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Should I softproof my images before printing?
Softproofing is a fairly common practice among many Photoshop users. We've provided profiles for anyone who uses this method as a part of their workflow. However, we find that softproofing is much more useful in concept than it is in practice.
The concept behind softproofing
(using Photoshop View>Proof Setup) is that you can take your
printing profile and use it to get a preview of your image as
it would print on that paper. While it seems like this would
really be a useful tool, we've found that it can often be misleading,
which leads to inaccurate interpretive choices.
Essentially, it tries to show you which colors will change when you print, but it usually gives an inaccurate prediction of what those colors will change to. For example, if your blue turns purple when you softproof, then you add a bunch of cyan and green to the blues to counteract the perdicted effect. If the prediction is wrong—as it often is—you'll get a print with blues that now are too cyan and green. We've found that with the Chromira, the Proof Colors command just can't preview with the exactitude needed to make good, accurate decisions.
So how do you get exactly-what-you-want prints? You make hard proofs on the paper that your final print will be on. Just order a small print first, make changes after you see it, then order your final print. Easy as 1-2-3.
Have we tested this? You bet! Not only have we seen it tested on thousands of prints that were held to the highest standards, we came up with a pratical test that anyone can do.
We took an NEC LCD2690WUXI LCD display which can
display 94% of AdobeRGB, one of the most accurate LCDs available,
and we profiled it with the $1,300 Eye-One photo package. Then
we compared prints under Solux 4700K lighting to the display. The
prints looked most like the display WITHOUT using the Proof
Colors command. Using the Proof Colors command made
the display look less like the print, and gave false information.
Our testers were highly experienced printmakers who can discern
colors and differences imperceptible to the average viewer.
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