A little bit about Colour Profiles and why you need the right ones...
A little bit about Colour Profiles and why you need the right ones... (First published 24/09/08 on wordpress blog)
I found a very good introductory article on Colour Profiles that anyone printing digital art of any kind should start with. I have a feeling I read this along time ago and since it seemed way beyond my comprehension I ignored it and kept hoping there was another way to figure out how to get good prints. After much research, and a great deal of paper (which makes up for all the paper I didn't have to buy to paint on ...oh well!) I am finally starting to get the results I envisioned. I have also switched to using Epson printers because they support the media types I want to use. My first prints on any Matte paper, Epson or otherwise including the Radiant Watercolour were absolutely awful. Dark and muddy. Kind of like the ones I paid a prominent Art and Art Printing site to do of a couple of my paintings. Maybe I was supposed to include a colour profile with them when I posted them, but nobody asked for one? I couldn't have done it at that point anyway because I was still trying to ignore the whole issue.
Here is a link to the Photography Corner.com article that makes it easier to understand.
Posted in Printing Issues on May 12th, 2009. 1 comment so far.
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Alessandro said:
Hi Joan!
in my (very humble) opinion, if you want to professionally print your art-work you should first calibrate your monitor so that the colours that you see are the colours of the file to be printed. You can use tools like Spider3 (see on Amazon). (That's the minimum, I don't even dare to consider buying professional screens - 4000$ and more)
Then, I would not rely on a home printer but a printing service making glicee print. You can send them your file as TIF or PSD format and it must be a large file (I presume 20MB or 50MB)
I found this information helpful on a glicee printing service randonly looking with google (http://www.mauigiclee.com/PrintingService/ProductSpecifications)
"Digital File Printing Guidelines: The following guidelines will help you to maximize the results that can be achieved when creating a giclée graphic from a digital file.
Make sure that the file you send is at least 300 PPI (pixels per inch) at the final print image size desired. Avoid taking a low resolution file and "Resampling" it much large using Photoshop. This will usually leave signs of pixelation.
For Example: If you wish to have a final giclee print image size of 24" x 30" on paper or canvas, then your file, when viewed in Photoshop, should have a native (not resampled significantly) image size of 24" x 30" with a PPI at that size of at least 300.
Acceptable file formats are: PSD (Photoshop) & TIF - these are the best formats to use when possible. JGP, GIF & BMP Can be used but usually are not the best quality possible. Contact us to review disc or file delivery.
Since different computers, scanners, cameras, and printers have very different characteristics, color proofing the giclée print based only on your file is problematic. For us to properly color correct the giclée proof so that it closely matches your original and or expectations, you need to send us a proof that you want us to match, or have us output a proof which you can review and approve at Maui Giclée or one that we send to you.
"
So it's complicated but I think the learning curve it's worth exploring (part of being professional). I think that in the end the whole process is not too difficult but perhaps costly...
The alternative would be perhaps to buy a high-end EPSON printer to be used at home (maybe 800$)?
Alessandro