Page 131 - Graphic Design and Print Production Fundamentals

4.11 Applying Colour Management in the Adobe Creative and Kodak

Prinergy Software

Alan Martin

Colour management comes into play at two primary points in the print production workflow: during file
creation with authoring tools like the Adobe Creative applications (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator),
and then when the file is processed for output with a workflow software program such as Kodak
Prinergy. Let’s examine the details in these most widely used software tools to provide concrete
examples.

Colour Set-up in the Adobe Creative Applications

The primary tool for colour management in the Adobe products is the Color Settings dialog under the
Edit menu. Fortunately, these settings can be shared across all of the Adobe applications to coordinate a
consistent delivery of colour strategy. Define your settings in Photoshop, as this is the application with
the largest number of options, to guarantee that all possible options have been set to your choices.

Launch Photoshop and, from the Edit menu, choose Color Settings. There are three main sections to
the dialog window: Working Spaces, Color Management Policies, and Conversion Options. Change the
Settings option above the Working Spaces panel to North American Prepress 2. This applies a set of
defaults that are optimal for a print production workflow.

Working Spaces is Adobe’s name for default profiles. These are the profiles that will be used if no other
information is available. If you open a file that is untagged (the terminology for a document that has no
profile attached to it), the profile listed for the colour space matching the file will be assumed and used
as long as the file is open. It will not persist with the file once the file is closed. If you create a new file
in the application, the profile listed will be assigned and the profile reference will move forward with
the file.

Let’s review and clarify the terminology associated with describing the status of a colour profile relative
to a particular document or file. A file that has a profile is referred to as tagged while one without profile
is untagged. A tagged document can have one of two relationships with its colour profile. The colour
profile can be embedded or assigned. An embedded profile is actually written into the file content. This
increases the file size, but guarantees that the desired profile will be available. For an assigned profile,
only a reference to the profile is contained in the document. File size is reduced, but access to the profile
depends on the application and environment processing the object. You can think of an assumed profile
as a temporary assignment that will only last as long as the file is open.

For Working Spaces options, the RGB default of Adobe RGB (1998) that comes with the North
American Prepress 2 setting is a perceptually even RGB space, which makes it better for editing and a
good choice. The CMYK field is where you should choose a profile specific to the final output device if
it is known. The SWOP profile is a reasonable fallback and is commonly used as the industry standard

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