Color Profiles
I’ve just ordered my first Blurb book and all is ok! (only a bit darker than images I view on my lcd, especially the blue/green tones)... I believe the problem was my color profile: I always use an Adobe RGB (aRGB) profile when import, processing and save my shots but Blurb recommends a sRGB profile… From next book, I will must: 1) convert my aRGB PSD files into a aRGB JPEG 2) processing the aRGB JPEGs (saturation and tones levels) 3) save and use them to upload into BookSmart Is it all correct? Do you suggest me other procedures? Thank you! Giovanni.
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Precisamente, Giovanni! That is exactly what you want to do—sRGB JPGs are the best choice (though BookSmart will also accept PNGs). You can also see our blog for some posts about color management.
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Thank you mike!
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I’ve tried to match the book colors results with the images on my monitor. I’ve a calibrated monitor and I use the profile of Blurb’s INDIGO printer with Photoshop CS3 but, while the images on my printed book are darker than the original, when I switch to "color proof" on Photoshop (to match the INDIGO color profile) my images become lighter (not darker, like the prints on the book)... I’m confused… How can I get on my monitor the Blurb printer result?
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Giovanni, try the tops in this thread… http://forums.blurb.com/forums/5/topics/2606. If that doesn’t help come back and we’ll do a bit more investigation. .......Tony
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Ok, Tony! I unchecked "Simulate Black Colour" and the images are better but the results is yet lighter than original images (without "Proof Colour") while the printed images are darker than originals…
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I’m not ignoring this last post of yours Giovanni, I’m struggling to come up with ideas. I want to try various settings and recreate what you are experiencing, as that might help, but I may not get the time before Wednesday.. One inout to that, if you have the time. Do you have a personal photo quality printer? If so you could try printing one page on that and see how it compares, that might help to isolate the cause (even one page will take BookSmart a long time, so be prepared for that). ......Tony p.s. Input from others would be more than welcome!!!
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Giovanni,
I am curious about one thing. When you say you work on your LCD monitor, the question is: what exactly is LCD screen you are referring it to? Are you using LCD on your laptop? Or a LCD monitor? Please clarify.
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Giovanni, Basic image processing says that you need to switch your steps, meaning 1) process RGB PSD/TIF (saturation and tones levels and sharpening etc.), 2) then, convert RGB PSD/TIF files into a sRGB JPEG 3) save and use them to upload. I can’t think of any specific reason why this technique wouldn’t apply to the images prepared work BookSmart. Please correct me if I’m wrong
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<code> </strong><strong>tfrankland</strong>: Unfortunately, I've not color photo printer (only a b/w laser printer)... </p><p> </p><p> <strong></code> brianbonitz: I use a LCD monitor (desktop pc) @ djole: In my first book I have erroneously uploaded my Adobe RGB images into Booksmart, in the next I will use the converted sRGB (after the retouching process), but the question is about the color matching between the printed book and the displayed images on my calibrated LCD monitor: when I convert the images (used in my first book) from adobe RGB to sRGB and apply the Color Proof in CS3 (with Indigo profile) the images become lighter than the original (and not darker)... The "not-color proof" images have the correctly exposure and contrast, but more color saturation (blue and green tones) than images printed on Blurb… The "color proof" images have unbalanced contrast: the colors are washed out and the blacks are greys…
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<code> tfrankland</strong>: Unfortunately, I've not color photo printer (only a b/w laser printer)... </p><p> </p><p> <strong></code> brianbonitz: I use a LCD monitor (desktop pc)
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Excuse me, but the html codes not works well and I can’t correct/delete my posts…
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Just to confirm Giovanni, you have both Simulate Paper Colour and Black Point Compensation unchecked? I have been experimenting and having one or both of those checked is the only way I can get the same result as you. This is proving hard to fix! ........Tony
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The result doesn’t change: the ‘proof’ images is lighter than original ones with Black Point Compensation checked or unchecked (they seem identical)... I use (in the View…..Proof Setup…..Custom) the configuration with all the flag unswitched!
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sorry… I use (in the View…..Proof Setup…..Custom) the configuration with all the flags unchecked!
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@ jjjohn: I’m not saying you should upload Adobe RBG files, but to preserve the image quality and get the best possible results, the files you are working on need to be Adobe RGB (or ProPhoto). Converting images to sRGB should be one of the last steps. Sharpening should be the very last one, though.
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yes, djole, I’ve understanded you! I work only with Adobe RGB files and then, before upload, I’ll convert in sRGB and upload them to Booksmart!
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im surprised not to see anyone here using the indigo5000 color profiles. i found that without this profile, the colors are not accurate, and with it, they really pop out. anyone else use this profile?
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