Soft proofing and test prints

Learning goal

Before printing an expensive, large print, you will be able to see on screen in advance how it will look on the paper you chose, and confirm it with a small test print. You will see how soft proofing imitates the print by using the paper's profile, white and black, and how changing the rendering intent affects the image. You will find the colors the paper can't print with the gamut warning, and make your edits on a separate proof copy without spoiling the original file. You will print the most critical area, usually a face, as a small test strip at the real print size, wait for the ink's drying time, compare the strip with the screen under the right light, and document the process with notes. In the proof view you will adjust the shadows of dark skin to the paper's limit, and by taking the test strip from the face confirm that the skin comes out in the right tone in print.

The question

The baker chose the textured, matte fine art paper. The price from the print shop makes your ears ring: at this width, a single faulty attempt means throwing a large piece of the roll in the bin. Your friend from the club is worried: the baker's face, which looks deep and warm on screen, could lift to gray in the matte paper's limited black; the neighbor's headscarf could yellow in the paper's creamy white; the saturated orange of the oven light might not fit on the paper.

There had to be a way of knowing all this without wasting a meter of paper. Your friend knows that the calibrated image on their screen is still the image of a bright screen, and that the paper will behave completely differently. Is it possible to see a print before you print it? How can the photo on screen imitate a paper that hasn't been printed yet?

Context

In the monitor calibration lesson you saw that the screen is measured and adjusted, and that neutral light is essential when comparing the print with the screen (Lesson 25.1). In the color management lesson we discussed that every paper has its own device profile, and that some colors fall outside the paper's gamut (Lesson 25.2). In the paper types lesson, too, you saw that a matte paper's black can be limited and its white warm (Lesson 25.4).

This lesson ties that knowledge into a workflow and closes the module. First the screen imitates the print using the paper's profile; then a small print is taken of the most critical area; last comes the move to the large print. This order turns expensive mistakes into small, cheap tests. The module's project, a print and its documentation, is also in this lesson's assignment.

Simple explanation

How does the screen imitate paper?

Soft proofing is the editing program imitating on screen, using a paper's color profile, how the photo will look when printed on that paper. The program first converts the file's colors to the paper's gamut, then shows this result on screen. When the option to simulate the paper's white and black is turned on, the brightest white on screen drops to the paper's own white, and the darkest black to the paper's limited black. This moment is often surprising: the image suddenly looks duller, flatter and warmer. This dullness isn't an error, but a preview of the paper's real limits.

The rendering intent can also be changed and tried in soft proofing. With the perceptual intent the saturated orange fits on the paper by being compressed together with all the colors; with the relative colorimetric intent the colors inside the gamut are preserved and those outside are cut to the boundary. Turning the two on and off in turn on screen shows, before printing, which one suits this photo and this paper better.

A gamut warning is an indicator that marks on screen, with a conspicuous color, the colors of a file that the paper or target device can't print. Turning on the warning shows the oven's orange mouth and the most saturated area on the baker's cheek being marked. Reducing the saturation a little in these areas, or choosing a suitable rendering intent, keeps flat patches from forming in the print.

How is a proof copy used?

A proof copy is a copy of a photo adjusted for a particular paper and size, kept separate from the original file. The adjustments made to correct the dullness seen in soft proofing are specific to that paper alone: lightening the shadows a little for matte paper may be unnecessary on a glossy paper. That is why the adjustments are made on a proof copy instead of the original file; the original file stays as it is for screen and the internet; if it will be printed on two different papers, two separate proof copies are opened.

The adjustments made according to soft proofing are usually small: a lightening in the shadows just enough to lift the detail above the paper's black, a slight reduction of saturation in out-of-gamut areas, a small color correction to balance the warmth of the paper white. The goal isn't to make the print on paper exactly like the original image on screen, but to preserve the photo's character in the best way within that paper's limits.

Dark skin is the place to look at most carefully in this adjustment. When soft proofing is turned on, the shaded half of the baker's face approaches a mass at the matte paper's black limit. Lightening the shadows across the whole frame also lightens the headscarf and the background and reduces the photo's depth. Instead, selecting only the dark half of the face and lifting its brightness a little without touching its color brings the detail above the paper's limit.

What does a test strip confirm?

Soft proofing is a good estimate, but it stays an estimate; the screen still emits light, while paper reflects it. A test strip is a small piece of the photo's most critical area printed at the real print size and on the chosen paper. Instead of the whole one-meter print, printing a twenty-centimeter strip containing the baker's face and the neighbor's headscarf answers the most important questions for a small part of the cost: is the skin right, is there detail in the shadow, has the white yellowed? Where to take the strip from is a decision too: gathering the photo's darkest and brightest areas and its most sensitive color, usually a face, in the same piece makes it possible to test the most questions with a single strip.

Drying time is the time it takes for the ink's color and tone to become stable after it is printed on paper. When a print has just come out of the printer, its colors can look a little different, and they settle after a while; that is why it is often suggested to wait a while instead of judging the strip right away. After waiting, the strip is held beside the monitor under neutral lighting and compared with the soft proof.

Taking notes on every attempt makes the process repeatable: which paper, which profile, which rendering intent, which adjustments in the proof copy, how the strip looked. In the next print on the same paper, these notes save time and paper. Over time a starting adjustment forms for each paper: on this matte paper the shadows are always lightened a little, on this glossy paper the oranges are always calmed a little. Such an accumulation saves you from starting every new print from scratch and reduces the number of test strips over time.

Visual evidence

You create a proof copy of the photo for the matte paper and turn on soft proofing with the paper profile the print shop sent. When the paper white and black are simulated, the frame suddenly dulls; the headscarf drops to a creamy white, and the shaded half of the baker's face to a flat darkness. The gamut warning marks the oven's mouth and the brightest orange of the cheek.

You choose the perceptual intent and calm the cheek's orange slightly. You select the dark half of the face and lift its brightness, without touching its color; you add a small coolness to the headscarf to balance the paper's warm white. You have a twenty-centimeter test strip printed containing the face and the headscarf, and wait a while for it to dry.

The dried strip and the proof on screen now say almost the same thing: on the dark side of the cheek the lines of the skin can be read, there is no yellowness in the headscarf, the orange doesn't spill over. The flat darkness of the first soft proof is gone. You write the adjustments in the notebook and send the one-meter print with peace of mind; when the print is hung on the wall, the baker's face is deep and warm, as you saw it on the strip.

Common mistakes

Summary

Soft proofing imitates the print on screen using the paper's profile, white and black, and shows the paper's real limits before printing; the gamut warning marks colors that can't be printed, the rendering intent is chosen by trying it on screen, and adjustments are made on a proof copy set aside for that paper, without spoiling the original file. The most critical area, usually a face, is printed as a small test strip at real size, the drying time is waited out, and it is compared with the screen under viewing light; the shadows of dark skin are lightened locally according to the paper's limit, preserving the skin's warmth, and the process is documented with notes.

Mini assignment

In this assignment, as the module's project, you will have one of your photos printed or do a test print, and document the process.

1. Choose a photo you want to print and a paper; ask the print shop or the paper maker for that paper's color profile.
2. Create a proof copy and turn on soft proofing with paper white and black simulation; turn on the gamut warning and note the marked areas, and compare the two rendering intents.
3. Make the necessary small adjustments in the proof copy; if there is a face in the photo, lighten its shadows locally according to the paper's limit, preserving the skin's tone. Have a small test strip printed containing the face and wait for it to dry.
4. Compare the strip with the screen under viewing light, correct if necessary, and make the final print. Write a one-page process note including the paper, the profile, the rendering intent, the adjustments and a photo of the result.

Check yourself

• Can you explain how soft proofing imitates paper and why it looks dull?
• Did you keep the paper-specific adjustments separate from the original file?
• Did you take the test strip from the face, and were you able to confirm that the skin came out in the right tone in print?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Why does the image suddenly look dull when soft proofing is turned on?

• A) Because the screen broke
• B) Because the program simulates the paper's white and limited black
• C) Because the file got smaller
• D) Because the rendering intent turned off

2. Where should shadow-lightening adjustments made for matte paper be applied?

• A) To the proof copy specific to that paper
• B) To the original file
• C) To the internet copy
• D) Nowhere; no adjustment is made

3. Before an expensive one-meter print, which answers the most important questions at the lowest cost?

• A) Printing the whole print twice
• B) Trusting only the screen
• C) Printing the print on glossy paper
• D) Printing a small test strip at real size from the most critical area

4. In soft proofing, the shaded half of the dark-skinned baker's face drops to a flat darkness. What is the most correct adjustment?

• A) Lightening the whole frame by two stops
• B) Sending it to print without changing the paper
• C) Lightening the face's shadow area with a mask, preserving the skin's warmth
• D) Turning soft proofing off and sending it to print

Answers

1. B — Soft proofing shows the paper's real white and black; the dullness is a preview of the paper's limits.
2. A — The adjustments are paper-specific; the original file should stay unspoiled for screen and the internet.
3. D — A test strip shows the most critical area in real conditions, and its cost is small.
4. C — Local lightening brings the detail above the paper's black and doesn't spoil the background or the skin's tone.

Summary card

• Soft proofing imitates paper; the dullness is a preview.
• Find unprintable colors with the gamut warning, try the rendering intent.
• Make adjustments not in the original file but in the proof copy.
• Print a test strip of the most critical area, wait for it to dry.
• Lighten the shadow of dark skin locally; take notes on the process.

Bridge to the next lesson

When the one-meter print was hung on the wall, the older club member brought your friend a thick album of old photographs. The photos on the first pages were soft and hazy, their edges dissolving like a painting; a few pages later everything sharpened, shapes and lines came forward; further on there were frames of people in the street, of war and of poverty; and on the last pages, images staged to convey an idea. Your friend wondered why photography had once tried to look like painting. How did the art of photography change? The next lesson tells about the great movements photography has gone through as an art.