Color Management

By Martin Evening

The color management system in Photoshop went through many

changes in the early years of the program. Bruce Fraser once said of
the Photoshop’s color management system ‘it’s push-button simple, as
long as you know which of the 60 or so buttons to push and in which
order!’ Much have changed since then and it is fair to say that most
people working today in the pre-press industry are now using ICC
color profile managed workflows without having to think too much
about what goes on behind the scenes, so long as it works. The aim of
this chapter is to introduce the basic concepts of color management
before looking at the color management interface in Photoshop and
the various color management settings.
The need for color management
An advertising agency art buyer was once invited to address a meeting
of photographers. The chair, Mike Laye, suggested we could ask him
anything we wanted, except ‘Would you like to see my book?’ And if
he had already seen your book, we couldn’t ask why he hadn’t called
it back in. And if he had called it in again we were not allowed to ask
why we didn’t get the job. And finally, if we did get the job we were
forbidden to ask why the color in the printed ad looked nothing like
the original photograph!
That in a nutshell is a problem which has bugged many of us
throughout our working lives, and it is one which will be familiar to
anyone who has ever experienced the difficulty of matching colors
on a computer display with the original or a printed output. Figure 1
shows two versions of the same photograph. The picture on the left
shows how you might see an image on your display in Photoshop and
the one on the right represents how that same image might print if sent
directly to a printer without applying any form of color management.
You might think it is merely a matter of making the output color less

Figure 1 The original image is shown on the left. And, on the right, how it might print if
you don’t use color management. Client: Russell Eaton. Model: Lidia @ M&P.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 2

blue in order to successfully match the original. Yes, that would get the Color vision trickery
colors closer, but when trying to match color between different digital
They say that seeing is believing, but
devices, the story is actually a lot more complex than that. The color
nothing could be further from the truth,
management system in Photoshop can help you successfully match the
since there are many interesting quirks and
colors from the scanner to the computer display and to the printer.
surprises in the way we humans perceive
So why can there sometimes be such a marked difference between
vision. There is an interesting book on this
what is seen on the display and the actual printed result? Well, digital
subject titled “Why We See What We Do”,
images are essentially nothing more than bunches of numbers.
by Dale Purves and R. Beau Lotto (Sinauer
Color management is all about making sense of those numbers and
Associates, Inc). There is also a website
translating them into meaningful colors at the various stages of the
at www.purveslab.net where you can have
image making process.
fun playing with the interactive visual
tests, to discover how easily our eyes can
Color management objectives be deceived. What you learn from studies
Successful color management relies on the use of profiles to describe like this is that color can never be properly
the color handling characteristics of each device, such as a scanner or described in absolute mathematical terms.
a printer, and using a color management system to translate the profile How we perceive a color can also be
data between each device in the chain. Consider for a moment the scale greatly influenced by the other colors that
of the task at hand. We wish to capture a full color original subject, surround it. This is a factor that designers
digitize it with a scanner or digital camera, examine the resulting image use when designing a product or a page
via a computer display and then reproduce it in print. It is possible with layout. You also do this every time you
today’s technology to simulate the expected print output of a digitized evaluate a photograph, often without even
image on a computer display with remarkable accuracy and print with being aware of it.
confidence. But in doing so, one should not underestimate the huge
difference between the mechanics of all the various bits of equipment
that make this process happen. All digital devices have different
characteristics, and just like musical instruments, they all possess
unique color tonal properties, such that no two devices are absolutely
identical or able to reproduce color exactly the same way as another
device. The color data you input to the computer has to be translated
into illuminated pixels on a color display, so that the image you see on
the display looks recognizably the same as what you shot. Finally, at the
print stage, the color data has to be converted to reproduce as tiny color
ink drops on paper.
Unless you are able to quantify what the individual characteristics
are for all your devices, you won’t be able to communicate effectively
with other devices and other computer programs in your computer
setup, let alone anyone working outside your own system color loop.
Some computer displays have manual controls that allow you to
adjust the brightness and contrast (and in some cases the RGB color as
well) and the printer driver will also allow you to make color balance
adjustments, but is this really enough? Plus, even if you are able to
get your display and printer to match, will the colors you see on your
display appear the same on another person’s system?

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 3

The versatility of RGB
A major advantage of working in RGB is that you can access all the
bells and whistles of Photoshop which would otherwise be hidden
or grayed out in CMYK mode, and if you choose to use Adobe RGB
or ProPhoto RGB, you will have a larger color gamut to work with.
These days there is also no telling how a final image may end up being
reproduced. A photograph may get used in a variety of ways, with
multiple CMYK separations made to suit several types of publications,
each requiring a slightly different CMYK conversion (because CMYK
is not a ‘one size fits all’ color space). For example, high-end retouching
for advertising usage is usually done in RGB mode and the CMYK
conversions and film separations are produced working directly from
the digital files to suit the various media usages. CMYK ink values C M Y K
Photographers are mainly involved in the RGB capture end of the
US Web Uncoated 08 23 29 0
business, which means that more images than ever before are starting
out in, and staying in RGB color. This is an important factor that Euroscale Coated 09 25 30 0
makes color management so necessary and also one of the reasons Japan Pos proofing 07 28 33 0
why I devote so much attention to the management of RGB color, here
and elsewhere in the book. So, if professional photographers are more RGB pixel values R G B
likely to supply a digital file at the end of a job, how will this fit in with Adobe RGB 220 190 165
existing repro press workflows that are based on the use of CMYK
Lambda printer 230 184 158
color? Although digital capture is now commonplace, the RGB to
CMYK issue needs to be resolved. If the work you create is intended for Epson 9000 RGB 231 179 123
print, the conversion from RGB to CMYK must be addressed at some
point, and so for this important reason, we shall also be looking at Figure 2 This shows the skin tone
CMYK color conversions in detail later on in this chapter. number measurements for different CMYK
and RGB color spaces.
Output-centric color management
Printers who work in the repro industry naturally tend to have an
‘output-centric’ view of color management. Their main concern is getting
the CMYK color to look right on a CMYK press and printers can color
correct a CMYK image ‘by the numbers’ if they wish.
While experienced repro people can make this work for themselves
when managing CMYK files, these working methods don’t translate
to editing in RGB. Take a look at the photograph in Figure 2. The
Caucasian flesh tones of this model should contain equal amounts
of magenta and yellow ink, with maybe a slightly greater amount
of yellow, while the cyan ink should be a quarter to a third of the
magenta. This rule will hold true for most CMYK press conditions
and the accompanying table compares the CMYK and RGB space
measurements of a flesh tone color. However, you will notice there are
no similar formulae that can be used to describe the RGB pixel values

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 4

of a flesh tone. If you were to write down the flesh tone numbers for
every RGB device color space, you could in theory build an RGB color
space reference table. From this you could feasibly construct a system
that would assign meaning to these RGB numbers for any given RGB
space. This is basically what an ICC profile does except an ICC profile
may contain several hundred color reference points. These can then be
read and interpreted automatically by the Photoshop software and give
meaning to the color numbers.
Figure 3 Even if you have never been to
London before, you know it’s a fairly big
Profiled color management place and ‘Flat 14, London’ was not going
The objective of profiled color management is to use the measured to help the postman locate my proper
characteristics of everything involved in the image editing workflow, address!
from capture through to print, to reliably translate the color at each
stage of the process. In a normal Photoshop workflow, the color
management begins with reading the profiled RGB color data from the
incoming file and, if necessary, converting it to the current Photoshop
RGB workspace. While an RGB image is being edited in Photoshop the
workspace image data is converted on-the-fly to the profiled display
space and sent to the computer display, so that the colors can be
viewed correctly. When the image is finally output as a print, the RGB
workspace data is converted to the profile space of the printer. Or, you
might carry out an RGB to CMYK conversion to the CMYK profile of a
known proof printer.
Whether you edit the image in the source profile, or convert to the
workspace profile, that profile information should be embedded in an
image file. When a profile is read by Photoshop and color management
is switched on, Photoshop is automatically able to find out everything
it needs to know in order to manage the color correctly from there
on. This will also be dependent on you calibrating your display, but
essentially all you have to do apart from that is to open the Photoshop
Color Settings from the Edit menu and select a suitable preset such
as the US Prepress Default setting. Do this and you are all set to start
working in an ICC color managed workflow.
Think of a profile as being like a postcode (or ZIP code) for
images. For example, the address label shown in Figure 3 was rather
optimistically sent to me at ‘Flat 14, London’, but the inclusion of
the postcode made all the difference and it arrived safely! Some labs
and printers have been known to argue that profiles cause color
management problems. This I am afraid is like a courier company
explaining that the late arrival of your package was due to you including
a ZIP code in the delivery address. A profile can be read or it can be
ignored. What is harmful in these circumstances is a recipient who
doesn’t use an ICC workflow.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 5

 Translating the color data
Color Management Modules
One way to comprehend the importance of
At the heart of any ICC system is the Color Management Module, or
giving meaning to the numbers in a digital
CMM, which carries out the profile conversion processing.
file is to make a comparison with what
The International Color Consortium (ICC) is an industry body
happens when language loses its meaning.
that represents the leading manufacturers of imaging hardware and
There is an excellent book by Lynne Truss
software. The ICC grew out of the original Color Consortium that
called “Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero
was established in 1993 and has been responsible for extending
Tolerance Approach to Punctuation”. It
and developing the original ColorSync architecture to produce the
is partly a rant against poor punctuation,
standardized ICC format, which enables profiles created by different
but also stresses the importance of using
vendors to work together. All ICC systems are basically able to translate
punctuation to assign exact meaning to the
the color gamut of a source space via a reference space (the Profile
words we read. Remove the punctuation
Connection Space) and accurately convert these colors to the gamut
and words can soon lose their true
of the destination space. Although the ICC format specification is
intended meaning. Another good example
standardized, this is one area where there are some subtle differences in
is the way words can have different
the way each CMM handles the data.
meanings in other languages. So a word
In Photoshop you have a choice of three CMMs: Adobe Color
viewed out of context can be meaningless
Engine (ACE), Apple ColorSync or Apple CMM. There are other
unless you know the language to which it
brands of CMM that you can use as well, but this really need not
belongs. For example, the word ‘cane’ in
concern most Photoshop users, as I recommend you use the default
English means ‘dog’ in Italian.
Adobe (ACE) CMM in Photoshop.

The Profile Connection Space

If the CMM is the engine that drives color management, then the
Profile Connection Space (PCS) is at the hub of any color management PCS
system. The PCS is the translator that interprets the colors from a
profiled space and defines them using either a CIE XYZ or CIE LAB
color space. The Profile Connection Space is an interim space. It
uses unambiguous numerical values to describe color values using Figure 4 A color management system
a color model that matches the way we humans observe color (see is able to read the profile information
Figure 4). You can think of the PCS as being like the color management from an incoming RGB file and behind the
equivalent of a multilingual dictionary that can translate one language scenes it builds a table that correlates the
into any other language. source RGB information with the Profile
If an ICC profile is embedded in the file, Photoshop will recognize Connecting Space values.
this and know how to correctly interpret the color data. It helps to
understand here that in an ICC color managed workflow in Photoshop,
what you see on the display is always a color corrected preview and
you are not viewing the actual file data. If color management is
switched on, the RGB input profile is read and temporarily converted
(as necessary) via the PCS to the RGB workspace. What you then
see on the display is an RGB preview that’s converted from the RGB

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 6

workspace to your profiled display RGB via the PCS (see Figure 5).
When you make a print, the image data is converted from the
workspace RGB to the printer RGB via the PCS. The same thing
happens when Photoshop previews CMYK data on the display. The
Photoshop color management system calculates a conversion from
the file CMYK space to the display space. Photoshop therefore carries
out all its color calculations in a virtual color space. In a sense, it does
not necessarily matter which RGB workspace you edit with. It does
not have to be exactly the same as the workspace set on another user’s
Photoshop system. If you are both viewing the same file, and your
displays are correctly calibrated and profiled, a color image should
look near enough the same on both. Having said that, the RGB color
space selection for the workspace can make a difference to the depth of
colors (the color gamut) you have to work with. We’ll be looking at the
RGB workspace options towards the end of this chapter.

Display
RGB

Input Printer
PCS
RGB RGB

Workspace
RGB

Figure 5 This diagram shows how the Photoshop color engine uses a Profile
Connecting Space to handle the incoming RGB data and translate the data that is
displayed on the screen and the data that is sent to the printer.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 7

Profiling the display
To get color management to work in Photoshop you have to calibrate
and profile the computer display. This is by far the most important
and essential first link in the color management chain. It is after all
the instrument you rely upon most when you make your color editing
decisions. The display itself is important of course. The cheaper displays
tend to have a limited color gamut, are likely to have uneven luminance
and may run too bright to calibrate successfully. If you are prepared to
spend a bit more money you can get a wide gamut color display that
can display more colors and near enough the entire Adobe RGB gamut.
Some high-end LCD displays, such as the Eizo ColorEdge and the NEC
Spectraview feature hardware level calibration.
I strongly urge you to purchase a display calibration kit that Figure 6 This shows an X-Rite Eye-One
includes the necessary calibration software and use this to calibrate the device being used to calibrate and profile
monitor on a regular basis. In my office I use an X-Rite Eye One device a display.
(Figure 6) to calibrate and profile my displays and I use BasICColor
Display software to carry out the calibration process. See the
Calibration chapter on the book website for more information about
the steps to follow when calibrating and profiling your display. Do
remember that the performance of the display will fluctuate over time,
so it is therefore important to check and calibrate the display at regular
intervals.

Profiling the input

Input profiling is possible, but it’s easier to do with a scanner than it
is with a digital camera. To profile a scanner you’ll need to scan a film
or print target and use profile creation software such as X-Rite’s i1
Profiler™ program to read the data and build a custom profile based
on readings taken from the scanned target (Figure 7). The target
measurements are then used to build a profile that describes the
characteristics of the scanner. It can then be incorporated into your
color managed workflow to interpret the color image data coming into
Photoshop. This can be done by selecting the profile in the scanner Figure 7 The i1 Profiler interface.
software or by assigning the profile in Photoshop as the file is opened.
Camera profiling is a lot trickier to do. This is because the camera
sensor will respond differently under different lighting conditions and
you would therefore need to build a new profile every time the light
changed. This is not necessarily a problem if you are using a digital
camera in a studio setup with a consistent strobe lighting setup.
As you will recall in the Camera Raw chapter, Camera Raw has
built-in ‘Adobe Standard’ camera profiles for all supported cameras.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 8

Where required, you can include an X-Rite ColorChecker in a setup,
photograph this and use the Adobe DNG Profile Editor app to generate
a custom camera profile for that specific camera and lighting setup.
Overall, I would not stress too much about input profiles unless
this is something that is critical to your workflow that you have
absolute color control from start to finish. Most photographers can
successfully rely on the Adobe Camera Raw Adobe Standard profile to
get the colors looking correct. Once you start editing a photo it is more
important to trust what you see on your monitor display and obtain
good color management between the image that’s previewed on the
computer display and what you see in print.

Profiling the output

Successful color management also relies on having accurate profiles
for each type of media paper that’s used with your printer. If you buy a
desktop printer it should come with a driver on a CD, or one you can
download. The installation procedure should install a set of canned
profiles that will work when using the proprietary inks designed to
be used with the printer and for a limited range of branded papers.
The canned profiles are generally good enough for professional print Figure 8 An X-Rite color target that can
results. However, you can carry out custom profiling to build profiles be used to build an ICC color profile.
for other types of print/paper combinations. This can be done by
printing out a test target like the one shown in Figure 8, but without
color managing it. This can be done by downloading the Adobe Color
Printer Utility from the Adobe website (tinyurl.com/25onde3). Use
this to print the supplied target. Once the test print has been allowed
to stabilize, it can be measured the following day with a device like the
X-Rite Eye-One spectrophotometer (Figure 9). The patch measurement
results can then be used to build a color profile for the printer. The
other alternative is to take advantage of Neil Barstow’s remote profiling
Figure 9. Once a printed profile has
service special offer which is available to readers (see the back of the
been printed out, the color patches can be
book). You can use a profiled printer to achieve good CMYK proofing,
read using a spectrophotometer and the
even from a modestly priced printer, which comes close to matching
measurements used to build an ICC profile.
the quality of a recognized contract proof printer.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 9

Color management in action
Figure 10 re-examines the problem encountered at the beginning of
this chapter where the skin tones in the original image printed too
blue. In this workflow no printer profile was used and the image data
was sent directly to the printer with no adjustment made to the image
data. Figure 11 shows a profile color managed workflow and what
happens behind the scenes when Photoshop carries out a color profile
conversion. The profile created for this particular printer is used to
convert the image data to that of the printer’s color space before being
sent to the printer. The (normally hidden) color shifting which occurs
during the profile conversion process ensures the output more closely
matches the original.

Figure 10 This shows an example of a non-color managed workflow.

Figure 11 This shows an example of a Photoshop color managed workflow.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 10

Figure 12 The Color Settings dialog.

The Color Settings

The Color Settings (Figure 12) are located in the Edit menu. The first
item you will come across is the Settings pop-up menu. Photoshop
provides a range of preset configurations for the color management
system and these can be edited to meet your own specific requirements.
The default setting will be a General Purpose setting and the exact
naming and subsequent settings list will vary depending on the region
where you live. Since this is just a default I advise changing this to
one of the prepress settings. This selects Adobe RGB as your RGB
workspace, and enables the Profile Mismatch and Missing Profiles
alert warnings. So if you live in Europe, you would select the ‘Europe
Prepress’ setting from the Settings options shown in Figure 13. The
prepress’ settings are an ideal starting point for any type of color
managed workflow, especially if you are a photographer. This is all you
need to concern yourself with initially for a nice and easy simple color
management setup that is good to go. However, if you want to learn Figure 13 The Settings menu options in
more about how color management works and what the various settings Color Setting.
do, then read on.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 11

Color management policies
The first thing Photoshop does when a document is opened is check
to see if an ICC profile is present. The default policy is to preserve
the embedded profile information. So whether the document has
originated in sRGB, Adobe RGB or ColorMatch RGB, it will open in
that RGB color space and after editing be saved as such. This means
you can have several files open at once and each can be in an entirely
different color space. A good tip here is to set the Status box to show
‘Document profile’ (on the Mac this is at the bottom left of the image
window; on a PC it is at the bottom of the system screen). Or, you can
configure the Info panel to display this information. This allows you to
see each individual document’s color space profile.

Preserve embedded profiles

The default policy of ‘Preserve Embedded Profiles’ allows you to
use the ICC color management system straight away, without too
much difficulty. So long as there is a profile tag embedded in any file
you open, Photoshop gives you the option to open that file without
converting it. So if you are given an sRGB file to open, the default
option is to open it in sRGB and save using the same sRGB color space.
This is despite the fact that your default RGB workspace might be
ProPhoto RGB or some other RGB color space. The same policy rules
apply to CMYK and grayscale files. Whenever ‘Preserve Embedded
Profiles’ is selected, Photoshop reads the CMYK or Grayscale profile,
preserves the numeric data and does not convert the colors, and the
image remains in the tagged color space. This is always going to be the
preferred option when editing incoming CMYK files because a CMYK
file may already be targeted for a specific press output and you don’t
really want to convert and alter the numbers for those color values.

Profile mismatches and missing profiles

The default prepress color management policy setting is set to ‘Ask
When Opening’ if there is a profile mismatch (see Figure 14). This
means you will see the warning dialog shown in Figure 15 whenever
the profile of a file you are opening does not match the current
workspace. This offers you a chance to use the embedded profile
(which is recommended). Or, you can override the policy and convert
to the working space, or discard the embedded profile. Whatever
you do, select one of these options and click OK, because if you click
‘Cancel’ you’ll cancel opening the file completely. I normally select
Preserve Embedded Profiles and deselect ‘Ask When Opening’, so I am
not constantly shown this dialog.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 12

Figure 14 The Color Management Policies, with the Profile Mismatches and Missing
Profiles checkboxes checked.

A newcomer does not necessarily have to fully understand how

Photoshop color management works in order to use it successfully.
When ‘Preserve Embedded Profiles’ is selected this makes the
Photoshop color management system quite foolproof and the color
management system is adaptable enough to suit the needs of all
Photoshop users, regardless of their skill levels. Whichever option you
select – convert or don’t convert – the saved file will always be tagged
with a correct ICC profile.

Figure 15 The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 13

Convert to Working space
If you select the ‘Convert to Working RGB’ policy, Photoshop
automatically converts everything to your current RGB workspace.
If the incoming profile does not match the workspace and the Ask
When Opening option is unchecked, the default option is to carry out
a profile conversion from the embedded profile space to the current
workspace (as shown in Figure 16). Here, you can click OK to convert
to the current work space. If the ‘Ask When Opening’ box is checked in
the Profile Mismatches section you will see the dialog shown in Figure
17. Here, you can make a choice on opening to use the embedded
profile, convert to the working space, or override the policy and discard
the embedded profile. If the incoming profile matches the current RGB
workspace, there will of course no need to convert the colors.
The same applies when selecting the ‘Convert to Working CMYK’
policy. However, in the case of CMYK files it is inadvisable to convert
to the CMYK working space because once a file has been converted to
CMYK it is best not to reconvert to CMYK again.

Figure 16 The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog.

Figure 17 The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog when ‘Ask When Opening‘ is
checked in Color Settings.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 14

Color Management Off When it is good to ‘turn off’

When the ‘Off ’ option is selected Photoshop appears not to color Sometimes it is desirable to discard a
manage incoming documents and assumes the default RGB or CMYK profile. For example, you may be aware that
workspace to be the source. If there is no profile embedded, the the image you are about to open has an
document opens ‘as is’. If there is a profile mismatch between the source incorrect profile and it is therefore a good
and the workspace, you’ll see the dialog shown in Figure 18, which thing to discard it and assign the correct
points out that if you click OK the embedded profile will be deleted. profile later in Photoshop. I still would not
If the ‘Ask When Opening’ box is checked in the Profile Mismatches recommend choosing ‘Off’ as the default
section, you will see the options shown on Figure 19. setting though. Just make sure you have
If the source profile matches the workspace, there is no need to the Color Management Policies set to ‘Ask
remove the profile. In this instance the profile tag will not be removed When Opening’ and you can easily intervene
(even so, you can still remove the ICC profile at the save stage). and discard the profile when using the
Therefore, Photoshop is still able to color manage certain files and ‘Preserve Embedded Profiles’ or ‘Convert to
strictly speaking is not completely ‘off ’. Turning the color management Working’ RGB color management policies
off is not recommended for general Photoshop work. If working on settings.
an unfamiliar computer, do check the Color Settings to make sure
Photoshop’s color management hasn’t been disabled.

Figure 18 The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog when Color Management is set to Off.

Figure 19 The Embedded Profile Mismatch dialog when Color Management is set to Off
and ‘Ask When Opening‘ is checked in Color Settings.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 15

 RGB to RGB conversion warning
Profile conversions
A Convert to Profile is just like any other
As you gain more experience you will soon be able to create your own
image mode change in Photoshop, such
customized color settings. The minimum you need to know is ‘which
as converting from RGB to Grayscale
of the listed color settings are appropriate for the work you are doing’.
mode. However, if you use Convert to
To help in this decision making, you can read the text descriptions
Profile to produce targeted RGB outputs
that appear in the Description box at the bottom of the Color Settings
don’t overwrite the original RGB master. As
dialog. The following section explains how to make profile conversions
always, customized RGB files such as this
once files have been opened in Photoshop, as well as how to assign
may easily confuse other non-ICC savvy
different profiles where it is necessary to do so.
Photoshop users. Not everyone is using
Photoshop, nor does everyone have their
Convert to Profile
color management configured correctly.
Even if you choose to preserve the embedded profile on opening, it can RGB to RGB conversions can produce
be useful to convert non-workspace files to your current workspace RGB images that look fine on a correctly
after opening. This is where the Convert to Profile command comes configured system, but look very odd on
in, because you can use it to carry out a profile conversion at any time, one that is not.
such as at the end of a retouch session, just before saving. To do this,
go to the Edit menu and choose ‘Convert to Profile…’ (Figure 20).
The Source space shows the current profile space. In Basic mode, the
Destination Space defaults to ‘Working RGB’ Or, you can change this, as
I have done here to sRGB.
Click on the Advanced button to go to the Convert to Profile
Advanced dialog (Figure 21). Here, the Destination space options are
broken down into different color mode types: Gray, RGB, Lab and
CMYK, plus other more esoteric options such as Device Link and
Abstract profile modes. With the color modes segmented this way, it

Figure 20 The Basic Convert to Profile dialog.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 16

Figure 21 The Advanced Convert to Profile dialog.

makes it easier to access specific types of profiles when carrying out

a conversion. Also, when you select from the RGB menu you only
see RGB spaces and if you click on the CMYK menu you only see the
CMYK space options (see Figure 22).
The Convert to Profile command is most commonly used when
converting photographs to sRGB for the Web, or converting to a
specific CMYK color space (which isn’t the same as the default CMYK
space). It is also useful whenever you wish to create an output file to
send to a printer for which you have a custom-built profile but the print
driver does not recognize ICC profiles. You can record the Convert to
Profile as an Action step when batch processing images where you wish
them to all be converted to a specific color space.
Be aware that whenever you make a profile conversion the image
data will end up in a different color space and you might therefore see
a slight change in the on-screen color appearance. This is because the
profile space you are converting to may have a smaller gamut than the Figure 22 The CMYK destination profile
one you are converting from. menu.
Also, whenever you open an image in Photoshop that is in a
color space other than the default working space, or you convert to a
different working space, Photoshop appends a warning asterisk (*) to
the color mode in the title bar (Mac) or status bar (PC).

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 17

Assign Profile Incorrect sRGB profile tags

If an image is missing its profile or has the wrong profile embedded, Some digital cameras won’t embed a
the color numbers will be meaningless. In these situations the Assign profile in the JPEG capture files or worse
Profile command (Figure 23) can be used to correct such mistakes and still, embed a wrong profile, yet the EXIF
assign a correct meaning to the numbers. For example, if you know metadata will misleadingly say the file is in
the profile of an opened file is wrong, you can use the Edit ➯ Assign sRGB color mode. The danger here is that
Profile command to rectify the problem. Or, let’s say you have opened while you may select Adobe RGB as the RGB
an untagged RGB file and for some reason decided not to color manage space for your camera, when shooting in
the file when opening. The colors don’t look right and you have reason JPEG mode the camera may inadvertently
to believe that the file had originated from the sRGB color space. Yet, it omit to alter the EXIF tag which stubbornly
is being edited in your current ProPhoto RGB workspace as if it were reads sRGB. This can be resolved by going
a ProPhoto RGB image. By assigning an sRGB profile, you can tell to the Photoshop menu and choosing:
Photoshop that this is not a ProPhoto RGB image and the numbers Preferences ➯ File Handling... If you
should be interpreted as being in the sRGB color space. check the ‘Ignore EXIF Profile tag’ option,
In most instances, assigning sRGB will bring the colors back to Photoshop always ignores the specified
life. For example, whenever I get sent an unprofiled file, in just about camera profile in the EXIF metadata and only
every case I can successfully correct the image by assuming the missing relies on the actual profile (where present)
profile to be sRGB. when determining the color space the data
You can also use Assign Profile to remove a profile by clicking on should be in.
the Don’t Color Manage This Document button. This strips the file
of its profile. You can also do this by choosing File ➯ Save As… and
deselecting the Embed Profile checkbox in the Save options.

Figure 23 The Assign Profile dialog.

Profile mismatches when pasting

It is possible to have multiple images open in Photoshop that have
different profiled color spaces. Therefore, whenever you copy and paste
image data, or drag a layer from one image to another, it is possible for
a profile mismatch may occur; although this will very much depend on
how you have the Color Management policies configured in the Color
Settings (see Figure 24).
If the Profile Mismatches: Ask When Pasting box is unchecked in
the Color Settings and a profile mismatch occurs, you will see the dialog

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 18

Figure 24 The Profile Mismatches settings in the Color Management section of the
Color Settings dialog will influence Profile Mismatch behavior.

shown in Figure 25. This asks if you wish to convert the color data to
preserve the color appearance when it is pasted into the new destination
document. If the Profile Mismatches: Ask When Pasting box is checked
in the Color Settings, then you will see the dialog box shown in
Figure 26. This offers you the choice to convert or not convert the data.
If you select ‘Convert’, the appearance of the colors will be maintained
when you paste the data and if you choose ‘Don’t Convert’ the color
appearance will change but the numbers will be preserved.

Saving a Color Setting

Figure 25 The Paste Profile Mismatch dialog.

Figure 26 The Paste Profile Mismatch dialog when Ask When Pasting is checked in
Color Setings.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 19

Once you have configured the settings to suit a particular workflow,
you can click on the Save… button in the Color Settings dialog to
save these as a custom setting. The directory path will be: Username/
Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Settings (Mac), or Program
Files/Common Files/Adobe/Color/Settings folder (PC). When you save
a custom setting it must be saved to this location and will automatically
be appended with the ‘.csf ’ suffix.
When you save a setting you can enter any relevant comments
or notes about the setting you are saving in the text box shown in
Figure 27. This information will then appear in the Color Settings
dialog text box at the bottom. You might name a setting something
like ‘Client annual report settings’ and write a short descriptive note to
accompany it, reminding you of situations where you would need to use
this particular custom setting. Color Settings files can also be shared
between some Adobe applications and with other Photoshop users.

Figure 27 The Color Settings Comment dialog

Reducing the opportunities for error

When you adopt an RGB space such as ProPhoto RGB as the preferred
workspace for all your image editing, you must take into account
how this might cause confusion when exchanging RGB files between
your computer (which is operating in a color managed workflow)
and that of someone who might be using Photoshop with the color
management switched off. When sending image files to other
Photoshop users, the presence of a profile can help them read the
image data correctly, so long as they have the Photoshop color settings
configured to preserve embedded profiles (or convert to the working
space) and their computer display is calibrated correctly. They will
then see your photographs on their system almost exactly the way you
intended them to be seen. The only variables will be the accuracy of
their display calibration and profile, the color gamut limitations of the

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 20

display and the environment in which it is being viewed. Configuring
the Color Settings is not so difficult to do, but the recipient does
have to be as conscientious as you are about ensuring their display is
correctly calibrated.
It is important to be aware of these potential problems because it is
all too easy for the color management to fail once an image file has left
your hands and been passed on to another Photoshop user. With this
in mind, here are some useful tips to help avoid misunderstandings
over color. The most obvious way to communicate what the colors are
supposed to look like is to supply a printed output. If you are sending
a file for CMYK repro printing, it is sensible to also supply a CMYK
targeted print output. Supplying a print is an unambiguous visual
reference, which if done properly can form the basis of a contract
between yourself, the client and the printer.
You cannot always make too many assumptions about who you
are sending image files to and it is for this reason that you should
sometimes adopt a more cautious approach. I have often asked to
supply RGB files as JPEGs for initial approval by the client before
making a finished print. In these situations I find it safer to supply a
profiled sRGB image. I do this by choosing Edit ➯ Convert to Profile…
and select sRGB as the destination space. If the recipient is color
management savvy, then the version of Photoshop they are working
with will be able to read the sRGB profile and handle the colors
correctly. If not, one can be almost certain that they are using sRGB
as their default RGB workspace. So in these instances, converting to
sRGB means they stand a better chance of seeing the colors correctly
regardless of whether they have the color management on or off.

Playing detective
Whenever you have to share files with another Photoshop user it
helps to do a little detective work to ascertain the recipient’s setup.
For example, you might want to ask what color settings are they
using? This will help you determine which RGB space they are using
and whether the color management is switched on or off. You can
also ask if computer display is calibrated and profiled?’ This will tell
you quite a bit about the other person’s system, how accurate their
computer display is at displaying colors and therefore how you should
supply your files. Some printing labs specify that the files you supply
must be converted to a specific profile space. If so, make sure you do
this rather than rely on having them convert the file for you. Other
than that, sRGB is a useful ‘dumbed down’ space to convert to when
communicating with unknown users. If you have any doubts, the safest
option is always to convert to sRGB before sending.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 21

Conversion options
The Color Settings dialog is shown below in Figure 28. In the
Conversion Options section you have a choice of three Color
Management Modules (CMMs). I recommend you leave this set to the
Adobe Color Engine (ACE), which uses 20-bit per channel bit-depth
calculations to calculate its color space conversions. But you can if you
like select the Apple CMM ColorSync engine.

Figure 28 The Color Settings dialog.

Rendering intent
The rendering intent influences the way the data is translated from the
source to the destination space. The rendering intent is like a rule that
describes the way the conversion is calculated. Whenever you make a
profile conversion, such as when converting from RGB to CMYK, not
all of the colors in the original source space will have a direct equivalent
in the destination space. RGB spaces are mostly bigger than CMYK,

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 22

or an RGB print space, which can result in colors in the source space
being out of gamut relative to the destination space. In these situations
the out of gamut colors have to be translated to their nearest equivalent
color in the destination space. The way this translation is calculated
is determined by the rendering intent. The Color Settings dialog lets
you choose which rendering intent (Intent) you would like to use as
the default method for all color mode conversions (Figure 29), but you
can also override this setting and choose a different rendering intent Figure 29 The Conversion Options
whenever you use the Edit ➯ Convert to Profile command (Figure 30), Intent menu.
or soft proof an image using View ➯ Proof Setup ➯ Custom. The latter
lets you preview a simulated conversion without actually converting
the RGB data.

Perceptual
The Perceptual rendering is an all-round rendering method that is
sometimes suitable for certain types of images. Perceptual rendering
compresses the out-of-gamut colors into the gamut of the target
space in a rather generalized way (so that they don’t become clipped),
while preserving the visual relationship between those colors. More Figure 30 The Convert to Profile dialog.
compression occurs with the out-of-gamut colors, smoothly ramping to
no compression for the in-gamut colors. Perceptual rendering provides
a best guess method for converting out-of-gamut colors where it is
important to preserve tonal separation (such as in the shadow detail
areas), but it is less suitable for images that happen to have fewer out-of-
gamut colors.

Saturation
The Saturation rendering intent preserves the saturation of the out-of-
gamut colors at the expense of hue and lightness. Saturation rendering
preserves the saturation of colors making them appear as vivid as
possible after the conversion. This rendering intent is best suited to the
conversion of business graphic presentations where retaining bright
bold colors is of prime importance.

Relative Colorimetric
Relative Colorimetric is the default rendering intent utilized in the
Photoshop color settings. Relative Colorimetric rendering maps the
colors that are out of gamut in the source color space (relative to the
target space) to the nearest ‘in-gamut’ equivalent in the target space.
For example, when doing an RGB to CMYK conversion, an out-of-
gamut blue will be rendered the same CMYK value as a ‘just-in-gamut’
blue and out-of-gamut RGB colors are therefore clipped. This can be a

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 23

problem when attempting to convert the more extreme out-of-gamut Which rendering intent is best?
RGB colors to CMYK color, but if you use View ➯ Proof Setup ➯
If you are converting photographic images
Custom (Figure 31) to call up the Customize Proof Condition dialog
from one color space to another, then you
you can check to see if such gamut clipping will cause the loss of any
should mostly use the Relative Colorimetric
important image detail when converting to CMYK with a Relative
or Perceptual rendering intents. Relative
Colorimetric conversion.
Colorimetric has always been the default
Photoshop rendering intent and is still the
best choice for most image conversions.
However, if you are converting an image
where it is important to preserve the shadow
colors, then Perceptual may often be better.
For these reasons, I recommend you use the
Soft proofing method described in the Print
chapter to preview the outcome of a profile
conversion.

Figure 31 The Customize Proof Condition dialog

Absolute Colorimetric
Absolute Colorimetric maps in-gamut colors exactly from one space
to another with no adjustment made to the white and black points.
This rendering intent can be used when you convert specific ‘signature
colors’ and need to preserve the exact hue, saturation and brightness
(such as the colors in a commercial logo design). This rendering
intent is seemingly more relevant to the working needs of designers
than photographers. However, you can use the Absolute Colorimetric
rendering intent as a means of simulating a target CMYK output
on a proofing device. Let’s say you make a conversion from RGB to
CMYK using either the Relative Colorimetric or Perceptual CMM
and the target CMYK output is a newspaper color supplement printed
on uncoated paper. If you use the Absolute Colorimetric rendering
intent to convert these ‘targeted’ CMYK colors to the color space of
the proofing device, the proof printer can reproduce a simulation
of what the printed output on that stock will look like. For example,
when you select the ‘Proof ’ option in the Photoshop print dialog, the
rendering intent menu appears grayed out. This is because an Absolute
Colorimetric rendering is selected automatically (although the Print
dialog doesn’t actually show you this) in order to produce a simulated
proof print.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 24

 Figures 32 to 34 illustrate how the rendering intent can influence
the outcome of a color mode or profile conversion. Figure 32 shows
the Adobe RGB color space (represented by a mesh shape) overlaying a
US Sheetfed Coated CMYK color space (represented as a solid shape).
Adobe RGB is able to contain all the colors that may be squeezed into
this smaller CMYK space. The palm tree photograph is plotted as dots
to represent where the RGB colors in this image fall within the Adobe
RGB space gamut.
When the colors in this RGB image are converted to CMYK, the
rendering intent determines how the RGB colors that are outside the
gamut limits of the CMYK space are assigned a new color value. If
you turn over the page you will notice the subtle differences between a
relative colorimetric (Figure 33) and a perceptual (Figure 34) rendering
(I have highlighted a single blue color in each to point out these
differences). With a Relative Colorimetric rendering the out-of-gamut
blue color is rendered to the nearest in-gamut CMYK equivalent. With
a Perceptual rendering the same blue color is squeezed in further. This
rendering method preserves the relationship between the out-of-gamut
colors but at the expense of sometimes (but not always) producing a
less vibrant separation.
Adobe RGB color space

US Sheetfed Coated space

Figure 32 The colors in this photograph are represented here as dots within the Adobe
RGB space color gamut, which is compared with the smaller CMYK output gamut.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 25

 Original RGB color

CMYK equivalent color

Figure 33 Relative Colorimeteric rendering intent.

Original RGB color

CMYK equivalent color

Figure 34 Perceptual rendering intent.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 26

Black Point Compensation
This maps the darkest neutral color of the source RGB color space
to the darkest neutrals of the destination color space. Black Point
Compensation plays a vital role in translating the blacks in your images
so that they reproduce as black when printed. As was explained in
Chapter 2, there is no need to get hung up on setting the shadow point
to anything other than zero RGB values. It is not necessary to apply
any shadow compensation at the image editing stage, because the color
management will automatically take care of this for you and apply a
black point compensation obtained from the output profile used in the
mode or profile conversion. If you disable Black Point Compensation
you may obtain deep blacks, but you will get truer (compensated)
blacks if you leave it switched on.
You will want to use Black Point Compensation when separating
an RGB image to a press CMYK color space. However, in the case of a
conversion from a CMYK proofing space to an inkjet profile space, we
must preserve the (grayish) black of the press and not scale the image
(because this would attempt to correct the blacks). For this reason
Black Point Compensation is disabled in the Print dialog when making
a proof print to simulate the black ink and how light the blackest colors
will print.

Use Dither (8-bit per channel images)

Banding may occasionally occur when you separate to CMYK,
particularly where there is a gentle tonal gradation in bright saturated
areas. Any banding which appears on the display won’t necessarily
always show in print and much will depend on the coarseness of the
screen that’s eventually used in the printing process. However, the
dither option can help reduce the risk of banding when converting
between color spaces.

Scene-referred profiles
The Compensate for Scene-referred Profiles option isn’t of any real
significance for photographers. It is switched on by default and
designed to automatically apply video contrast when converting
between scene and output-referred profiles. This basically matches the
default color management workflow for After Effects CS4 or later.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 27

Advanced controls

Desaturate Monitor Colors

The ‘Desaturate Monitor Colors’ option can be used to visualize and
make comparisons between color gamut spaces where one or more
gamut space is larger than the display RGB space. For example, a color
spaces such as ProPhoto RGB has a gamut that is much larger than
the computer display is able to show. So turning down the monitor
colors saturation can allow you to make a comparative evaluation
between these two different color spaces. It is in essence a ‘hurt me’
button, because if you don’t understand how to use this feature, you
might inadvertently leave it on and end up assuming all your images
are desaturated.

Blend RGB Colors using Gamma

This option lets you override the default color blending behavior. There
used to be an option in Photoshop 2.5 for applying blend color gamma
compensation. This allowed you to blend colors with a gamma of 1.0,
which some experts argued was a purer way of doing things, because
at higher gamma values than this you might see edge darkening occur
between contrasting colors. Some users found the phenomenon of
these edge artifacts to have a desirable trapping effect. However, many
Photoshop users complained that they noticed light halos appearing
around objects when blending colors at a gamma of 1.0. Consequently,
gamma-compensated blending was removed at the time of the version
2.5.1 update, but has since been restored as an adjustable option. So,
if you understand these implications you can enable and adjust this
setting if you wish. Figure 35 shows a pure RGB green soft-edged

Figure 35 Comparing Blend RGB Colors using Gamma.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 28

brush stroke on a layer above a pure RGB red Background layer. The RGB work space and gamma
version on the left shows the layer appearance using the normal default
Adobe RGB is considered a good choice
blending. The version on the right shows what happens when I checked
as an RGB workspace because its 2.2
the Blend RGB Colors using Gamma option and applied a gamma of 1.0.
gamma provides a more balanced, even
The Blend Text Colors Using Gamma option is always checked by
distribution of tones between the shadows
default with a setting of 1.45 to provide optimum blending for vector
and highlights, while others, prefer the 1.8
text layers. This value is chosen for vector shapes and text to make the
gamma ProPhoto RGB space for its wide
anti-aliasing look better.
color gamut.

Custom RGB and work space gamma

If you know what you are doing and wish to create a customized RGB
color space, you can do so by selecting the Custom option in the pop-
up menu. Having done this, enter the desired White Point, Gamma
and color primaries coordinates (Figure 36). My advice is to leave these
expert settings well alone. Avoid falling into the trap of thinking that
the RGB workspace gamma should be adjusted to be the same as the
monitor display gamma setting. The RGB workspace is not a display
space. You do not actually ‘see’ the RGB workspace and the gamma
setting has no effect on how the colors are displayed on the screen (so
long as Photoshop ICC color management is switched on). All good
reasons why the custom color space options are safely tucked away in
Color Settings. The settings shown in Figure 36 are those needed to
define ‘Bruce RGB’, named after Bruce Fraser who once devised this
color space as a suggested prepress RGB space for Photoshop.

Figure 36 The Work space menu (left) and Custom RGB dialog (right).

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 29

 Saving custom CMYK settings
CMYK conversions
Custom CMYK settings should be saved
Print images are nearly always reproduced in CMYK. Since the using the following locations:
conversion from RGB to CMYK has to happen at some stage, the Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Recommended
question is: at what point should this take place and who should be folder (Mac OS X);
responsible for the conversion? If you have decided to take on this Windows\System32\Spool\Drivers\Color
responsibility yourself then you need to understand more about the folder (PC).
CMYK settings. When it comes to four-color print reproduction,
it is important to know as much as possible about the intended
press conditions that will be used at the printing stage and use this
information to create a customized CMYK setup.

CMYK setup
If you examine the US prepress default setting, the CMYK space says
‘U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2’. This setting is by no means a precise
setting for every US prepress SWOP coated print job, because there can
be many flavors of SWOP, but it does at least bring you a little closer to
the type of specification a printer in the US might require for printing
on coated paper with a web press setup. If you mouse down on the
CMYK setup pop-up list, you will see there are also US options for
Web uncoated and Sheetfed press setups. Under the European prepress
default setting, there is a choice between coated and uncoated paper
stocks, plus the latest ISO coated FOGRA39 setting. Then there is also
Custom CMYK… where you can create and save custom CMYK profile
settings.
There is not a lot you can do with the standard CMYK settings:
you can essentially choose from this handful of generic CMYK profile
settings or choose ‘Custom CMYK…’ If you check the More options
box, you’ll be able to select from a more comprehensive list of CMYK
profile settings in the extended menu (depending on what profiles are
already in your ColorSync folder).

Creating a custom CMYK setting

Figure 37 shows how to select the Custom CMYK option, along with
the Custom CMYK dialog, where you can enter all the relevant CMYK
separation information for a specific print job. Ideally you should save
each purpose-built CMYK configuration as separate color settings with
a description of the print job it was created for.
Once you have configured a new CMYK workspace setting,
this becomes the new default CMYK workspace that is used when
you convert an image to CMYK mode. Altering the CMYK setup

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 30

settings will have no effect on the on-screen appearance of an already-
converted CMYK file). This is because the CMYK separation setup
settings must be established first before you carry out the conversion.

Figure 37 The Custom CMYK menu option (left) and Custom CMYK dialog (right).

Ink Colors
If you click on the Ink Colors menu, you can select one of the Specialist Ink Colors options
preset Ink Colors settings that are suggested for different types of For special print jobs such as where non-
printing. For example, European Photoshop users can choose from standard ink sets are used, or the printing is
Eurostandard (coated), (uncoated), or (newsprint). These are just being done on colored paper, you can enter
generic ink sets though. If your printer can supply you with a custom the measured readings of the color patches
ink color setting, then select ‘Custom…’ from the Ink Colors menu. (listed here) taken from a printed sample
This opens the custom Ink Colors dialog shown in Figure 38. on the actual stock that is to be used. For
example, you could measure these printed
patches with a device such as the X-Rite
Eye-One and use this information to create a
custom Ink Colors setting for an individual
CMYK press setup.

Figure 38 The Ink Colors dialog.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 31

Dot gain Comparing dot gain settings

Dot gain can be due to an accumulation of factors during the repro You can see for yourself how the dot gain
process that make a dot printed on the page gain size and appear darker values affect the CMYK separations. Try
than expected. Among other things, dot gain is dependent on the converting an image to CMYK using two
type of press and the paper stock that’s being used. The dot gain value different dot gain values and then compare
entered in the CMYK setup determines how light or dark the separation the appearance of the individual CMYK
needs to be. If a high dot gain is encountered, the separated CMYK channels.
films will need to be less dense so the plates produced lay down less
ink on the paper and produce the correct-sized printed halftone dot for
that particular type of press setup. Although the dot gain value affects
the lightness of the individual channels, the composite CMYK channel
image is always displayed correctly on the screen, showing how the
final printed image should look.
If you select the ‘Dot Gain Curves’ option, you can enter custom
settings for the composite or individual color plates in the Dot Gain
Curves dialog (Figure 39). If your printer is able to provide dot gain
values at certain percentages, enter these here. The dot gain curves can
be the same for all channels, but since the dot gain may vary on each
ink plate, you can enter dot gain values for each plate individually.

Figure 39 The ‘Dot Gain: Curves dialog.

Gray Component Replacement (GCR)

The default Photoshop CMYK setting is GCR, Black Generation:
Medium, Black Ink Limit 100%, Total Ink Limit 300%, UCA Amount
0%. If you ask your printer what separation settings they use and they
quote you these figures, you’ll know they are just reading the default
settings from an unconfigured Photoshop setup. They either don’t know
or don’t want to give you an answer. The black ink limit should typically
be around 95% for most separation jobs, but in the region of 85–95%
for newsprint. The total ink limit should roughly be in the region of
300–350% for Sheetfed coated and Web press coated jobs, 260–300%

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 32

for Sheetfed uncoated and Web uncoated jobs, and 260–280% for CMYK previews in Proof Setup
newsprint. If you prefer, you can just stick to using the prepress CMYK
Once the CMYK setup has been configured,
setting that most closely matches the output (such as US Sheetfed/Web
you can use View ➯ Proof Setup ➯
Coated/Uncoated, or one of the European FOGRA settings).
Working CMYK to see a CMYK preview
of what a photograph will look like after a
Black Generation CMYK conversion, while you are still editing
The Black Generation determines how much black ink is used to the image in RGB mode.
produce the black and gray tonal information. A light or medium Black
Generation setting will work best for most photographic images. I
would therefore advise leaving this set to ‘Medium’ and only change the
black generation if you know what you are doing.
You may be interested to know that I specifically used a Maximum
Black Generation setting to separate all the dialog boxes that appear
in this book. Figure 40 shows a view of the Channels panel after I had
separated the screen grab shown in Figure 38 using a Maximum Black
Generation CMYK separation. With this separation method only the
black plate is used to render the neutral gray colors. Consequently,
this means that any color shift at the printing stage has no impact
whatsoever on the neutrality of the gray content. I cheekily suggest you
inspect other Photoshop books and judge if their panel and dialog box
screen shots have reproduced as well as the ones shown in this book.

Undercolor Addition (UCA)

Low key subjects and high quality print jobs are more suited to the
use of GCR (Gray Component Replacement) with a small amount of
UCA (Undercolor Addition). GCR separations remove more of the
cyan, magenta and yellow ink where all three inks are used to produce
a color, replacing the overlapping color with black ink. By dialing
in some UCA one can add a small amount of color back into the Figure 40 Here is a view of the Channels
shadows. This can be particularly useful where the shadow detail would panel showing the four CMYK channels
otherwise look too flat and lifeless. The percentage of black ink used is after I had separated the screen grab shown
determined by the black generation setting. When making conversions, in Figure 38 using a Maximum black
you are usually better off sticking with the default GCR, using a light to generation CMYK separation.
medium black generation with 5–10% UCA. This will produce a longer
black curve with improved image contrast.

Undercolor Removal (UCR)

The UCR (Undercolor Removal) separation method replaces the
cyan, magenta and yellow ink with black ink in just the neutral areas.
The UCR setting is also favored as a means of keeping the total ink
percentage down on high-speed presses, although it is not necessarily
suited for every type of print job.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 33

 CMYK to CMYK
Choosing a suitable RGB workspace
It is not ideal for CMYK files to be converted
The RGB space you choose to edit with can certainly influence the to RGB and then converted back to CMYK,
outcome of your CMYK conversions, which is why you should choose as this is a sure-fire way to lose data fast.
your RGB workspace carefully. The default sRGB color space is widely I always prefer to keep an RGB master of
regarded as an unsuitable space for photographic work because the each image and convert to CMYK using a
color gamut of sRGB is actually smaller than the color gamut of CMYK custom conversion to suit each individual
(and that of most inkjet printers). If you choose a color space like print output. Converting from one CMYK
Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB, you’ll be working with a color space space to another is not really recommended
that can adequately convert from RGB to CMYK without significantly either, but in the absence of an RGB master,
clipping the CMYK colors. Adobe RGB has long been a favoured this will be the only option you have
space for professional photographers and you should really notice available: just specify the CMYK profile
the difference here if you are able to view the photos you are editing you wish to convert to in the Convert to
on a decent display like the high-end Eizo or NEC displays. These are Profile dialog box. Remember, the Preserve
capable of displaying something like 98% of the Adobe RGB gamut and Embedded Profiles policy ensures that
therefore just about all the gamut of a typical CMYK space. It can make tagged incoming CMYK files can always
a big difference if you can use such a display to accurately preview the be opened without converting them to your
colors you are editing and soft proof them for print (see Chapter 12). default CMYK space (because that would
Whichever color workspace you select in the RGB color settings, be a bad thing to do). This means that the
you will have to be conscious of how your profiled Photoshop RGB files color numbers in the incoming CMYK files
may appear on a non-ICC savvy Photoshop system. What follows is a are always preserved, while providing you
guide to the listed RGB choices. with an accurate display of the colors on the
computer display.
Apple RGB
This is the old Apple 13” monitor standard. In the early days of
Photoshop Apple RGB was used as the default RGB editing space where
the editing space was the same as the monitor space. If you have legacy
images created in Photoshop on a Macintosh computer using a gamma
of 1.8, you can assume Apple RGB to be the missing profile space.

sRGB IEC-61966-2.1
sRGB was conceived as a multipurpose color space standard that
consumer digital devices could all standardize to. It is essentially a
compromise color space that provides a uniform color space which
all digital cameras and inkjet printers and displays are able to match
(since sRGB aims to match the color gamut of a typical 2.2 gamma PC
display). Therefore, if you are opening a file from a consumer digital
camera or scanner and there is no profile embedded, you can assume
that the missing profile should be sRGB. It is an ideal color space for
Web design but unsuitable for photography or serious print work.
This is mainly because the sRGB space clips the CMYK gamut quite
severely and you will never achieve more than 75–85% cyan in your
CMYK separations.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 34

ColorMatch RGB
ColorMatch is an open-standard RGB display space that was once
implemented by Radius, who used to make displays and graphics cards
for the Macintosh computer market. ColorMatch has a gamma of 1.8
and is still favored by some Macintosh users as their preferred RGB
working space. Although not much larger than the gamut of a typical
display space, it is at least a known standard and more compatible
with legacy 1.8 gamma Macintosh files. The problem with selecting a
small gamut space like this means you end up losing tonal separation
in colors that may be important, such as when carrying out an RGB to
CMYK conversion.

Adobe RGB (1998)

Adobe RGB (1998) has become established as a recommended RGB
editing space for RGB files that are destined to be converted to CMYK.
For example, the Photoshop prepress color settings all use Adobe RGB
as the default RGB working space. Adobe RGB was initially labeled
as SMPTE-240M, which was a color gamut once proposed for HDTV
production. As it happens, the coordinates Adobe used did not exactly
match the actual SMPTE-240M specification. Nevertheless, it proved
popular as an editing space for repro work and soon became known as
Adobe RGB (1998). I have in the past used Adobe RGB as my preferred
RGB working space, since it is well suited for RGB to CMYK color
conversions.

ProPhoto RGB
This is a large gamut RGB space that has the advantage of preserving
the full gamut of raw capture files when converting the raw data to
RGB. It is also suited for image editing that is intended for output to
photographic materials such as transparency emulsion or a photo
quality inkjet printer. This is because the gamut of ProPhoto RGB
extends more into the shadow areas compared with most other RGB
spaces, resulting in better tonal separation in the shadow tones.
I have ProPhoto RGB configured as the RGB work space on all my
computers running Photoshop and normally carry out all my editing
on RGB files in 16-bit. However, I am wary of releasing files to clients
in ProPhoto RGB. If I am sending a file to someone who I believe is
ICC color management savvy, I’ll send them a profiled Adobe RGB
version. If I am sending a file by email or to someone who may not
understand color management, I always play safe and send them an
sRGB version.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 35

Lab color
The Lab color space does not use embedded profiles since it is assumed
to be a universally understood color space. It is argued by some that
converting to Lab mode is one way to surmount all the problems of
mismatched RGB color spaces. You could make this work, but I don’t
personally advise this for a number of reasons. In fact, a few readers
have taken me to task over not covering Lab mode image editing in this
book, so let me clarify why I don’t see editing in Lab mode as being so
useful now for high-end image editing. In the early days of Photoshop
I would sometimes use the Lab color mode to carry out certain tasks,
such as to separately sharpen the Lightness channel. This was before
the introduction of layers and blending modes, where I soon learnt you
could use the Luminosity and Color blend modes to neatly target the
luminosity or the color values in an image without having to convert
to Lab mode and back to RGB again. Also, with Camera Raw the
sharpening is applied to the luminance values only and it is possible to
further filter the sharpening using the Detail and Masking sliders.
Let’s just say that there are no right or wrong answers here. If
you can produce good-looking prints using whatever methods work
best for you, and you are happy with the results, well who is to argue
with that? However, I would hope by now that having learnt about
optimizing tones and colors in Camera Raw, followed by what can
be achieved using Photoshop, you’ll realize that these are all the tools
you’ll ever need to process a photograph all the way through to the
finished print stage. My response to the Lab color argument is that it
is simply adding complexity where none is needed. There are good
reasons why in recent years the Adobe engineering teams have devoted
considerable effort to enhancing the Camera Raw image editing for
Photoshop and Lightroom. Their aim has been to make photographic
image editing more versatile, less destructive and above all, simpler to Figure 41 The gray color measurement
work with rather than rely on cumbersome workarounds. shown here is clearly neutral in color
because the RGB values are identical.
Measuring by the numbers
Given the deficiencies of typical computer color displays, such as their
limited dynamic range and inability to reproduce certain colors like
pure yellow, color professionals may sometimes rely on the numeric
information to assess an image. Certainly, when it comes to getting
the correct output of neutral tones, it is possible to predict with greater
accuracy the neutrality of a gray tone by measuring the color values
with the eyedropper tool. If you use the eyedropper tool to measure
the colors in an image that’s in a standard RGB space, such as sRGB,
Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB, and the RGB numbers are all equal,
it is unquestionably a gray color. Figure 41 shows an eyedropper

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 36

measurement being taken from a white balance card. The even RGB
values indicate that this light gray color is perfectly neutral in color.
Interpreting the CMYK ink values is less straightforward. This
is because a neutral CMYK gray is not made up of an equal amount
of cyan, yellow and magenta. If you compare the Color readout
values between the RGB and CMYK Info panel readouts, there will
always be more cyan ink used in the neutral tones, compared with
the yellow and magenta inks. This is because a greater proportion of
cyan ink is required to balance out the magenta and yellow inks to
produce a neutral gray color in print (if the CMY values were equal,
you would see a muddy brown color cast). This is due to the fact that
the process cyan ink is less able to absorb its complementary color
– red – compared with the way magenta and yellow absorb their
complementary colors. This also explains why a CMY black will tend
to look reddish/brown, without the addition of the black plate to add
depth and neutrality.
When retouching a portrait (such as in the Figure 42 example),
you can use the Info panel CMYK readout numbers to help judge if
the skin tones are the correct color. To do this set the panel options to
display RGB and CMYK readouts. Then use the eyedropper to measure
the skin tone values. Caucasian skin tones should have roughly a third
or a quarter as much cyan as magenta and slightly more yellow than
magenta. Black skin tones should be denser, have the same proportion
of cyan to magenta, but usually a higher amount of yellow than
magenta and also some black.

Color management references

If your main area of business revolves around the preparation of
CMYK separations for print, then I do recommend you invest in a
training course or book that deals with CMYK repro issues. I highly Figure 42 You can use the CMYK values
recommend the following books: Real World Color Management by in the Info panel to help check if the skin
Bruce Fraser, Chris Murphy and Fred Bunting; Color Management tones are the correct color by comparing
for Photographers by Andrew Rodney; and Getting Colour Right, The the percentage of cyan with the magenta
Complete Guide to Digital Colour Correction by Neil Barstow and and yellow inks.
Michael Walker. And lastly, an easy-to-follow ebook guide called
Accurate Color, an interactive guide by Herb Paynter.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 37

Keeping it simple
Congratulations on making it through to the end of this chapter. Your
head may be reeling from all this information about Photoshop’s color
management system, but successful color management doesn’t have to
be complex. Firstly, you need to set the Color Settings to the prepress
setting for your geographic region. This single step configures the
color management system with the best defaults for photographic
work. The other thing you must do of course is to calibrate and profile
the display. If you want to do this right, you owe it to yourself to
purchase a decent colorimeter device and ensure the computer display
is profiled regularly. Do just these few things and you are well on your
way to achieving a reliable color management workflow. However,
color management can’t always be expected to yield perfect results.
The ability to match colors between capture and print is ultimately
dependent on the gamut limits of the display and output device. This
is a subject I will be addressing further in the following chapter on
print output.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 38

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: 2018 Edition book
By Martin Evening

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: 2018 Edition is published by

Focal Press, an imprint of Taylor & Francis.
768 pages + Online website
Order via Focal Press secure online ordering: www.routledge.com
For more information go to the book website: www.photoshopforphotographers.com

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: Color Management 39