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Improve color prints from Photoshop

  1. Photoshop User Guide
  2. Introduction to Photoshop
    1. Dream it. Make it.
    2. What's new in Photoshop
    3. Edit your first photo
    4. Create documents
    5. Photoshop | Common Questions
    6. Photoshop system requirements
    7. Get to know Photoshop
    8. Keep Photoshop up to date
  3. Photoshop and other Adobe products and services
    1. Work with Illustrator artwork in Photoshop
    2. Work with Photoshop files in InDesign
    3. Substance 3D Materials for Photoshop
    4. Use the Capture in-app extension in Photoshop
  4. Photoshop on the iPad (not available in mainland China)
    1. Photoshop on the iPad | Common questions
    2. Get to know the workspace
    3. System requirements | Photoshop on the iPad
    4. Create, open, and export documents
    5. Add photos
    6. Work with layers
    7. Draw and paint with brushes
    8. Make selections and add masks
    9. Retouch your composites
    10. Work with adjustment layers
    11. Adjust the tonality of your composite with Curves
    12. Apply transform operations
    13. Crop and rotate your composites
    14. Rotate, pan, zoom, and reset the canvas
    15. Work with Type layers
    16. Work with Photoshop and Lightroom
    17. Get missing fonts in Photoshop on the iPad
    18. Japanese Text in Photoshop on the iPad
    19. Manage app settings
    20. Touch shortcuts and gestures
    21. Keyboard shortcuts
    22. Edit your image size
    23. Livestream as you create in Photoshop on the iPad
    24. Correct imperfections with the Healing Brush
    25. Create brushes in Capture and use them in Photoshop on the iPad
    26. Work with Camera Raw files
    27. Create and work with Smart Objects
    28. Adjust exposure in your images with Dodge and Burn
    29. Auto adjustment commands in Photoshop on the iPad
    30. Smudge areas in your images with Photoshop on the iPad
    31. Saturate or desaturate your images using Sponge tool
    32. Content aware fill for iPad
  5. Photoshop on the web (not available in mainland China)
    1. Common questions
    2. System requirements
    3. Keyboard shortcuts
    4. Supported file types
    5. Introduction to the workspace
    6. Open and work with cloud documents
    7. Generative AI features
    8. Basic concepts of editing
    9. Quick Actions
    10. Work with layers
    11. Retouch images and remove imperfections
    12. Make quick selections
    13. Image improvements with Adjustment Layers
    14. Add a fill layer
    15. Move, transform, and crop images
    16. Draw and paint
    17. Draw and edit Shapes
    18. Work with Type layers
    19. Work with anyone on the web
    20. Manage app settings
    21. Generate Image
    22. Generate Background
    23. Reference Image
  6. Photoshop (beta) (not available in mainland China)
    1. Get started with Creative Cloud Beta apps
    2. Photoshop (beta) on the desktop
    3. Reference Image
  7. Generative AI (not available in mainland China) 
    1. Common questions on generative AI in Photoshop
    2. Generative Fill in Photoshop on the desktop
    3. Generate Image with descriptive text prompts
    4. Generative Expand in Photoshop on the desktop
    5. Replace background with Generate background
    6. Get new variations with Generate Similar
    7. Generative Fill in Photoshop on the iPad
    8. Generative Expand in Photoshop on the iPad
    9. Generative AI features in Photoshop on the web
  8. Content authenticity (not available in mainland China)
    1. Content credentials in Photoshop
    2. Identity and provenance for NFTs
    3. Connect accounts for creative attribution
  9. Cloud documents (not available in mainland China)
    1. Photoshop cloud documents | Common questions
    2. Photoshop cloud documents | Workflow questions
    3. Manage and work with cloud documents in Photoshop
    4. Upgrade cloud storage for Photoshop
    5. Unable to create or save a cloud document
    6. Solve Photoshop cloud document errors
    7. Collect cloud document sync logs
    8. Invite others to edit your cloud documents
    9. Share files and comment in-app
  10. Workspace
    1. Workspace basics
    2. Preferences
    3. Learn faster with the Photoshop Discover Panel
    4. Create documents
    5. Place files
    6. Default keyboard shortcuts
    7. Customize keyboard shortcuts
    8. Tool galleries
    9. Performance preferences
    10. Use tools
    11. Presets
    12. Grid and guides
    13. Touch gestures
    14. Use the Touch Bar with Photoshop
    15. Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
    16. Technology previews
    17. Metadata and notes
    18. Place Photoshop images in other applications
    19. Rulers
    20. Show or hide non-printing Extras
    21. Specify columns for an image
    22. Undo and history
    23. Panels and menus
    24. Position elements with snapping
    25. Position with the Ruler tool
  11. Web, screen, and app design
    1. Photoshop for design
    2. Artboards
    3. Device Preview
    4. Copy CSS from layers
    5. Slice web pages
    6. HTML options for slices
    7. Modify slice layout
    8. Work with web graphics
    9. Create web photo galleries
  12. Image and color basics
    1. How to resize images
    2. Work with raster and vector images
    3. Image size and resolution
    4. Acquire images from cameras and scanners
    5. Create, open, and import images
    6. View images
    7. Invalid JPEG Marker error | Opening images
    8. Viewing multiple images
    9. Customize color pickers and swatches
    10. High dynamic range images
    11. Match colors in your image
    12. Convert between color modes
    13. Color modes
    14. Erase parts of an image
    15. Blending modes
    16. Choose colors
    17. Customize indexed color tables
    18. Image information
    19. Distort filters are unavailable
    20. About color
    21. Color and monochrome adjustments using channels
    22. Choose colors in the Color and Swatches panels
    23. Sample
    24. Color mode or Image mode
    25. Color cast
    26. Add a conditional mode change to an action
    27. Add swatches from HTML CSS and SVG
    28. Bit depth and preferences
  13. Layers
    1. Layer basics
    2. Nondestructive editing
    3. Create and manage layers and groups
    4. Select, group, and link layers
    5. Place images into frames
    6. Layer opacity and blending
    7. Mask layers
    8. Apply Smart Filters
    9. Layer comps
    10. Move, stack, and lock layers
    11. Mask layers with vector masks
    12. Manage layers and groups
    13. Layer effects and styles
    14. Edit layer masks
    15. Extract assets
    16. Reveal layers with clipping masks
    17. Generate image assets from layers
    18. Work with Smart Objects
    19. Blending modes
    20. Combine multiple images into a group portrait
    21. Combine images with Auto-Blend Layers
    22. Align and distribute layers
    23. Copy CSS from layers
    24. Load selections from a layer or layer mask's boundaries
    25. Knockout to reveal content from other layers
  14. Selections
    1. Get started with selections
    2. Make selections in your composite
    3. Select and Mask workspace
    4. Select with the marquee tools
    5. Select with the lasso tools
    6. Adjust pixel selections
    7. Move, copy, and delete selected pixels
    8. Create a temporary quick mask
    9. Select a color range in an image
    10. Convert between paths and selection borders
    11. Channel basics
    12. Save selections and alpha channel masks
    13. Select the image areas in focus
    14. Duplicate, split, and merge channels
    15. Channel calculations
  15. Image adjustments
    1. Replace object colors
    2. Perspective warp
    3. Reduce camera shake blurring
    4. Healing brush examples
    5. Export color lookup tables
    6. Adjust image sharpness and blur
    7. Understand color adjustments
    8. Apply a Brightness/Contrast adjustment
    9. Adjust shadow and highlight detail
    10. Levels adjustment
    11. Adjust hue and saturation
    12. Adjust vibrance
    13. Adjust color saturation in image areas
    14. Make quick tonal adjustments
    15. Apply special color effects to images
    16. Enhance your image with color balance adjustments
    17. High dynamic range images
    18. View histograms and pixel values
    19. Match colors in your image
    20. Crop and straighten photos
    21. Convert a color image to black and white
    22. Adjustment and fill layers
    23. Curves adjustment
    24. Blending modes
    25. Target images for press
    26. Adjust color and tone with Levels and Curves eyedroppers
    27. Adjust HDR exposure and toning
    28. Dodge or burn image areas
    29. Make selective color adjustments
  16. Adobe Camera Raw
    1. Camera Raw system requirements
    2. What's new in Camera Raw
    3. Introduction to Camera Raw
    4. Create panoramas
    5. Supported lenses
    6. Vignette, grain, and dehaze effects in Camera Raw
    7. Default keyboard shortcuts
    8. Automatic perspective correction in Camera Raw
    9. Radial Filter in Camera Raw
    10. Manage Camera Raw settings
    11. Open, process, and save images in Camera Raw
    12. Repair images with the Enhanced Spot Removal tool in Camera Raw
    13. Rotate, crop, and adjust images
    14. Adjust color rendering in Camera Raw
    15. Process versions in Camera Raw
    16. Make local adjustments in Camera Raw
  17. Image repair and restoration
    1. Remove Tool
    2. Remove objects from your photos with Content-Aware Fill
    3. Content-Aware Patch and Move
    4. Retouch and repair photos
    5. Correct image distortion and noise
    6. Basic troubleshooting steps to fix most issues
  18. Image enhancement and transformation
    1. Replace sky in your images
    2. Transform objects
    3. Adjust crop, rotation, and canvas size
    4. How to crop and straighten photos
    5. Create and edit panoramic images
    6. Warp images, shapes, and paths
    7. Vanishing Point
    8. Content-aware scaling
    9. Transform images, shapes, and paths
  19. Drawing and painting
    1. Paint symmetrical patterns
    2. Draw rectangles and modify stroke options
    3. About drawing
    4. Draw and edit shapes
    5. Painting tools
    6. Create and modify brushes
    7. Blending modes
    8. Add color to paths
    9. Edit paths
    10. Paint with the Mixer Brush
    11. Brush presets
    12. Gradients
    13. Gradient interpolation
    14. Fill and stroke selections, layers, and paths
    15. Draw with the Pen tools
    16. Create patterns
    17. Generate a pattern using the Pattern Maker
    18. Manage paths
    19. Manage pattern libraries and presets
    20. Draw or paint with a graphics tablet
    21. Create textured brushes
    22. Add dynamic elements to brushes
    23. Gradient
    24. Paint stylized strokes with the Art History Brush
    25. Paint with a pattern
    26. Sync presets on multiple devices
    27. Migrate presets, actions, and settings
  20. Text
    1. Add and edit the text
    2. Unified Text Engine
    3. Work with OpenType SVG fonts
    4. Format characters
    5. Format paragraphs
    6. How to create type effects
    7. Edit text
    8. Line and character spacing
    9. Arabic and Hebrew type
    10. Fonts
    11. Troubleshoot fonts
    12. Asian type
    13. Create type
  21. Filters and effects
    1. Use the Blur Gallery
    2. Filter basics
    3. Filter effects reference
    4. Add Lighting Effects
    5. Use the Adaptive Wide Angle filter
    6. Use the Oil Paint filter
    7. Use the Liquify filter
    8. Layer effects and styles
    9. Apply specific filters
    10. Smudge image areas
  22. Saving and exporting
    1. Save your files in Photoshop
    2. Export your files in Photoshop
    3. Supported file formats
    4. Save files in graphics formats
    5. Move designs between Photoshop and Illustrator
    6. Save and export video and animations
    7. Save PDF files
    8. Digimarc copyright protection
  23. Color Management
    1. Understanding color management
    2. Keeping colors consistent
    3. Color settings
    4. Duotones
    5. Work with color profiles
    6. Color-managing documents for online viewing
    7. Color-managing documents when printing
    8. Color-managing imported images
    9. Proofing colors
  24. Web, screen, and app design
    1. Photoshop for design
    2. Artboards
    3. Device Preview
    4. Copy CSS from layers
    5. Slice web pages
    6. HTML options for slices
    7. Modify slice layout
    8. Work with web graphics
    9. Create web photo galleries
  25. Video and animation
    1. Video editing in Photoshop
    2. Edit video and animation layers
    3. Video and animation overview
    4. Preview video and animations
    5. Paint frames in video layers
    6. Import video files and image sequences
    7. Create frame animations
    8. Creative Cloud 3D Animation (Preview)
    9. Create timeline animations
    10. Create images for video
  26. Printing
    1. Print 3D objects
    2. Print from Photoshop
    3. Print with color management
    4. Contact Sheets and PDF Presentations
    5. Print photos in a picture package layout
    6. Print spot colors
    7. Print images to a commercial printing press
    8. Improve color prints from Photoshop
    9. Troubleshoot printing problems | Photoshop
  27. Automation
    1. Creating actions
    2. Create data-driven graphics
    3. Scripting
    4. Process a batch of files
    5. Play and manage actions
    6. Add conditional actions
    7. About actions and the Actions panel
    8. Record tools in actions
    9. Add a conditional mode change to an action
    10. Photoshop UI toolkit for plug-ins and scripts
  28. Troubleshooting
    1. Fixed issues 
    2. Known issues
    3. Optimize Photoshop performance
    4. Basic troubleshooting
    5. Troubleshoot crash or freeze
    6. Troubleshoot program errors
    7. Troubleshoot scratch disk full errors
    8. Troubleshoot GPU and graphics driver issues
    9. Find missing tools
    10. Photoshop 3D | Common questions around discontinued features

Who Is This Document For?

This document provides basic instructions for people who:

  • Work with RGB images, whether created in Photoshop or captured with a digital camera or scanner,
  • Wish to print their images on an inkjet printer.

This document does not address the needs of people who:

  • Need measurable color accuracy,
  • Only wish to post their images to the web
  • Print their images by sending them to an online service
  • Are preparing images for a printing press,
  • Work with images in the CMYK color mode.

What Is Color Management?

Color Management refers to the technology and processes used to insure that colors are presented as closely as possible to the way they're intended on multiple devices. No display device or printer can show the range of brightness and color that the human eye can see, and no two devices (including different kinds of printing paper) display exactly the same range of brightness and color.

Further, different devices of the same kind respond differently: if you unplug one model of monitor and plug in another without changing any software settings, images will look different on the new monitor. If you change paper in your printer without changing any software settings, images will look different on the new paper.

Color management addresses these issues. You can get quite good results with minimal equipment and a small investment of time in some simple procedures. If you require results with extreme and measurable accuracy, more complex procedures and equipment are required. This document is biased strongly toward the simple end of that scale. Color management can get you as close as physics allows, but there will always be a difference between monitor and print (see below). Most importantly, color management makes that difference consistent and predictable. Your prints won’t be green sometimes and pink other times, or unpredictably dark or light.

What Are Color Profiles?

Color management is based on the use of color profiles. For our purposes, there are two kinds of color profiles:

  1. Device profiles are associated with a device such as a display or a printer and specific ink and paper. They describe how that device displays color, including which colors it can and can’t display.

  2. Working profiles are associated with a document in Photoshop, such as an image captured by a digital camera. They describe how the RGB values in the document correspond to the actual colors that we see, and determines which colors can be represented in the document. The working profile of a document is set when that document is created, whether it’s a JPEG file from a digital camera or scanner, a new document created in Photoshop, or a document created by opening a digital camera raw image in Adobe Camera Raw. The two most common working profiles are sRGB and AdobeRGB.

The ProPhotoRGB color space is used by people who want to make sure they are retaining all the color information possible from their image captures. It’s one of those “you probably only want to use it if you already know why you want to use it” features, and is more appropriate for highest-end printers. The most important thing to know about using ProPhotoRGB as a working space is that to avoid paying for those extra colors with a greater risk of banding (visible steps between colors) in your images, you should work in 16 bit mode. ProPhotoRGB can represent many more colors than even AdobeRGB, including a relatively small slice of colors that high end inkjet printers can print that cannot be represented in AdobeRGB. It also includes a huge number of colors that digital cameras can capture but that can’t be displayed on any output device or printer, and even more colors that humans can see but that can’t be captured with any input device or displayed by any output device. What’s the use of all these colors if you can’t display or print them? First, you can be sure you haven’t thrown away any information that your camera captured until you absolutely must (when you output the file). For example, you could make a big hue / saturation change that moves previously unviewable and unprintable range of purplish reds into a range of deep blues that can be displayed. Or you might perform a sequence of editing steps that temporarily create extreme, unprintable colors and then later restore them to a printable range (say, by boosting overall color saturation and then cutting it back in specific areas). Having all those extra colors lets you do this without destroying color differences in the image. But ProPhotoRGB comes with a cost: To avoid banding you should work in 16 bit mode, which doubles file sizes, memory requirements, and operation times. Most Photoshop operations are available in 16 bit mode, but many of the creative filter operations are not.

AdobeRGB can represent more colors than sRGB — specifically including more saturated colors that inkjet printers can print. This profile is most appropriate for mid-range printers. So if you plan to print your images on an inkjet printer, you may wish to use AdobeRGB as your working space. You do this by setting your digital camera or scanner software to output AdobeRGB files, setting the output settings within Adobe Camera Raw to output AdobeRGB files, or, if creating documents from scratch in Photoshop, selecting AdobeRGB from the Color Profile pop-up in the advanced section of the New Document dialog.

sRGB can represent fewer colors than AdobeRGB, and inkjet printers can print many of those colors. This profile is best for all-in-one printers (that include a scanner and/or fax). So if you use sRGB, you will never see some of the more saturated colors that your digital camera or scanner can capture and your printer could print. But sRGB does include the vast majority of colors in the vast majority of images. Most monitors connected to the Internet are not color managed in any way, but they have device profiles that are close to sRGB, and many online print services require files that they print to have a working profile of sRGB. That means that for files to be posted on the internet or sent to such an online service, you should either use a working space of sRGB, or convert the file to sRGB before posting or sending it. You can convert a document to sRGB either by choosing Edit >Convert to Profile, and choosing sRGB as the Destination Space (leave other settings as they are), or by selecting the Convert To sRGB checkbox in the Save For Web dialog when saving a JPEG for the web.

Tips for Better Color Prints:

Here are some fundamental tips for color management (the first two being the most important):

Set up a reasonable and consistent lighting environment for the monitor you use for editing.

  • Low lighting that doesn’t vary much by time of day and has no light sources falling directly on the screen is ideal (you don’t want to see reflections of lights or bright objects in the screen when it’s off). Conversely, the worst possible setup would be one in which the sun shines on your monitor in the morning and in your face in the afternoon.

Profile and calibrate the monitor every 6 months or so.

  • Even the least expensive modern monitor calibrators (under $150) will produce more accurate and consistent results than the software calibration functions built into the macOS and Windows operating systems. In turn, those will produce better results than not calibrating your monitor at all.

Whichever method you use, the result will be a profile of your monitor with those settings. The next time you launch Photoshop, it will use your newly created profile. Do not change the settings on your monitor after you profile it — specifically do not change brightness, contrast, or color settings. If you do change settings or significantly change the lighting environment, you should repeat the profiling process.

The built-in screens of laptops are not ideal for obtaining good color matches with prints.

  • Good color management requires a monitor that has been profiled; its controls must be set the same way as when the profile was created. Laptop screens can be more non-uniform (with different color and brightness in different parts of the screen) than high-quality desktop monitors, and they are set very bright and/or with brightness automatically varying based on the ambient light. That is great for web browsing in bright light and coffee shops, but your prints will always look dark — or worse, sometimes OK, sometimes a little too dark, and sometimes far too dark
  • Laptop screens, however, have improved greatly over the last several years. If you plan to use your laptop screen for editing images to be printed, and if the calibration device or built-in software doesn't guide you to a particular brightness level, try about one-third to one-half the maximum brightness level. Whenever you edit images, return the display to those settings, or you will be frustrated by poor and unpredictable results.

Do not use cheap paper in your inkject printer

  • The paper you choose will make a huge difference. Inkjet printers all produce very poor results on “plain” or generic “inkjet photo” paper. You should use papers specifically made for photographic and art output by the printer’s manufacturer or a specialty paper maker. Photographic and art paper are available in smooth matte, textured matte, semi-gloss, full gloss, luster, metallic, and other surfaces. Papers vary widely in the color gamut and brightness range they can represent, and the different surface types have a huge effect on the print’s quality and appearance in different viewing conditions. The most basic choice is between glossy (shiny) surface like the prints you used to get from a 1-hour lab, or matte (non-shiny), like most of the prints you see on museum walls. For small (4X6) prints to share, a “premium” glossy paper from the printer’s manufacturer is a reasonable default choice. For larger prints, especially ones meant for display, it’s worth trying different paper kinds to see what you like. After experimenting, most people settle on a small number of papers (1-3) they use for most of their work.

Make sure you have profiles for the printer and paper combinations you’ll be using
(do this when you first start using a new kind of printer paper)

  • Most inkjet printers today — especially ones meant for imaging rather than business use — come with reasonably good profiles for various types of paper made by the printer's manufacturer, and those profiles are installed along with the printer software. If you’re using a new kind of paper, or a paper that isn’t made by the printer manufacturer, you will have to obtain a profile from the paper manufacturer’s website or another source.

Do not use cheap ink in your inkjet printer

  • Inkjet ink is expensive — but for low volume, high quality printing there is no easy budget alternative to the printer manufacturer’s ink. Save budget replacement ink for word processing documents and spreadsheets with graphics. For color accuracy and consistency, use either the printer manufacturer’s ink or specialty imaging ink such as that made by Lyson (use of specialty ink will also require custom profiles — a printer profile is specific to the combination of printer, ink, and paper). Inexpensive store brand inks carry a high risk of poor and variable color results and significantly lowered print longevity.

Prepare a lighting environment near your monitor for viewing prints
(do this once when you set up your computer workspace).

  • You need a space near your monitor that has light suitable for viewing the print — preferably similar to the light in which it will eventually be viewed, and preferably near the monitor so you can look from one to the other. Generally that won’t be direct sunlight (which would make it hard to see your monitor anyway), and it won’t be pitch darkness (which might be tempting for viewing your monitor, but then you can’t see your prints). It’s often best not to hold the print up right next to the monitor because if there’s good light for print viewing in that position, there’s probably light reflecting off the monitor, which is bad. On the desk to one side is ideal.

No matter what you do, your prints will never match your monitor exactly, because:

  • The monitor is emitting light and the print is reflecting light.
  • The print will look somewhat different depending on the light in which it is viewed: it will look different under incandescent light, indirect sunlight, and fluorescents.
  • The monitor and the print can’t represent all the same colors nor the same range of brightness from light to dark. For example, the monitor can likely produce some deep blues and reddish-purples that your printer can’t print. The monitor can show a hugely greater brightness difference from black to white than can the printer. The printer can probably print middle tone and deep blue-greens and greens that the monitor can’t display. The color management software modifies many of the colors in the document to provide the best overall result on each device. It doesn’t just take the colors that are too saturated to represent on a particular device and replace them with the closest color that can be shown. That would eliminate all detail in colors near the extremes of the device’s capabilities. Instead, it shifts many colors subtly to preserve overall appearance.

Use soft proofing to get a better idea of what your print will look like (do this as desired, or each time before you print)

  • If you’ve calibrated your monitor, what Photoshop is showing you on the screen is the most accurate representation possible of your document. If you then print that document using an appropriate profile, it will print the most accurate representation of your document that the printer can print. Because of the factors listed above, those will usually be quite different.
  • Instead of having Photoshop show the most accurate possible representation of your document on the screen, it can show the most accurate possible representation of what the print will look like — taking into account the colors your printer can’t print, and the decreased range of dark to light tones that the printer can produce. Because of these differences, a soft proof (onscreen preview of print colors) will always look duller than the original image. You may want to use this information to increase the contrast or saturation of certain areas of your image to compensate, though obviously if a color isn’t there because the printer can’t print it, nothing you can do to the file will create that color in the print. This preview is still limited by the lighting environment, plus the fact that there are colors the printer can print that the monitor can’t display. But it’ll give you a better idea of what the print will look like than the normal (“best possible image of the document”) display.

To see a soft proof of your document, choose View > Proof Setup > Custom and set the dialog items as follows:

  • Device to Simulate: Pick the profile for the printer and paper combination you want to proof.
  • Preserve RGB Numbers: Deselected
  • Rendering Intent: Perceptual or Relative Colorimetric (you usually won’t see much difference between these, but the one you choose should match the one you pick in the print dialog when you print the document)
  • Black Point Compensation: Selected
  • Simulate Paper Color: Selected
  • Simulate Ink Black: Selected

Then click OK.

This prepares settings for this particular paper and printer combination and turns on soft proofing. To toggle soft proofing for this setup on and off, choose View >Proof Colors. You can perform any editing operation while soft proofing is on.

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Adobe MAX 2024

Adobe MAX

The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

Adobe MAX 2024

Adobe MAX

The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online