1. How did you make these profiles?

We used the finest off the shelf technology available to build these ICC profiles for Epson. First we selected the X-Rite I1 iSis as our measuring instrument of choice. It is a state of the art Spectrophotometer, has incredibly good specifications for measurement accuracy and repeatability. The unit has the ability to measure with and without a UV filter and uses a unique LED light source. Because we had such a fast auto-Spectrophotometer, the next choice was selecting the targets and software to build our profiles. We went to Color guru Bill Atkinson who developed optimized targets for the iSis. We decided to use his 5202 patch RGB targets, the largest patch sample he created, because we wanted to measure the highest number of color samples available.  Epson printed two sets of targets per printer, resulting in over 10,000 patch measurements which where then examined and averaged to build each printer profile. Bill created these targets to work with ProfileMaker Pro, a product we’ve been using to build literally thousands of profiles over the years with great success. ProfileMaker Pro has a number of high-end options for building RGB printer profiles and provides some useful, possible future capabilities using the targets we measured.

2. Future capabilities?

One very beneficial option found in ProfileMaker Pro is the ability to build profiles based on different illuminants. Nearly all printer profiles assume the end user will view the prints under D50 (daylight) illuminant, also known as the viewing light source. This set of profiles is no different, we made the profiles for a D50 optimal viewing. However, we could also build the profile to reflect other viewing conditions such as tungsten, gallery lighting or for that matter, any illuminant we can measure using an EyeOne Pro Spectrophotometer. While the profiles today are based on D50, we wanted the possibility of building profiles based on other illuminants, so ProfileMaker Pro was used. Implementing a custom viewing light source in a printer profile means that when you view these prints under a specified illuminant, they will appear as you expected them to appear based on the soft proof seen in Photoshop.

3. These are the biggest RGB printer profiles I’ve ever seen, nearly 2mb in size.

Yes, this is due to the measured spectral data being contained within the profiles. This allows us to rebuild the profiles in the future, should new functionality become available in ProfileMaker without having to re-measure the targets again. The key to many of the unique capabilities of ProfileMaker Pro is the fact it uses spectral data from the iSis rather than Lab like many other packages.

4. What else is special about the profiles?

We used a the new Colorful perceptual mapping algorithms in ProfileMaker Pro because we’ve found most ink jet users want to produce the most saturated colors possible. Since the Epson UltraChrome K3 Ink™ set has such a large color gamut, we wanted a perceptual mapping that could use this to the best possible capability. Plotting the gamut of the 11880 over Adobe RGB (1998) shows a significant number of yellows, magentas, cyan’s and blues that exceed the gamut of this working space (see screen grabs). Of course, you can, and should toggle the rendering intents from Perceptual to Relative Colorimetric when soft proofing your images in Photoshop using these profiles. Select the rendering intent you visually prefer.

Epson Stylus® Pro 11880 Profile Plotted Against Adobe RGB


Click the images above to see a larger view in a new window.

Profile Usage FAQ:

Q: Where do I install the profiles?

A: See the location below, based on your operating system.

Mac OS X: /Library/ColorSync/Profiles (available for all users)
Mac OS X: User/Library/ColorSync/Profiles (available for just this users)

Windows98: C:\Windows\System\Color
Windows XP: C:\Windows\System32\Spool\Drivers\Color
Windows 2000, XP: C:WinNT\ System32\Spool\Drivers\Color
Windows Vista: Right-click on the ICC profile, and choose "Install Profile"

Q: What rendering intent should I use?

A: The one that provides the color appearance you prefer by viewing the soft proof. Toggle the rendering intent from Perceptual to Relative Colorimetric using either the Convert to Profile command in Photoshop or in the Custom Proof setup after selecting the paper profile.

For more information about Rendering Intents, see http://www.ppmag.com/reviews/200405_rodneycm.pdf

For more information about using the Customize Proof setup, see http://www.ppmag.com/reviews/200410_rodneycm.pdf

For more information about the Convert to Profile command, see http://www.ppmag.com/reviews/200406_rodneycm.pdf

Q: My prints and the soft proof don't match, why?

A: You need to calibrate and profile your display. You also need to view your prints under the correct lighting. For more information about proper viewing conditions, see http://www.ppmag.com/reviews/200604_rodneycm.pdf and http://www.ppmag.com/reviews/200605_rodneycm.pdf

For a in-depth video tutorial on printing, and color management, we recommend you consider From Camera To Print - The Craft of Fine Art Printing with Michael Reichmann and Jeff Schewe. More information can be found at at the web site.