Roses are magenta, violets are cyan… this one (by photographer and author Elliot Ng) goes out to all you dedicated digital photographers out there who diligently color-corrected Aunt Gladys’ navy kneesocks in holiday photos with Photoshop (you know who you are). As a Valentine to all you true-blue color aficionados, our contractor (and semiprofessional bonsai photographer) Sam Edge has posted the sRGB ICC color profile currently used for Blurb books so you can shoot and color-correct your photos using the same color profile.
This will help you make the colors in your photos a closer match with those output by Blurb’s commercial printers, so that the magenta roses you see on your BookSmart screen look brilliant when you see them in your published Blurb book. If that’s not enough for you, here are more red-hot tips for color management.
We thought about making you a card out of paper doilies, but figured this would be a better way to win the hearts of you savvy Blurbarians. Got any tips of your own to offer? Come on, share the love with your fellow photogs…
22 Comments
Hi folks, just a piece of information to add to this string. Please note that the HP5000 Indigo profile is appropriate for the inside pages only of our 10×8 and 8×10 books. The dust jackets are printed using a different device as are our 7×7 books (hardcover and softcover) and standard softcover books. We are working to get generic profiles for these devices too and hope to be successful. Please note that using generic profiles in a non-closed loop color managed workflow is an inexact science but should be helpful in getting an idea of the conversion from RGB to CMYK in our system.
I’m new to tweaking ICC/color profiles and so have a pretty basic question…. can I use the HP5000 Indigo profile in Elements? I have downloaded it and installed it in the directory advised but it doesn’t show up for me as an option in Elements. Is this one of those PS-only details? Thanks………
Hi Kate, I don’t think Elements supports ICC profiles but I would check the Adobe website for more information.
Best,
–bw
Any news about Indigo profile for use with softcover and 7X7 books?
What about the 13 x 11 books? Does this apply to them as well?
Hi there. I have not found an output profile publicly published by Xerox for the iGen3 as of yet. I’ll be at GraphExpo next week in Chicago and I’ll see what I can shake out. 13×11 books are done exclusively on the Indigo.
–bw
Bruce: Does this mean that the covers for the 13 x 11 are also done with the Indigo and I can use the profile in the post?
I was able to download the ICC for HP500. But I have a Mac, where should I put this file to be able to softproof my photos in photoshop?
Lily,
Try: Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support > Adobe > Color > Profiles
Thanks, Kathy.
About the soft proof, I am not sure I am doing it right. Here is what I did:
I went to ‘proof setup’ in the ‘view’ menu in photoshop;
chose ‘custom’
chose device to simulate as HP 5000;
the rendering intent is ‘relative coloremetric’ and ‘black point compensation’ is checked;
two options in ‘display on screen’ are not checked;
Then when viewing the photo under ‘proof colors’, nothing changes.
If I check one of the options in ‘display on screen’, there is a lot aweful color change.
What should I do, what is the right way to do it? First time using this function, very confusing.
Thanks,
Hi, the HP colour profile seems to be only for CMYK but Blurb works in sRGB. Does it mean I work in CMYK with the HP profile and then save in RGB before sending. Why not sending in CMYK. Thanks
Hi, I have a similar situation with Peter, wherein I have all of my eps files in CMYK.
So I want to save them to JPEG in order to be able to import them into the book.
Do I assign or convert these files first to the HP profile
then, adjust the colour (if need be)
then, assign or convert them to sRGB?
It was kind of touched on here, but it’d be great if anyone can clarify, the difference between assigning and converting.
and what is the difference between the sRGB profile and sRGB IEC61966 -2.1?
Thanks, btw purpose of book is to put all of my art work together
Armida,
We don’t answer technical questions in the blog, because our Tech Support crew and the Forums do such a better job.
Give one of those a try and I bet you’ll find your answer in no time.
– Kathy
Hi there
Is there a colour profile for soft-proofing the 7″x7″ book format yet please?
If not, should working in the sRGB colour space be sufficient?
Thanks
Jayne
Reading these posts makes everything even more confusing.
All of these people are doing it differently and you guys at Blurb are not telling them how to do it right. I think you should just give them the answer straight up and not make these poor people have to go through so much hell just to get a book printed.
I also think it is really bad that you are having Sam Edge help these people when you should be the ones helping them out. I did Sam’s tutorial and it didn’t work. His method wasn’t even close to your final printed image. I know because I have four books printed from you. Plus he was to darn confusing. Get straight to the point please. Black and White Q&A’s are best.
Let’s see how it goes this time.
Question: How do I stop you from printing dull muddy images?
Answer: ______________________________________________
This is what Blurb wrote me….
Please note that we do not honor color profiles, and that this information can help, but not guarantee, your color management process. I’d also recommend having your monitor calibrated, and using sRGB.
I agree with Alexandria’s post, #15. And, I have the exact same questions as Armida in post #12.
Blurb, please assist all of us designers who wish to use Photoshop by answering the questions we ask. Don’t send us elsewhere.
We’re all simply attempting to use your BookSmart software and your publishing service… Keep your customer base happy. We’ll stay with you if just help us out a bit.
Thanks,
Elle
Hi Alexandria and Elle,
If you’re looking for color management specific to Blurb, please check out our Blurb Business to Business (B3) membership program designed for creative and communications professionals. The B3 program includes an ICC profile custom-created for the Blurb publishing platform and a Custom Workflow option that ensures your work will go to the same dedicated and regularly calibrated print device every time. The HP profile posted by Sam is the generic Indigo profile provided by HP and should work fine for our Standard Workflow as long as your monitor is calibrated.
We are inviting creative and business pros to try B3 out while it’s in a limited charter phase. If you calibrate your monitor, use ICC profiles, and are used to adjusting images before sending them to print, B3 might be for you. If interested, please add your name to the B3 mailing list and we’ll invite you to the program as space allows.
– Kathy
It is absurd and maddening that Blurb has all the information its users have been requesting—almost begging for—but it’s restricted to members of its “B3″ program. They claim that they don’t want to post the printing/setup/profile information because their members do such a good job on the forum answering each other’s questions. Yet, they have an exclusive program that does precisely that. This is both unfair and hypocritical. This is like a person not being allowed to take driving lessons because he is not, nor ever plans to be, a professional driver. Simply ridiculous.*
Matthew
Hi Matthew,
B3 is a charter program right now, which means we’re putting it through a test phase to fine-tune it before we roll it out across our entire network. B3 is not restricted to anyone at this point, you simply need to fill out our form to register to make sure you qualify, so I invite you to sign up. That said, our Custom Workflow books do print on a specially calibrated printer that is maintained on a fairly rigorous schedule, which costs more to maintain. We stand behind the quality of our standard books, but for those that want that extra level of color consistency, and are willing to pay a bit more for that, we think our B3 program is the answer.
– Kathy
Just got back a 13 x11 book with what seems to be a common complaint - magenta cast on the B&W’s. Agree with others that is just plain silly that Blurb seems to shrug this off.
I’ve check the forums and people have various suggestions, but these are incomplete and often confusing.
Here is a simple question.
If I soft-proof using the profile for the HP 5000 will I get a better result? If so, please tell me exactly what pofile to use and where to get it. Even the model is confusing. Is it an Indigo 5000, an HP 5000, an Indigo HP 5000? What?
I have now found my way to Sam Edge’s site, and downloaded and installed the HP5000 profile as recommended.
When I soft proof using it, however, the soft proof does not match the magenta cast I got on the B&W’s in the book. Instead the cast is blue.
My monitor is fairly recently calibrated - month ago. Is that the best bet? I should note that color in the book matches the monitor fairly well when NOT soft-proofed. Soft-proofing seemsto just add a very mild haze to the color images.