SELECT THE COLOR SETTINGS for your projects

Using Photoshop, you can improve photographs, repurpose them, or start with a blank canvas to create original graphic designs or paintings. Because different types of output have different limits on the range of colors that they can represent, you should start by setting the working color space that matches your project’s intended output, such as for print or the web. Photoshop’s default color space is set to sRGB, a limited color space intended for web images to be viewable on even the lowest-quality monitor. sRGB is a small color space. Designers and photographers who plan to print their work with inkjet printers generally prefer to work in the larger color space called Adobe RGB (1998). 

In Photoshop, you can easily choose your working color space and save it. When you work on a project you intend to print, start by selecting the North America Prepress 2 settings and Adobe RGB (1998). You can then select different options depending on your intended output. Alternatively, you can select the ProPhoto working space if you prefer to use the widest color gamut possible for photographic editing.

1 Click Edit.

2 Click Color Settings.

The Color Settings dialog box appears.

3 Click the Settings drop-down menu and select North America Prepress 2.

A The RGB setting changes to Adobe RGB (1998).

Note: ProPhoto RGB is an even larger color space often preferred by professional photographers because it includes a wider range of tones and allows for fine detail editing.

The rest of the Color Settings dialog box changes to reflect the preferred working space for images that you print.

4 Click More Options. The dialog box expands.

5 Click the Intent drop-down menu and select Perceptual for most photographic projects or Relative

Colorimetric for graphic design projects.

6 Click OK.

Your color settings are saved untilyou reset your preferences.

TIPS

Important!
 

Photoshop is all about interacting with what you see on your screen. Wallpapers and bright backgrounds interfere with how you judge colors in your images. You should set your desktop background to a medium neutral gray using System Preferences on a Mac, or the Appearance and Personalization settings in the Control Panel in Windows.
 

Customize It!
 

You can save your own Color Settings preset. The name of the preset changes to Custom when you deselect any check box or make any other changes. Click Save after customizing your settings. Type a name in the Save dialog box and click Save. Your customized preset appears in the Settings menu, ready for you to choose.
 

Try This!
 

If you have other Creative Suite CS6 applications, you can synchronize the color settings to match your saved custom Photoshop CS6 color settings. In Photoshop, click File Browse in Bridge. In Bridge, click Edit Creative Suite Color Settings. Click North America Prepress 2 and click Apply.