Epson Managing Color User Guide

Epson Professional Imaging

Color Management Guide

Printing With Epson Premium ICC Profiles

Copyright Notice

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Seiko
Epson Corporation. The information contained herein is designed only for use with this
Epson product. Epson is not responsible for any use of this information as applied to other
equipment.

Neither Seiko Epson Corporation nor its affiliates shall be liable to the purchaser of this
product or third parties for damages, losses, costs, or expenses incurred by purchaser or
third parties as a result of: accident, misuse, or abuse of this product or unauthorized
modifications, repairs, or alterations to this product, or (excluding the U.S.) failure to
strictly comply with Seiko Epson Corporation’s operating and maintenance instructions.

Seiko Epson Corporation shall not be liable for any damages or problems arising from the
use of any options or any consumable products other than those designated as Original
Epson Products or Epson Approved Products by Seiko Epson Corporation.

Responsible Use of Copyrighted Materials

Epson encourages each user to be responsible and respectful of the copyright laws when
using any Epson product. While some countries’ laws permit limited copying or reuse of
copyrighted material in certain circumstances, those circumstances may not be as broad as
some people assume. Contact your legal advisor for any questions regarding copyright law.

Trademarks

Epson and Epson Stylus are registered trademarks, and Epson Exceed Your Vision is a
registered logomark of Seiko Epson Corporation.

General Notice: Other product names used herein are for identification purposes only and
may be trademarks of their respective owners. Epson disclaims any and all rights in those
marks.

This information is subject to change without notice.

© 2011 Epson America, Inc. 1/11 CPD-28014R1

2

Introduction

For the most precise color in your prints, you can use profiles designed specifically
for your printer model and paper type. Basic profiles are installed with your
printer driver, and you may also have downloaded Premium ICC profiles from
Epson when you installed your printer software.

®

To print using Premium ICC profiles with Adobe

®

or Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

, follow the instructions in these sections for

Photoshop® CS3, CS4, CS5,

your operating system:

■ “Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP” below

■ “Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6” on page 20

■ “Mac OS X 10.4.11” on page 35

Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP

Follow the instructions in these sections:

■ “Print With Adobe Photoshop CS5” below

■ “Print With Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4” on page 8

■ “Print With Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.4 - 3.x” on page 14

Print With Adobe Photoshop CS5

First set up your color management environment in Photoshop and assign a
profile to your image. Then select your print settings and print.

Note:

Assigning a profile to your image doesn’t alter it, only the interpretation of it by your
software and how it appears on your monitor and in a printout. This is the best way to
improve the color balance and contrast in your image.

Print With Adobe Photoshop CS5 3

Set Up the Photoshop Environment

1. Open Photoshop.

2. Select

3. Select

Edit > Color Settings.

North America Prepress 2 from the Settings menu to set Adobe RGB

(1998) as the RGB working space and activate profile messages.

4. Click

OK.

Follow the steps in the next section to open the photo you want to print and
assign a profile to it.

Assign a Profile to Your Photo

1. Open the photo you want to print.

2. If you see an Embedded Profile Mismatch message, select

embedded profile

If you see a Missing Profile message, select

RGB (1998)

and click OK. When your image appears, evaluate the color

balance and contrast as displayed on your monitor. If it looks incorrect, select

Edit > Assign Profile.

4 Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP

and click OK.

Assign working RGB: Adobe

Use the

Select one of the following as the

■ A different RGB working space (or Profile), such as ColorMatch RGB or

Profile setting:

sRGB IEC61966-2.1

■ A scanner profile for your scanner

■ A camera profile for your digital camera

Also click the

Preview box so you can see the effects of your profile choice on

the screen.

Tip:

This is most effective when your monitor is calibrated using a hardware device
such as the X-Rite

®

ColorMunki™ or Datacolor® Spyder3™.

3. Click OK.

4. Select

File, then select Print.

5. Select your Epson professional printer in the Printer list, then select

Management

.

Color

6. Under

7. Under

Color Management, select Document.

Color Handling, select Photoshop Manages Colors.

Print With Adobe Photoshop CS5 5

8. Under Printer Profile, select a profile for your printer and the paper you’ll
use. If you’re printing with Epson Premium ICC profiles, select the profile
that also matches the print quality you want to use.

9. For the

Note:

If your image contains very saturated colors, select Perceptual. This reduces the
color saturation so that the colors fit within the printer’s color gamut.

Rendering Intent, select Relative Colorimetric.

10. Select the Black Point Compensation checkbox.

11. Click the

Print Settings button.

Follow the steps in the next section to select print settings to match the profile and
print.

Print Your Color-Managed Photo

1. Select the Source and Media Type settings for the paper you’ll use for the
print.

2. Select

Quality Options as the Print Quality setting.

You see a window like this one:

3. If you are using an Epson Premium ICC profile, set the
to match your profile.

4. Turn off the
available, then click

High Speed and Edge Smoothing options, if they are

OK to close the Quality Options window.

6 Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP

Print Quality setting

5. Select

Custom as the Mode setting, then choose Off (No Color Adjustment)

in the drop-down menu.

IMPORTANT:
Select Off (No Color
Adjustment)

Note:

Make sure that you select Off (No Color Adjustment). If you don’t, the printer
driver will apply additional correction to the image, producing inaccurate results.

6. Click OK.

Print With Adobe Photoshop CS5 7

7. Select the correct orientation for your photo.

8. Click

Print to print your photo.

If you get unexpected results, see “Solve Color Management Problems” on
page 47.

Print With Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4

First set up your color management environment in Photoshop and assign a
profile to your image. Then select your print settings and print (the steps show
Photoshop CS4 screens).

Note:

Assigning a profile to your image doesn’t alter it, only the interpretation of it by your
software and how it appears on your monitor and in a printout. This is the best way to
improve the color balance and contrast in your image.

8 Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP

Set Up the Photoshop Environment

1. Open Photoshop.

2. Select

3. Select

Edit > Color Settings.

North America Prepress 2 from the Settings menu to set Adobe RGB

(1998) as the RGB working space and activate profile messages.

4. Click

OK.

Follow the steps in the next section to open the photo you want to print and
assign a profile to it.

Assign a Profile to Your Photo

1. Open the photo you want to print.

2. If you see an Embedded Profile Mismatch message, select

embedded profile

If you see a Missing Profile message, select

RGB (1998)

and click OK. When your image appears, evaluate the color

and click OK.

Assign working RGB: Adobe

balance and contrast as displayed on your monitor. If it looks incorrect, select

Edit > Assign Profile.

Print With Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4 9

Use the

Select one of the following as the Profile setting:

■ A different RGB working space (or Profile), such as ColorMatch RGB or

sRGB IEC61966-2.1

■ A scanner profile for your scanner

■ A camera profile for your digital camera

Also click the

Preview box so you can see the effects of your profile choice on

the screen.

Tip:

This is most effective when your monitor is calibrated using a hardware device
such as the X-Rite ColorMunki or Datacolor Spyder3.

3. Click OK.

4. Select

5. Select the

File > Page Setup.

Size of your paper, the Source you’ll use to load it, and the correct

Orientation for your photo.

6. Click

7. Select

OK.

File, then select Print or Print with Preview.

10 Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP

8. Select your Epson professional printer in the Printer list, then select

Management

.

Color

9. Under

10. Under

11. Under

Color Management, select Document.

Color Handling, select Photoshop Manages Colors.

Printer Profile, select a profile for your printer and the paper you’ll

use. If you’re printing with Epson Premium ICC profiles, select the profile
that also matches the print quality you want to use.

Print With Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4 11

12. For the Rendering Intent, select Relative Colorimetric.

Note:

If your image contains very saturated colors, select Perceptual. This reduces the
color saturation so that the colors fit within the printer’s color gamut.

13. Select the Black Point Compensation checkbox.

14. Click the

Print button.

Follow the steps in the next section to select print settings to match the profile and
print.

Print Your Color-Managed Photo

1. Make sure your Epson professional printer is selected, then click the

Preferences or Properties button.

2. Select the
print.

3. Select

You see a window like this one:

Source and Media Type settings for the paper you’ll use for the

Quality Options as the Print Quality setting.

4. If you are using an Epson Premium ICC profile, set the
to match your profile.

5. Turn off the
available, then click

High Speed and Edge Smoothing options, if they are

OK to close the Quality Options window.

12 Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP

Print Quality setting

6. Select

Custom as the Mode setting, then choose Off (No Color Adjustment)

in the drop-down menu.

IMPORTANT:
Select Off (No Color
Adjustment)

Note:

Make sure that you select Off (No Color Adjustment). If you don’t, the printer
driver will apply additional correction to the image, producing inaccurate results.

7. Click OK or Print to print your photo.

If you get unexpected results, see “Solve Color Management Problems” on
page 47.

Print With Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4 13

Print With Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.4 - 3.x

First select your printer and page setup options in Lightroom. Then set the color
management options, select print settings, and print.

Select Color Management Options

1. Open Lightroom.

2. Select the photo you want to print.

3. Select the

Print module, and click the Page Setup button.

4. Make sure your Epson professional printer is selected.

14 Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP

5. Select the

Orientation for your photo.

Size of your paper, the Source you’ll use to load it, and the correct

6. Click

OK.

7. Scroll down to the

8. Under

Color Management in the Print Job panel, select Other as the

Profile setting.

Print Job panel in Lightroom.

Print With Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.4 - 3.x 15