Colour Proofing & Colour Management For Supplied Files

Set Up & Colour Proofing - Upto 2 A4 proofs To Ensure The Accuracy Of The Colour Reproduction

A4 Colour Proofing

£20 EXCLUDING VAT per file

Student Discount 10%

Extra Standard Proofs are available subject to a charge of £5 EXCLUDING VAT per proof.

Why Do You Need To Colour Proof Your Files?

The proofing process is necessary to the (digital) artist and printer because of the degree of difference between viewing conditions (monitors etc.) and output methods. A proof will be printed on the same media as any final prints. By viewing the hard proof you can see exactly how your prints will look. The proof will be archived for future reference to ensure consistency throughout printing and reprinting irrespective of the time between the original prints.

How We Colour Proof Supplied Files:

After initial assessment by ourselves, a proof is made (Approx- A4) on the same media as the final prints. This proof is viewed by the artist and ourselves in our dedicated proofing area in our office. Our proofing area is illuminated by industry standard colour balanced lighting. The lighting set up we use for proofing ensures proofing takes place within a properly lit area of the correct colour spectrum to eleminate any colour casts as seen when using tungsten or flourescent lighting. If the proof is to the artists liking then an approval form is signed to state that the proof has been approved and printing can commence. All signed approval forms are stored alongside the proof for any future reference. If the proof needs some adjustment to reach the desired results then changes are discussed and noted. The changes are signed by the artist and the next proof will reflect these requested changes. The job will be printed when a proof has been approved by the artist.

If viewing in our dedicted proofing area is not achievable then remote proofing is an option. A printed proof is sent to the artist to view. A signed approval form and the proof are returned to us for archiving if the proof is accepted. Any adjustments needed to reach the desired result should be sen to us via email or written clearly and posted to us along with the proof. Further adjustments are then carried out. A new proof is sent to the artist for approval. The job will be printed when a proof has been approved by the artist.

To ensure colour consistency, our colour managed workflow is set to the same specifications of colour temperature.

If you wish to submit files for printing please read all of the articles from the tabs at the top of this page. These articles will save both time and money.

Download our pdf Colour Management brochure by clicking the icon to the left.

How To Ensure Consistent Colour Reproduction - From Your Monitor To Our Monitor

To ensure that we, the printers, can faithfully reproduce the colours and tones found in submitted digital files, there are certain steps that need to be followed by the artist/submitter.

The most important step to digital colour consistency is to build a unique profile for your monitor and graphics processor combination. The only way to do this is to buy a monitor calibration package such as those from Gretag Macbeth, Pantone or other manufacturers. The calibration package will create a colour profile that ensures your monitor displays colours and tones accurately by measuring a set range of colours at various tonal values and referencing them to a set of industry standard measurements and adjusting them accordingly. Be sure that you tell the calibration software to build a profile for D50 (5000K) lighting. Print viewing booths are calibrated to D50, the widely used industry standard, and monitors should be the same. This profile becomes the monitors default.

Many image editing software packages have colour preference menus which need to be adjusted.(Photoshop version 5 or lower are not colour managed.) Locate this menu in your preferred software and set the preferences so that the working colourspace is AdobeRGB, the industry standard RGB. Any editing must take place after you ensure that you are working in the Adobe RGB colourspace. All files should be saved with the Adobe RGB profile or your prefered RGB profile. We are able to accept files with other colour profiles embedded but we find that ADOBE RGB is best suited to photographic and fine art images. CMYK images can be supplied to us as long as a suitable CMYK profile has been embedded.

Do not embed a printer icc profile. This will limit the colour range of your file as our printers have a much larger colour gamut than desktop printers.

For the best quality reproductions all files should be saved as uncompressed 8bit or 16bit TIFF at 300dpi or more. Do not apply any compression to TIFF files as this reduces quality

By adhering to these standards the colour and tonal range of your digital file will remain consistent when viewed and edited upon your workstation, through to final output upon our printers. We print from your file “as is”, no editing or colour work will take place on the file unless proofing was requested and quoted for.

Please use the tabs to view Working Colourspace and Maximum File Quality information.

Setting Up Working Colourspace - Matching Your System To Ours

This screenshot shows the panel used to set the working colourspace within Adobe Photoshop. By using these settings you can help to ensure consistant colour reproduction. This control panel is accessed via EDIT/COLOUR SETTINGS in the main menu across the top of Adobe Photoshop. Settings will vary and panel styling will differ if you use a different image editing software package.

Please note the RGB settings. Image files should be sent to us in this colourspace, Adobe RGB. We can accept images in different colourspaces as long as you have embedded the appropriate profile and have edited your files in this colourspace.

Please note the ADVANCED CONTROLS box, leave these unchecked.

Saving Image Files For Maximum Quality - 8bit Or 16bit TIFF Files With Embedded Colour Profile

Screenshot 1. IMAGE SIZE panel in Photoshop.

The box that of most importance is the RESOLUTION box highlighted. Make sure that you save your files at 300 dpi, no less. If you have the three boxes at the bottom of the panel checked as in this image then your file will be saved at 300 dpi at the largest size possible for your actual number of image pixels. We can upscale files to print at sizes beyond the range of your digital camera using our dedicated software.

After preparing the size of your file use the IMAGE/MODE menu to change the file's bit depth to 8 bit or 16bit and make sure the colour mode is RGB. We can accept CMYK images but this limits the colour gamut available unless a suitably wide CMYK profile is used.

Screenshot 2. SAVE AS panel in Photoshop.

Please make sure that you save your files as TIFF format and with the ADOBE RGB colour profile embedded. Other colour profiles can be embeded and we can accept files with any colour profile but we find the ADOBE RGB will give the best results for general photographic and fine art works. With your working colourspace set to ADOBE RGB as per the Working Colourspace page, then the EMBED COLOR PROFILE will automatically show the ADOBE RGB profile. If it does not then assign the ADOBE RGB profile within Photoshop's EDIT/ASSIGN PROFILE menu.

Do not embed a printer icc profile. This will limit the colour range of your file as our printers have a much larger colour gamut than desktop printers.

Always flatten any layers used in editing your file using the LAYER/FLATTEN LAYER menu.

Screenshot 3. TIFF OPTIONS panel

Appears after the SAVE AS panel above. Please check that IMAGE COMPRESSION is set to NONE. Set BYTE ORDER to PC no matter what operating system you use.