printer profiles – sending photos to a print lab

[Marianne]

Hello, Marianne here with a question. I am trying to print my photos for the first time. I am planning to send them to an outside printing lab. I have calibrated my monitor so that part is taken care of. However, I am not sure how to prepare my photos for printing i.e. what to do with printer profile. I researched the issue online, but didn’t find much on the subject. So here is what I understand – We get the printer (and paper) profile from the printing lab and install it on our computer. The next step is to soft proof in Photoshop using the printer profile. So this much I understand no problem. However, from what I read online it also implies that AFTER editing (with the help of soft proofing) we then ACTUALLY CONVERT our working file (which is in Adobe RGB in my case) to the printer profile using Edit/Convert to profile in Photoshop. We go to Edit/Convert to profile and in the “destination” dropdown menu we pick our printer profile. We check the box black point compensation (if needed) and pick the rendering intent (usually perceptual or relative colorimetric). Then we save the file as TIFF and we are ready to send it to the printing lab. Are there steps in the process that I am missing? Is there anything else involved? The video that I got the above information from was talking about the printing lab using a PRINTING PRESS to print, but what about if the printing lab uses inkjet printer just like the ones used to print at home, or what if the lab is using some other printing technique other that a PRINTING PRESS will the process of preparing the photo for printing on my end then be different than what I described above? I hope you can help me out with this. Thank you very much,Marianne

[Florian Höch]

Hi,

I am planning to send them to an outside printing lab. […] However, I am not sure how to prepare my photos for printing

if the printing lab does not provide any information on how print data should be prepared, you can probably assume that they can accept data in a standard color space such as sRGB. Some labs specifically mention the color spaces they are able to process (e.g. sRGB or AdobeRGB), some may even provide custom printer profile(s) for their printers. This information should ideally be available somewhere on their website.

However, from what I read online it also implies that AFTER editing (with the help of soft proofing) we then ACTUALLY CONVERT our working file (which is in Adobe RGB in my case) to the printer profile using Edit/Convert to profile in Photoshop.

This depends on the specific lab. They may offer a printer profile to aid softproofing (only), or they may expect you to convert to this profile (but the latter seems to be uncommon for a printing lab and is more associated with preparing data for offset printing). As mentioned above, the lab will likely provide this information somewhere accessible (e.g. their website).

Are there steps in the process that I am missing?

I would also embed the profile in the TIFF so the lab can know for sure about the state of the data they receive from you.

[Marianne]

This depends on the specific lab. They may offer a printer profile to aid softproofing (only), or they may expect you to convert to this profile (but the latter seems to be uncommon for a printing lab and is more associated with preparing data for offset printing). As mentioned above, the lab will likely provide this information somewhere accessible (e.g. their website)

First off thank you very much for replying. It gave me a lot of information about the labs. I am in the process of picking a lab to print with and I will keep this information in mind. Also embedding the profile into the TIFF file is a must as you mentioned. One thing – You said above that converting to the printer profile is “more associated with preparing data for offset printing” do you mean a printing press as opposed to inkjet printer or any other printing method. The video that I was watching and got the idea about converting to the printer profile was indeed talking about a printing press. Anyway, thanks again for your help,

Marianne

• This reply was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by Florian Höch. Reason: Formatting

[Florian Höch]

Also embedding the profile into the TIFF file is a must as you mentioned

As an addition, I think labs usually prefer (and may only accept) JPEG. Better check the accepted file format(s) with the lab, too (a high quality, low compression JPEG will not have any downsides in print quality in comparison to an uncompressed or compressed TIFF, but much smaller file size, making it more suitable for transmitting over the web).

converting to the printer profile is “more associated with preparing data for offset printing” do you mean a printing press as opposed to inkjet printer

That’s correct, yes.

[Marianne]

Thank you very much for clarifying. I just checked a few labs’ websites. Some accept TIFF, some require JPEGs as you mentioned.

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