Soft Proofing in LightRoom 6

Hi - First, my monitor has been calibrated using Colormunki and I'm using Windows 10 and Lightroom 6.5.1

If I do a SoftProof using the sRBG profile, my images look correct, colors are bright, rich and appear correct.

But when I do a SoftProof with a printer profile like Adorama's glossy (yes, I do sent some prints to AdoramaPix with usually great results), my colors are all "washed out," that is the colors are dull - and no amount of tweaking bring them back to what the original image or the sRGB SoftProof appears.

I have never noticed this before and my prints from AdoramaPix have always been as "rich" as the image I sent. This most recent order, the colors were exactly as the SoftProof predicted - ugly!

Am I doing something wrong in using the SoftProof or did something change in LR 6 -- its been a while since I used a printer profile like the Adorama glossy.

Or, is there a correct way to restore the colors so the printer profile produces the desired results?

Thanks

What does Adorama require (sRGB color images) and what are your export settings?

Did this just start to happen? In other words, were you soft-proofing with the Adorama profile in a previous version of LR and the soft-proof looked like the rich prints you were getting previously?

kirk

You will have the "Simulate Paper & Ink" option ticked. For generic screen profiles, such as sRGB, AdobeRGB and ProPhotoRGB, the three main one, although there are more, this is not an option. For printer profiles it is there to simulate the difference between viewing a reflected light image, as you get from a print, and a transmissive light projection system such as you get with a monitor or when using slide film. Actually unless you are using an old CRT, looking at a monitor is just like looking at a projected slide. You have a white light source that you view through a coloured filter. Anyway under most normal viewing conditions for a print it will generally seem a little less saturated and contrasty thanks to the fact that you are losing some light in the process of it being reflected.

I usually find that having the Simulate Paper & Ink selected matches my prints a little better than not selecting it. It also depends on how they will be presented. I usually find that when framed under glass and hung on the wall you lose a bit more than viewing under controlled circumstances in a good viewing environment. If you are finding that your prints look more like the sRGB proof then untick the option and you will see a significant increase in the brightness and contrast. Try that and see what you think.

I do not know about the lab you are using, most will want you to submit in sRGB and will handle the colour for you. I use a lab here in the UK that is quite unusual in that it offers an alternative to the usual types of upload systems (Often that is a system called ROES) that allows you to make choices in cropping for aspect ratio and other tweaks, these systems usually require sRGB, or will convert to sRGB first for the online editing stage. In this situation it is important to export in sRGB from LR and not to use the printer profile. I know of only two or three labs in the world where you should submit in anything other than sRGB. If you create a proof copy in LR you should remember that the proof copy colourspace will be used during export, not the colourspace set in the export dialogue. There is no warning of this.

Alan

Roxie2401 wrote in post #18004967
Hi - First, my monitor has been calibrated using Colormunki and I'm using Windows 10 and Lightroom 6.5.1

If I do a SoftProof using the sRBG profile, my images look correct, colors are bright, rich and appear correct.

But when I do a SoftProof with a printer profile like Adorama's glossy (yes, I do sent some prints to AdoramaPix with usually great results), my colors are all "washed out," that is the colors are dull - and no amount of tweaking bring them back to what the original image or the sRGB SoftProof appears.

I have never noticed this before and my prints from AdoramaPix have always been as "rich" as the image I sent. This most recent order, the colors were exactly as the SoftProof predicted - ugly!

Am I doing something wrong in using the SoftProof or did something change in LR 6 -- its been a while since I used a printer profile like the Adorama glossy.

Or, is there a correct way to restore the colors so the printer profile produces the desired results?

Thanks

I've just copied your query over to Libby, one of my colleagues at AdoramaPix. Hopefully she'll either jump right in here tomorrow (Monday) or she'll send me some details to post. It's worth taking her direct contact details for future queries: libby@adoramapix.com.

That sounds like the soft proof is doing exactly what it supposed to do; with a reasonable amount of accuracy predict the print. If this is so, your problem may be restated as not knowing what to do when the prediction is "Ugliness" to change it to "Beauty". Yet this is the primary purpose of soft proofing and ultimately of all editing. But in order to advise on how to avoid images that when they are converted to versions that fit within a gamut which is representative of a particular paper/pigment/printing process, become ugly, we would need to know in detail every step in the workflow that proceeded that fateful moment.


One example among many possibilities: When you edit a Raw image in LR, you are editing it in a huge color space, one that can contain many colors that don't exist naturally. Some of those colors can't be seen on any monitor - not even the most expensive and most professional. A few can't even be seen by human vision. Yet it is very easy to create in your photo such colors - although you may not even be aware you are doing so - given the limitations of eyes and monitors. When the day comes to output a version that is within the capabilities of the printer, it stands to reason that colors "on the wild side" will have to be tamed - changed, darkened and desaturated; or compressed, jumbled together, clipped. It's like building the world's biggest building in New Jersey and driving it into NYC through the Lincoln Tunnel. A good engineer can anticipate and mitigate the damage. Others will settle for whatever comes out at W. 34 St.

Start off with the basics':

Viewing conditions for your monitor? Monitor settings such as colour temperature & luminance?

When you soft proof your image with the sRGB profile, did you check the out-of gamut warnings and what rendering intent?

Did you provide the printer with the correct colour space and embed the profile in the file?