Setting Photoshop “Colour Settings” and “Preferences”

This workshop will show you how to set up Photoshop’s “Colour Settings” and “Preferences” for these workshops, using the “Colour Settings” and “Preferences” dialog boxes.
In this workshop there are references to “Default Setting”. If this is the first time you have accessed the Colour Settings and Preferences your default settings should match the dialog box images, but it is always worth checking they do. If you have previously accessed the Colour Settings and Preference and made changes, you will need to check and match all the dialog box settings.

Colour Settings
First we are going to set the “Colour Settings” within Photoshop. To do this, go to, Edit>Colour Settings. In the Colour Settings dialog box select “Custom” from the Settings drop down menu. In the Working Space set the RGB by selecting
“sRGB ICE61966-2.1” from the drop down menu. (In past lectures and instructions we have been instructed to use “Adobe RGB 1998” as a colour setting, but this is based on industry standards and not for home users. Monitors are not capable of displaying Adobe RGB and ink-jet printers cannot reproduce Adobe RGB, so it is pointless using anything other than sRGB!). Set the CMYK to “Euroscale Coated v2” and set both the Grey and Spot to “Dot Gain 15%”. In Colour Management Policies set the RGB, CMYK and Greys to “Preserve Embedded Profiles” and tick the 3 options boxes. In the Conversion Options set the Engine to “Adobe (ACE)” and set the Intent to “Perceptual” and tick the 2 options boxes. The Advance controls are set to 20% and 1.00 but un-ticked. Your Colour Settings should now match the Colour Settings dialog box shown below. If your dialog box doesn’t show all the options, click on the “More Options” button on the right hand side.

When you have matched all the settings in the dialog box, click “Save”. In the Save dialog box (see next page) we need to give our new custom settings a file name, I used “My Custom Settings 18-07-08”. I included the date in my file name so I know when the settings were created. Click Save.

The next dialog box to appear is the “Colour Settings Comments”. Here you can make comments about your custom colour settings. I made a quick comment on where these settings had come from. Make your own comment or leave it blank. Click OK.

Your Colour Settings dialog box should now look like this (see below). Settings will show your new custom settings name, and any comments you made will appear at the bottom. Click OK to save and apply these new custom settings.

(Go to page 2 below to continue with this workshop)