This is a simple guide to the process of configuring Photoshop 7.0/CS/CS2/CS3 and calibrating your monitor for accurate colour reproduction and consistency when printing. 

If you have been wrestling with some of these issues and still find much of the literature confusing, then these pages should be of benefit. I have tried to avoid unnecessary theory and explanation, preferring a simple step by step presentation of settings that have worked for me. These procedures are essential for reliable screen editing and consistent printer output.

1 Calibrate Monitor

Give your monitor at least 30 minutes to warm up, and use the lighting conditions in which you usually work.

Go to Control Panel and run  the Adobe Gamma program. This dialogue box appears:

Set  your monitor contrast to maximum and adjust the brightness control to make the alternating grey squares as dark as possible, while keeping the lower bar bright white. The squares should still be just visible.

Click the Load... button and open the correct profile for your monitor. If this profile is not there choose 'Adobe RGB (1998)' or 'Adobe Monitor Profile' if it already exists. The name of this profile then appears in the Description window. Now edit the description to read "Adobe Monitor Profile"; this will become the name of the the new profile you are about to produce.

In the Phosphors window, if you were able to use the correct monitor profile in the previous step, leave this window showing 'Custom'. Otherwise, choose 'P22-EBU' from the pull-down list. If you know you have a Trinitron monitor, however, then select 'Trinitron'.

The Gamma section has two views. If you see three boxes - Red, Green, Blue - Select View Single Gamma Only and adjust the slider to find the closest match between the inner and outer grey squares. It helps if you sit back and half close your eyes. Ideally, you should use the individual colour sliders for greater accuracy. If this procedure is done with care, then neutral greys will appear as such on your monitor display.

For Desired select 'Windows Default... 2.20'. Macintosh users might normally select 'Macintosh Default... 1.8'.

To set the White Point in °K, enter correct value for monitor, if known, or click Measure... and follow the on-screen instructions. The procedure is simple, but should be done in a darkened room. Preferably, you should select 6500° K (Daylight) from the pull down list and, if your monitor allows, set the monitor's colour temperature to 6500° K. This produces a slightly warm white point, similar to the white surface of printing paper.

The Adjusted window should read 'Same as Hardware'.

You are now ready to click OK and save your profile settings. Choose a filename such as 'Adobe Monitor Profile' to match the Description defined in step one.

If your monitor is correctly set up .....

 ... all eleven steps from white to black should be visible in the above greyscale, but only just apparent in the last two blacks. If this is not the case, repeat all the above steps again, modifying the monitor brightness level as required.

2 Color Settings

Run Photoshop and Select: Edit > Color Settings:

You will be presented with the dialogue box shown above. The Settings menu at the top of this dialogue may show 'Web Graphics Defaults'. Since this option uses a colour space (sRGB) intended primarily for the internet, I recommend you change this to Europe Prepress Defaults or US Prepress Defaults. To do this, click the arrow and choose from the pull down menu. This will invoke the dialogue box shown below:

If the dialogue box looks longer than before, it's because I have ticked the Advanced Mode check box. These settings include the Adobe RGB colour space, which is preferable if your main output is to a printer. Whilst sRGB has become widely accepted as the standard colour space, Adobe RGB has a better colour gamut for printing. Notice that the Color Management Policy is to 'Preserve Embedded profiles' and that the Profile Mismatches section shows 'Ask When Opening'. Most users will not need to change anything shown here, so all that remains is to click OK. If you do need to make changes, however, save these settings with a new filename, such as 'My Colour Settings'.

As a result of these settings, image files that were created with a different colour space will invoke the Embedded Profile Mismatch dialogue box when opened for the first time. 

If this happens, you would usually choose the Convert document's colors to the working space radio button and the image will be updated to your working colour space. Remember to save it, and you won't be bothered again. However, if the embedded profile is sRGB, as shown above, and you wish to retain this for use on the internet, then stay with the Use the embedded profile option.

With the Creative Suite 2 version of Photoshop, Adobe introduced an enhanced form of its Browser/File Manager, now known as Bridge. In Bridge there is an option for turning Colour Management on. This can be found via the Edit Menu: Edit < Preferences... The shortcut 'Ctrl K' may be used. Choose Advanced option from Preferences dialogue and tick the box labelled 'Enable Color Management in Bridge', followed by OK.

3 Print Settings

The range of available printers is so wide, I am limiting the discussion to the type of ink jet printer I have most experience of, namely the Epson Stylus Photo. The driver software for Epson printers is usually quite comprehensive, allowing for the fine tuning of colour and selection of paper type, as well as the use of custom made profiles - if you have them. Because we are focusing on the key elements of colour management, however, I shall only deal with the most relevant and useful options available. The assumption is that we are using Epson inks and papers.

The first step is to select File > Print with Preview... in Photoshop, and tick the Show More Options check box. This will invoke the following dialogue box, or similar box in CS3 (the latter is shown further down this page):

Show More Options reveals a pull down menu that, will probably show the word 'Output'. Change this selection to 'Color Management', and adjust the Source Space and Print Space options as indicated in the screenshot above. Note that these changes will not remain intact until a print is made or the Done button is applied. With these settings it is possible to make full use of the colour management features found in the Epson printer driver - see below.

It is possible to choose a different print space, but you are only likely to do that if a custom profile for a particular set of inks and paper is available. In that event you would set the Print Space to show the appropriate profile and choose No Color Adjustment in the Advanced dialogue - mentioned below. Epson has produced such an ICC profile for their ColorLife paper. Don't forget to reverse these settings when the custom profile is no longer required.

Note that in CS3 the Print dialogue box has changed:

Make sure the Color Management option (top right) is chosen. This option is similar to earlier versions, but there is now a separate Color Handling menu in the former Print Space. The default, Printer Manages Colors, is shown above. The main difference here is that if a custom profile is to be used, then Printer Manages Colors should be changed to Photoshop Manages Colors. The Printer Profile menu, beneath, then becomes available, and a suitable printer/media profile may be selected.

Next, click the Page Setup... button, then  Printer... > Properties... to reveal the dialogue box here:

Make sure the Main tab is selected. The screenshots shown here are for the Epson Photo 1270; don't worry if yours differs in some respects, you should still have access to the important settings. One of the most useful features of this dialogue box is the Custom option. From here you can choose paper settings that you have predefined in the Advanced... dialogue box. The latter gives access to a whole range of colour management settings that may be saved for use with a particular paper type.

Clicking the Advanced... button takes you to this dialogue box - or hopefully, something similar:

If you haven't got an Epson 1270/870 printer you may not have the gamma option shown in the top right corner. It allows you to lighten or darken midtones, changing the tonal 'key' as it were.

In the Color Management section of this dialogue there are five radio buttons. When the top one Color Controls is checked, it gains access to the Automatic and Photo-realistic modes, along with a set of slider adjustments. Photo-realistic is shown here. The Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow, sliders are of particular value in correcting colour casts. The No Color Adjustment option, as mentioned earlier, is only used when a custom profile is available.

It is only by experimenting with these options that you can decide which combination works best for you. Once you have decided on all the settings for a particular paper - including those on the left side of the dialogue box, don't forget to use the Save Settings... button and give the file a name. You will then be able to retrieve it next time from the Custom pull down list on the Properties dialogue.

Hopefully, these guidelines will at least get you into the right 'ball park'. It may help if you print this page for reference. If you have difficulty printing from your browser you could try printing from a PDF file version by clicking the following icon. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your system for this option to work.