Introduction
Our beautiful photographs aren’t meant to just sit on hard drives. At some point, you’ll want to have your work professionally printed. There are countless printing services on the market, each with a wide range of products—everything from photo books and calendars to wall art on different premium materials. Professional providers can produce extremely high-quality results, sometimes costing more than €1000. That’s why it’s crucial to prepare your images properly for the printing process. This article will guide you through the key steps toward creating your dream print.
The ultimate goal is to make your final wall art look as close as possible to what you edited on your monitor. A 100% perfect match isn’t realistic—there will always be slight differences—but your print should closely resemble your on-screen image.
For this article, I’ll use an acrylic glass print (6-color UV direct print) from the provider Saal Digital as an example. The editing workflow will be done in Photoshop. Why Saal Digital? I could have chosen any professional provider, like Whitewall or Cewe. This is simply an example. To be clear: this is not advertising. But detailed examples are necessary to explain the process thoroughly.
From taking the photo to hanging it on the wall, your image should go through the following steps:
1. Shooting: In your camera settings, you can choose which color space to save your images in. More on color spaces later. To keep maximum flexibility for editing, you should always shoot in RAW format.
2. RAW Development: Develop your RAW file in Lightroom and/or Photoshop. It’s best to set your working color space at the beginning of editing. While you can change it later, the colors may shift and require further adjustments. And never delete your RAW files—keep them for future use.
3. Print Preparation: This is where ICC profiles come into play. Before uploading your photo for printing, you’ll run a soft proof and make adjustments if necessary. That’s the main focus of this article.
Calibrating Your Monitor
The first essential step is monitor calibration.
If your screen shows inaccurate colors or brightness, you’re not seeing what your images really look like. Any editing you do under these conditions will only be partially reliable.
I used to edit on an uncalibrated monitor and then ordered a photo book—only to find that all the images came out too dark and with noticeable color shifts.
To calibrate a monitor, you’ll need a colorimeter. I personally use the Datacolor Spyder 5 Pro. It measures color values, brightness, and ambient light. The software then communicates the corrected values to your graphics card, which adjusts your monitor’s display accordingly.
The best choice, of course, is a monitor with a wide color gamut and hardware calibration—like the Eizo CS270, which I highly recommend. It offers uniform brightness across the screen, no color inconsistencies, and 100% Adobe RGB coverage. Hardware calibration means adjustments are applied directly within the monitor, without relying on your graphics card.
I won’t go into too much detail here—Gunther Wegner has an excellent guide and monitor reviews on his website: gwegner.de.
Color Spaces
Before diving into soft proofing, let’s briefly talk about color spaces. You only really need to know which ones are most common and what range of colors they cover.
Technical devices (monitors, cameras, printers, etc.) cannot display the full range of colors visible to the human eye.
A color space defines how and to what extent colors can be represented across devices and media. Printers usually use CMYK color spaces, while monitors work in RGB.
- sRGB is the most common color space for the web. It represents about half of all visible colors. This is sufficient for online use and is even used by many print providers. Most standard monitors cover about 90% of sRGB. TVs and projectors also rely on sRGB. Some laptop displays cover even less.
- AdobeRGB was introduced by Adobe in 1998 and is widely used in the professional printing industry. It covers a wider gamut than sRGB.
In simple terms: the broader the color space, the more colors a device can display.
Embedding ICC Profiles in Photoshop
Most print services specify which color space your files should be uploaded in. Saal Digital, for example, supports sRGB, AdobeRGB, and even ProPhotoRGB. For this tutorial, I’ll use sRGB, since my photo is already edited in that space.
To change color spaces in Photoshop, go to Edit → Assign Profile…
Now, even with a calibrated monitor and correct color space, your photo won’t look the same in print as on screen. That’s because monitors are backlit, while prints reflect light differently.
This is where ICC profiles come in. These are files that simulate how a specific paper type will look on a specific printer. Each printer–paper combination has its own ICC profile. Professional providers like Saal Digital offer these profiles for download.
These files can be imported into Lightroom or Photoshop after downloading.
After downloading, right-click the ICC profile and select Install Profile. It will then be available in Photoshop and Lightroom.
With ICC profiles, you can preview how your photo will look when printed. This process is called soft proofing.
Preparing the Photo for Soft Proof in Photoshop
First, create a backup copy of your finished image. For example, duplicate DSC_7474.jpg and rename it DSC_7474_Softproof.jpg. Open both files in Photoshop side by side.
For the soft proof version, go to View → Proof Setup → Custom, and under Device to Simulate choose the ICC profile you downloaded (e.g., SaalDigital_Acrylic.icc).
You’ll notice the difference: the soft proofed photo appears slightly lighter with less contrast, simulating how the paper will look. Toggle the preview with CTRL+Y to compare.
You can also enable Gamut Warning, which highlights colors that cannot be printed. These will be replaced with the closest possible values. In most cases, the differences are minimal. If large areas are affected, try reducing saturation or contrast with tools like the Dodge/Burn tool.
Editing the Soft Proof Photo
Now adjust the soft proof version so that it matches your original:
- Use Curves to restore some contrast. Fine-tune with the Opacity slider.
- In this example, I boosted yellows and reds in the sky and sun area. I used a layer mask to prevent oversaturation in the foreground rocks.
You won’t achieve a 100% match, but as long as you can’t see a noticeable difference by eye, it’s good enough.
Save the adjusted file as DSC_7474_Softproof.jpg. This is the file you should upload to Saal Digital for your acrylic glass print—it will match your original as closely as possible.
If you want a different product, you’ll need to repeat the process with the ICC profile for that specific paper or material. There are no universal presets; every photo needs individual adjustment.
At first, this process may seem time-consuming, but once you get used to it, it goes quickly. And the reward is a finished print that truly matches your vision.
Of course, this workflow can also be applied to other prints and photo books. Hopefully, this shed some light on the topic of ICC profiles and color spaces.
