Color Space Questions

[highbred3d]

Hey Everybody...

I would like to get some nice prints of some of my work for a show coming up at my company... and I had some questions on color space and profiles...

What are some good tips / explanations of working with color profiles?
Any good reference anyone has found that explains working with profiles?
What is a good profile to save my image as for delivery to a printer?
Any good info on workflows to get the highest quality / accurate print?
Any good references on proofing at home on my inkjet?

Here is what I think I know so far...

I shoot in aRGB, which I think has a larger color space than sRGB, right?

CMYK has a smaller color space than RGB?

I don't have any color profiling software to callibrate my monitor, printer, scanner, etc... other than the basic adobe gamma, and quick gamma, which are even callibrators.

I konw it's alot of questions, but I would really appreciate any input on any of these questions...

Thanks!

 

[Hertz van Rental]

You need to calibrate your monitor, printer and scanner so get your Company to spring for some software - or buy a Mac that has it all built in.

A good book on Photoshop will explain about colour profiles.

The best way of getting quality print flow is to use a pre-press or proofing program. They will check for things like bleed and gamut.

Always convert your files to CMYK before printing. Photoshop does a better job of it than your printer. CMYK does have a smaller colour space than RGB because the latter uses coloured light to generate colours whilst the former uses coloured inks. This is what gamut is all about. Out of gamut colours are ones that are present in the image but that can't be printed. Flourescent colours are a good example. In the print trade you have to do them as spot colours and use special inks.

I would seriously suggest getting the printing done by a lab and having a talk with them about what you need to do.
You are asking for a three year Degree course/ 5 years experience to be compressed into a couple of paragraphs. If you don't understand what you are dealing with then it is usually a good indication that you are working out of your depth

 

[markc]

Getting into quality digital printing isn't opening a can of worms; it's more like a 50gal barrel of asps.