When to attach the required colour profile?

[Morat]

Hi all, I'm new to working in a colour managed workflow and haven't found a straight answer to this question. I'm looking to send 8-bit TIFF files to a professional print house and they require that files have the Adobe 1998 RGB profile embedded.

I'm editing RAW files for printing and it looks like there are three places I can potentially add this profile:

1. As the output profile from the develop persona when editing the RAW
2. Assigning/converting the document during editing after RAW developing
3. On export by embedding the profile in the export dialogue

The question I can't find an answer to is whether I need to use this profile all the way through my workflow from step 1, or can I just use whatever the defaults are and embed it at export without bad things happening? Export doesn't have an assignment/convert option so it's not entirely clear what impact embedding a different profile at the export step actually has.

As seems common the print house's help info is all based on Adobe products and isn't very helpful for anyone not using them unfortunately.

 

 

[Pšenda]

32 minutes ago, Morat said:

As seems common the print house's help info is all based on Adobe products and isn't very helpful for anyone not using them unfortunately.

I think that the methodology of the correct use of ICC profiles is quite general - for any workflow, not dependent on any specific product. On specific application can depend only where (in which dialog) the respective profile is set. So if you have any recommendations from the printer that relate to your questions (ICC in develop/edit/export), apply them to Affinity as well.

P.S. You might be interested in this document.

EIZO_Color_Management_Handbook_EJP.pdf

Edited February 6, 2024 by Pšenda

[lphilpot]

3 hours ago, Morat said:

...I can potentially add this profile:

1. As the output profile from the develop persona when editing the RAW
2. Assigning/converting the document during editing after RAW developing
3. On export by embedding the profile in the export dialogue

In the absence of (or in addition to) any other factors that might be an influence, my general practice* is to keep the color space as large as possible, for a long as possible, throughout my editing workflow. The reason is to, as much as possible, avoid potential gamut / conversion issues and maintain the most room for stretching, raising, etc., colors and tones with minimal artifacts. That's why I stay in ROMM RGB / ProPhoto until export.

So generally I'd lean toward #3 but I'm no uber-expert (at all!) and there may be specific considerations that come into scope for your workflow. If you run into conversion artifacts upon export, maybe drop back to #2 but just prior to export (so you can check and mitigate).

* Not specifically for print, but the same logic generally applies unless something specific overrules it.

[NotMyFault]

When working with wide gamut color profiles it is important to use RGB/16 instead of RGB/8. otherwise you have a high risk of banding effects in areas with smooth gradients.

So a agree to the advise, export to RGB/8 and a smaller gamut as last step. Keep all edits in RGB/16 and any suitable wide color format.

Also note AdobeRGB and other wide gamut formats do not contain (fully overlap) each other. Depending which colors are actually used in the document, and the intended output (print, lcd display) you may need switch earlier to AdobeRGB (still RGB/16). After exporting, check the exported files for issues like clipped tones or banding.