Exporting for Print

[F_WRLCK]

I'm pretty new to making prints from my photos. I'm trying to create files to send to Costco for printing. I've installed the appropriate ICC profile and I can see it in the relevant menus (Convert ICC Profile, Assign ICC Profile, Soft Proof Adjustment). Given that I have an image file how I like it in sRGB, what is the recommended workflow to generate an exported file (TIFF, JPEG) that will print like what I see on screen?

 

I have watched tutorial videos/searched google and tried a couple of things, but I have one image that always prints the shadows darker than I expect and seems to have a some purple that goes out of gamut.

[Lee D]

Hi F_WRLCK,

 

I've used the Soft Proof Adjustment previously, with the ICC profile you have installed. This should give you a good idea of how the image will look after printing. Remember once you have finished with the Soft Proofing Adjustment, hide it or delete it before exporting or printing your image.

[F_WRLCK]

Thanks Lee! I did try using the Soft Proofing adjustment, but, even after watching the tutorial, I am confused by the parameters to that layer. I understand more or less what the various parameters do, but it seems like there is only one set of parameters that will be right for a given printer, and I don't know what those parameters are. If I set rendering intent to "Absolute Chromatic", how do I know that's how the printer is going to render my file vs. one of the other options? This is probably a really basic question, but I'm super-new to making prints and I have a mental block around this.

[rmar]

This has nothing to to with Affinity software but I'm in the same boat when it comes to making prints. I found series of articles and they really help explain the how's and why's of printing. Hope it helps. It's far above what the average person (me) is aware of when all you do is send your prints out and hope for the best but I'm convinced now that understanding all of this is the next level you need to get to in order to be happy with prints.

 

Part1 https://www.breathingcolor.com/blog/guide-to-digital-printing-part-1/

 

Part2 https://www.breathingcolor.com/blog/guide-to-digital-printing-part-2/

 

Part3 ??? they say a part 3 is coming one day :)

 

This is her website. She has a bunch of podcasts there as well http://renmarphoto.com/publications-and-podcasts/

 

Probably more than you were looking for.

[F_WRLCK]

Yeah, that's pretty in-depth. For now I'm just focused on getting a print that matches what I have on screen.