What is soft proofing and which profile must be embedded in my file?

 What is Soft proofing?

The soft proof provides the correct colorimetric output of digital production data on the monitor. With the aid of the soft proof, you can already judge by the monitor how the colours of the product will look. Each ICC profile created for the Soft proof takes into account the characteristics of the respective product and presents it. Despite the latest imaging techniques, the final product will never reach the luminosity of a monitor. Therefore, it is important that you set the display of your monitor accordingly, so you can then assess how the final product will look.

What colour profile do I need to embed in my file?

Your image file must have an embedded colour profile of either sRGB (sRGB IEC61966-2.1), Adobe RGB (1998) or ProPhoto RGB. With Soft proof, you can select the ICC profile of the later production tool and simulate on the screen what the future production result will look like.

It is important that the ICC profile for Softproof is not embedded in the file . Your data is sent to be produced in the colour space sRGB, Adobe RGB (1998) or ProPhoto RGB and is produced in the machine with the corresponding profile. This is the only way to ensure correct colour reproduction.

If you embed the ICC profile from the Soft proof into the file, the files colour profile can not be recognized correctly on the machine and colour shifts occur. In order to ensure correct colour rendering, it is necessary that you send us your data in sRGB, Adobe RGB (1998) or ProPhoto RGB and in no case embed the ICC profile into the file.

Also, you must always send us your data in the RGB colour space. It is by no means possible to send CMYK data as it will not be produced correctly either.

How does a Soft proof work?

You need software that supports Soft proof, such as Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. Also, you need a well set, at best a calibrated monitor.

ICC profiles for soft proofing 

The softproof profiles for our different products for Photoshop and Lightroom can be found in the following article:

Set up ICC profile in Photoshop

For further information we recommend the following items:

Set up ICC profile in Photoshop

Soft proofing in Lightroom

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