If you have a custom color profile for a specific printer, ink, and paper combination, letting Photoshop manage colors often produces better results than letting the printer manage colors.
To better understand color management concepts and workflows, see Understanding Color Management.
- For Printer Profile, select the profile that best matches your output device and paper type. If there are any profiles associated with the current printer, they are placed at the top of the menu, with the default profile selected.
The more accurately the profile describes the behavior of the output device and printing conditions (such as paper type), the more accurately the color management system can translate the numeric values of the actual colors in a document. (See Install a profile.)
Rendering Intent
Specifies how Photoshop converts colors to the destination color space. (See About rendering intents.)
Black Point Compensation
Preserves the shadow detail in the image by simulating the full dynamic range of the output device.
Match Print Colors
Enabled when you let Photoshop manage color. Select to view image colors in the preview area as they will actually print.
Gamut Warning
Enabled when Match Print Colors is selected. Select to highlight out-of-gamut colors in the image, as determined by the selected printer profile. A gamut is the range of colors that a color system can display or print. A color that can be displayed in RGB may be out of gamut for your current printer profile.
Show Paper White
Sets the color white in the preview to the color of the paper in the selected printer profile. This produces a more accurate print preview if you're printing on off-white paper such as newsprint or art papers that are more beige than white. Since absolute white and black create contrast, less white in the paper will lower the overall contrast of your image. Off-white paper can also change the overall color cast of the image, so yellows printed on beige paper may appear more brown.
- Access the color management options for the printer driver from the Print Settings dialog box, which automatically appears after you click Print. In Windows, click the Preferences button to access the printer driver options. In Mac OS, use the pop-up menu from the Print Settings dialog box to access the printer driver options.
Note:
If you get a warning that your image is larger than the printable area of the paper, click Cancel, choose File > Print, and select the Scale To Fit Media box. To make changes to your paper size and layout, click Print Settings, and attempt to print the file again.
If you don’t have a custom profile for your printer and paper type, you can let the printer driver handle the color conversion.
Many non-PostScript printer drivers ignore this option and use the Perceptual rendering intent. (For more information, see About rendering intents.)
- Access the color management options for the printer driver from the Print Settings dialog box, which automatically appears after you click Print. In Windows, click Print Settings to access the printer driver options. In Mac OS, use the pop-up menu from the Print Settings dialog box to access the printer driver options.
Note:
If you get a warning that your image is larger than the printable area of the paper, and you don’t want to exceed that area, click Cancel, choose File > Print, and select the Scale To Fit Media box. To make changes to your paper size and layout, click Print Settings, and attempt to print the file again.
A hard proof (sometimes called a proof print or match print) is a printed simulation of what your final output on a printing press will look like. A hard proof is produced on an output device that’s less expensive than a printing press. Some inkjet printers have the resolution necessary to produce inexpensive prints that can be used as hard proofs.
Choose View > Proof Setup, and select the output conditions you want to simulate. You can do this using a preset or by creating a custom proof setup. See Soft-proof colors.
The view changes automatically according to the proof you choose, unless you choose Custom. In this case, the Customize Proof Condition dialog box appears. You must save custom proof settings for them to appear in the Proof Setup Preset menu of the Print dialog box. Follow the instructions to customize a proof.
Proof Setup
This option is available if you select Proof from the Print area. From the pop-up menu, choose any customized proofs that exist locally on your hard drive.
- Access the color management options for the printer driver from the Print Settings dialog box, which automatically appears after you click Print. In Windows, click the Preferences button to access the printer driver options. In Mac OS, use the pop-up menu from the Print Settings dialog box to access the printer driver options.
Note:
If you get a warning that your image is larger than the printable area of the paper, click Cancel, choose File > Print, and select the Scale To Fit Media box. To make changes to your paper size and layout, click Print Settings, and attempt to print the file again.
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