Selling BayPhoto prints, color profiles & Lightroom, and color correction

[vickyeydelberg]

Hello,
I am very new to SmugMug and relatively new to selling prints to clients, and I was hoping to get some advice related to color profiles.

I often manipulate my images by warming them up and then de-saturating them a bit. For example, see this photo (http://vephoto.smugmug.com/gallery/8482043_XDPb6/1/557904067_E5UaB/Medium)

What I've done so far is export my photos from Lightroom, and during this export, change the color profile to Bay Photo's custom profile instead of sRGB. I turned OFF color correction.

Is this what most people do, or do you keep your color profile as sRGB and let Bay Photo auto-correct? I'm just wondering if they will color correct "correctly" for photos that are desaturated this way, and therefore not the actual color of the person's skin in real life.

One thing I noticed is that on some of the images, the colors look a little weird on my SmugMug gallery. For example, the green color on this photo (http://vephoto.smugmug.com/gallery/8484889_gxNhv/1/558135397_Dq5LH/Medium)
looks way more neon than it does in my Lightroom gallery. Do you think this is because of the Bay Photo color profile?

Also, do you do your sharpening in Lightroom or Photoshop and then turn sharpening to 0 in SmugMug?


I would truly appreciate any advice people may have about color profiles, auto correction, and getting the best print quality.

Thank you so much,
Vicky

[Sam]

Vicky,

Here are my recommendations: First start with a calibrated monitor, when your done processing, (however, and whatever software you use), change the color space to srgb, and soft proof the image using the Bay Photo ICC profile. Make any final tweaks that the image may require and save as full res jpg.

I have chosen to have Bay Photo hand color correct all my images. I have visited their facilities in Santa Cruz and watched them color correct. They can see if you are processing for a particular style and won't un do or over do anything. Assuming you send in a good image and colors are close all they are doing is making minor adjustments to ensure skin tones and densities for a good print from their printers.

Printing is part science and part art.

I think it's cheap insurance.

Sam

[Cygnus Studios]

Assuming you send in a good image and colors are close all they are doing is making minor adjustments to ensure skin tones and densities for a good print from their printers.

Totally agree. I have everything set to auto correct and have not been disappointed with their corrections.
I suggest running a couple of test shots by them to see for yourself.

[cabbey]

I like to think of Sam's use case as more "Color Assurance" than "Color Correction". As he says, it's a small price to pay for insurance.

[cabbey]

What I've done so far is export my photos from Lightroom, and during this export, change the color profile to Bay Photo's custom profile instead of sRGB. I turned OFF color correction.

Is this what most people do, or do you keep your color profile as sRGB and let Bay Photo auto-correct?

Vicky, that's NOT how that profile is intended to be used. Please don't do that. I suspect that could easily be what is leading to your color shifts in the display. Images you send up to SmugMug should be in sRGB.

The print lab's profile is intended for proofing only. That is to say once you have a calibrated monitor, and you have adjusted the image to how you want it to look... use that profile to see "what will this come out like on this output device?" Which may require some tweaks. (for example, my home printer doesn't have much detail in the shadows, so I have to bump the contrast on that end of the curve. I use a profile to soft proof the output on screen, then adjust the curves until I'm happy with the output.

[jfriend]

Vicky, that's NOT how that profile is intended to be used. Please don't do that. I suspect that could easily be what is leading to your color shifts in the display. Images you send up to SmugMug should be in sRGB.

The print lab's profile is intended for proofing only. That is to say once you have a calibrated monitor, and you have adjusted the image to how you want it to look... use that profile to see "what will this come out like on this output device?" Which may require some tweaks. (for example, my home printer doesn't have much detail in the shadows, so I have to bump the contrast on that end of the curve. I use a profile to soft proof the output on screen, then adjust the curves until I'm happy with the output. To add to this. When you want to "see what will this come out like on the output device", you do NOT change the image to that profile. You use Photoshop's soft proofing to preview the image against the limitations of that profile. After installing the profile into your system, go View/Proof Setup/Custom and pick the Bay profile. Then toggle soft proofing on/off with View/Proof Colors. Your sRGB image is not changed in any way. This is just a simulation of how it will print given the capabilities of the printer as described in the profile.

[vickyeydelberg]

Thanks so much everyone, this is incredibly helpful!! I see where I'm going wrong now. Really appreciate your responses.

[MichaelKirk]

Totally agree. I have everything set to auto correct and have not been disappointed with their corrections.
I suggest running a couple of test shots by them to see for yourself.

I convert all my images to sRGB on export and depending on what I am shooting I will sharpen in Lightroom (Sports) or use PhotKit Sharpener for Portrait type work. I have my SM site sharpening set to the default as this is for display only and does not effect any prints. I do not allow EZ Prints or Bay Photo to auto/hand correct any of my photos as I want to be certain that the image I see is the image my clients get - no suprises. I of course order test prints from time to time to make sure the photos I see are what get printed.

Michael