Do you soft proof?

[navilluspm]

Just curious what you do if you are planning to make a print off the computer. I recently watch a video that suggests a person should always soft proof when printing. If you soft proof, what little tweaks do you find yourself usually making?

 

[RF-Addict]

I always softproof. Most of the time I add a slight curve adjustment to counter the paper white. My prints are very close to what I see on my calibrated monitor after soft proofing.

 

[Bob Michaels]

I never softproof as I know what the print will look like from viewing the calibrated monitor. But I only use a handful of papers. The print looks like I expected it to look 98% of the time.

Now I will sometimes go back and make some adjustments to print a final if I use that image. But it is almost always to tweak the contrast so a particular image fits in with the rest of the prints in a series. Sometimes a print looks best one way when by itself but needs a slightly different look when viewed as a part of a collection.

And I will occasionally tweak almost all of the prints in a series when it turns out that the message of the series calls for a bit softer look (seldom harder in my case).

 

[navilluspm]

Interesting. So far I am the only person who voted rarely. I just started with a few photos, but have never done it before. So far it seems as if you either soft proof all the time, or don't do it at all.

For those wondering what soft proofing is, it is a photoshop action that is suppose to give you an idea what the printed picture will look like based on the colormanagement setting who have for yout printer and paper (it also helps to have a calibrated monitor). I only use PS Elements, but found plugin that actually always a person to soft proof in Elements - but only in 8 bit mode. Anyway, I am trying it out.

 

[Chris101]

No. I am way to impatient for that! I just go right to the final print. If it's not right, only then does it get labeled a proof-print.

 

[emraphoto]

i only use 1 type of paper really so no, not needed.

 

[Igor.Burshteyn]

well, this requires some explanation. Soft proof is about being able to see on monitor what you get in print time. This requires
a) printer to be calibrated
b) monitor to be calibrated
c) proper color management on both print and display path - both monitor and printer must be profiled, and sometimes printer must be profiled per substrate used for print
I don't believe many do all a) to c) - it requires proper SW/HW (like good RIP and calibration devices) and some expertise. Many do it partially and call it soft-proof, still 😉

 

[navilluspm]

Here is a question: if I use a calibrated monitor, calibrated scanner, use Adobe color space for everything from scan to Photoshop Elements and then soft proof using the printer manufacturers paper and ink profile, should it work or do I still need to calibrate my printer?

(What I mean is that Canon has profiles for their ink/paper combination with their print dirvers that a person can find. If I only use their paper and their ink on their printer, it the profiles should be good enough to use to soft proof right?)

 

[marke]

If I only use their paper and their ink on their printer, it the profiles should be good enough to use to soft proof right?

They should be. But I've heard from at least one Caonon user that additional tweaking might still be necessary.

M, I've used soft proofing myself, but I haven't really done any color printing of my own in over a year.

 

[Paul_C]

Here is a question: if I use a calibrated monitor, calibrated scanner, use Adobe color space for everything from scan to Photoshop Elements and then soft proof using the printer manufacturers paper and ink profile, should it work or do I still need to calibrate my printer?

(What I mean is that Canon has profiles for their ink/paper combination with their print dirvers that a person can find. If I only use their paper and their ink on their printer, it the profiles should be good enough to use to soft proof right?)

They should get you pretty close, but a custom printer/paper/ink profile will be spot on.

 

[Tuolumne]

My print images usually come out looking exactly like they do on my monitor, without doing any special soft proofing. (I use Picasa 3.) However, I will almost always make a small 4x6, if the final print will be larger, just to double check things. Then, I also have a small, easy to file hard copy for my collection.

/T

 

[Ronald M]

I make small prints myself also, from a calibrated monitor with soft proof . I use Kodak supplied soft proof. I do this for wet prints and it seemed logical to continue.

For when I send out work, the lab supplies the profiles in one case, and the other uses an Ilford supplied profile for their paper and the labs Epson.

In either case, I see little if any difference in my monitor profile, change to soft proof, and to final print. In other words I do not have to fix anything. The prints come out as I expect. My instruction to the lab is not to change anything, just print the file.

 

[degruyl]

I have had serious gamut issues with certain printers, specifically book printing of pictures. It lead me to soft proof so that I knew what was coming out. Now I do it on every print.

I send my work out, so I want to speed the process up as much as possible. I suppose that if I were printing at home I might "just print".

 

[Brian Puccio]

I soft proof (calibrated monitor and a printer/paper combo that uses the manufacutrer's profile) but if I'm going to print large, I feel more comfortable sometimes printing a 4x6 first before jumping to 11x17.