Making a print with profiles
It’s essential to follow the correct sequence when printing with profiles, or you won’t get the best out of your chosen paper.
1 Choose the color handling
In the Color Management panel, pick Photoshop Elements Manages Colors from the pop-up menu, as shown above.
2 Pick the printer profile
Next, click the Printer Profile pop-up menu and pick the profile for your chosen paper, print, and ink combination. The example shown right is a profile for Harman Matt fiber-based paper using Photo Black ink on an Epson 2100 printer.
3 Check the instructions
Next, check the sheet of instructions that were provided with your paper or as part of the profile download package. The instructions will tell you the media type to choose and the print quality settings in your printer software dialog.
4 See the soft-proof
Next, click on the Rendering Intent box and set it to Perceptual or to the setting recommended on your paper profile instruction sheet. Notice how the preview image now predicts its appearance on your chosen paper in a state called the soft-proof.
5 Set Media and quality
In the Photoshop Elements print screen, click Print. For the Harman paper, shown left, the Media Type was set on Watercolor Paper – Brilliant White, and the Print Quality was set to 1440 dpi.
6 Turn off Color Management
The final step is to switch off the color controls. Go to the Color Management menu, as shown left, and choose the No Color Adjustment option. This now clears the way for the profile to make the color conversions from file to ink. If you left the Color Controls option enabled, you’d have two different tools completing the task!