How to Print Targets using Adobe CS5 and Windows 7 (64-bit)

by Nick Friend on August 3, 2011 · 10 comments

Do you like this blog post?

This article will take you through the step-by-step process of printing profile targets using Adobe CS5 and Windows 7 (64-bit). Due to a change in Adobe’s software a slightly different approach is needed…

We’ve discussed creating profiles in a previous post, but as more and more users begin to upgrade their software and computers, it’s important to revisit this process. For this example, we are profiling the Epson 9900 with the Eye-One Pro. Let’s take a look at the what’s new in Adobe CS5:

1. Open your target files in Photoshop. Go to File > Print.

2. Set the Color Handling to “Printer Manages Colors”. This is a change from previous versions of Photoshop. Prior to CS5, the Color Handling pull-down menu included a “No Color Management” option which provided proper output for targets to be printed. In CS5 however, this option has been removed. Instead, choosing “Printer Manages Colors” turns off any color management applied by Adobe, leaving the targets unaffected (no color management). When this selection is made, the profile options below are grayed out (just like selecting No Color Management in previous Photoshop versions).

3. Click on Printer Settings. In previous versions of Photoshop this setting has been listed as “Page Setup”, but “Printer Settings” may be a more accurate representation of what you are actually clicking on. Clicking on Printer Settings will access the Epson driver.

4. Set your media type. For this example, we are profiling Vibrance Rag. Set the media type to Premium Luster Photo Paper (260). Below that, change the Color Mode to “Custom” and in the pull-down menu select “Off (No Color Adjustment)”. This setting turns off additional color enhancements made by the Epson driver. These enhancements adjust the overall saturation of the print, but may alter the accuracy of individual colors. When printing with the profile you are creating, this setting must remain the same.

5. Set your paper size and click OK. You are brought back to the Adobe Print window and can now print out your targets.

Any questions? Comments? Post them below…

Similar Posts:

Article by

Nick Friend, President of Breathing Color, Inc., is a principle-centered entrepreneur who has over 15+ years of experience in developing and executing innovative sales and marketing strategies as well as building, training, and leading national and international sales forces. His ability to recognize market opportunities, build successful business models, and lead organizations has been demonstrated with multiple business ventures. Mr. Friend was honored by the Orange County Business Journal's "Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards" in 2007 & 2008.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/JHPTQ5T2NJKIKOF3UXQJYWQIRY Disque-0-duc

    Great blog post Paul. I was a little concerned when Adobe removed the “No Color Management” option in the Photoshop CS5 print dialog. As an alternative I kept my copy of CS4 installed just for this purpose. Then Adobe released a small applet called the Adobe Color Print Utility which in essence gave CS5 users the ability to send prints (for profiling targets) straight to the printer with no color management applied. I’m glad to hear that we can still do this in Photoshop directly, thanks to your explanation. I hate making things more complicated than they need to be and your tips help in that regard.

    • http://www.breathingcolor.com Paul Morales

      Thank you! We also kept our previous versions of Photoshop for the same reason. You are correct: The Adobe Color Print Utility is a great way to print targets. Maybe that can be a follow up post to show how it works…

      I certainly agree that keeping things simply and I appreciate your comments!

    • http://www.breathingcolor.com Paul Morales

      Thank you! We also kept our previous versions of Photoshop for the same reason. You are correct: The Adobe Color Print Utility is a great way to print targets. Maybe that can be a follow up post to show how it works…

      I certainly agree that keeping things simply and I appreciate your comments!

    • http://www.breathingcolor.com Paul Morales

      Thank you! We also kept our previous versions of Photoshop for the same reason. You are correct: The Adobe Color Print Utility is a great way to print targets. Maybe that can be a follow up post to show how it works…

      I certainly agree that keeping things simply and I appreciate your comments!

  • http://www.lavogel.com Vogelart

    What about Rendering Intent? Your screenshot shows Relative Colormetric selected, but Black Point is unchecked. Can this be right?

    • http://www.breathingcolor.com Paul Morales

      Great catch Larry! The rendering intent can be whatever the user prefers. We normally use Perceptual as the rendering intent. In previous versions of Photoshop when you set the Color Handling to “No Color Management”, the rendering intent is grayed out. Guess even I was used to that scenario!

      As far as the Black Point Compensation, this option IS grayed out when you set the Color Handling to “Printer Manages Colors”. The Black Point Compensation applies to a print after you’ve selected a printer profile.

      On a different note, I had a chance to look at some of your galleries. I especially like “The Mask Series” and your thought process behind it. Well done!

  • BC Admin

    I love that you checked out his site and cemented on his work. Nice job.

    Sent via air mail.

  • Ianw

    The best way to produce target patches for CS5 (Or CS4 on a Mac) is to use the Adobe Colour Print Utility.
    Since Adobe removed the ‘No colour management’ option, they spent some time to develop a dedicated simple piece of software for custom profiling, free from their site, the ACPU.
    Hope that helps, we had some mixed results from using the ‘Let printer manage colours’ option. 

    • http://www.breathingcolor.com Paul Morales

      Thanks Ian! You and Disque-0-duc (below) each make a great point. Using the Adobe Color Print Utility is a very effective way of accomplishing this. The example above is simply another way of accomplishing this process.

      What kind of mixed results did you experience? What device do you use to profile? Perhaps I can offer some additional insight.

  • Anonymous

    While targets are designed specifically for custom profile creation, I also like to use them to quickly evaluate the color gamut/density differences between substrates.  If you print two targets using the same settings, on two different substrates, each patch can be compared on each substrate.  This is a fast and easy way to notice if one substrate is capable of achieving better reds, blues, greens, etc. 

    Of course the best way to make this comparison is to use a print quality evaluation test file which will offer much more information to evaluate the capability of each substrate. 

Previous post:

Next post: