-proof (just to check if there will be any dramas) and print - the result is always MUCH better than soft proof would lead me to believe (athough, as I said, certain shifts predicted by soft-proof are present). Does not worry me, my objective is not to print images which are identical to the monitor view (impossible anyway).

[screeny]

Thx all for the swift and very usefull answers!

 

cheers

 

 

Marc

[Tim_Lookingbill]

The character of the light prints are viewed under will greatly

affect screen to print perception.

 

If your lights are overhead off the ceiling or viewing outdoors, the

light dispersion and brightness characteristics will give a more

flattened or washed out appearance depending on the level of

brightness. Viewing under a more focused small lamp will give a

closer match and allow you to pull the print away for better

control of brightness. You also need to allow time for your eyes

adapt depending how different your light is from your monitor.

 

What works for me and my minilab prints after converting to its

profile is view them under an 18in. T8 GE Sunshine flotube

installed underneath my table where my monitor sits. I vary the

distance of the print from the light to match black point and

highlite intensity as it appears in the Soft Proof preview with

Relative Intent selected and Paper White and Ink Black turned

off.