Application of ICC profiles

There are different types of papers and there can be obtained different results by printing on them, because the ink differently reacts on surfaces. The ink on uncoated paper more penetrates in the paper fibres, but on the coated fine papers it mainly remains on the coating layer. There are many other chemical, mechanical and optical processes, which act differently on various papers. Newspaper printing (Coldset) differs particularly, because the colour maximally penetrates in the paper and the Tone Value Increase (TVI) is essentially higher that for the magazine (Heatset) printing.

When preparing the images for printing, it is important to take into account all these processes.

For this purpose, when preparing the images for printing works it is required to use the respective ICC profiles.

Profiles, which are required for the work preparation for printing in Poligrāfijas grupa Mūkusala, you can download here:

• ISOnewspaper26v4.icc – profile provided for newspaper printing
• ISOcoated_v2_300_eci.icc – profile for printing on HWC, LWC, WFC and MWC papers
• SC_paper_eci.icc – profile for printing on SC, MF, LWU, MFC and INP papers
• PSOuncoated_v3_FOGRA52.icc – profile for magazine printing (WFU and SBU)

On Windows workstations, the profiles are usually located:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\color

On MacOS X workstations, the profiles are usually located:
Library/ColorSync/Profiles or Users//Library/ColorSync/Profiles

Profiles are used in the image preparation software, and they work by converting the image to the CMYK colour space. This can be done in two ways:

1. By installing the correct CMYK profile in the Colour Setting window and converting the images by Mode:

2. Converting to the necessary profile using the “Convert to Profile” dialog, which can be found under the “Convert to Profile” menu.

As to the parameter Intent it is advisable to choose either Perceptual (for photographic images) or Relative Colorimetric (for graphical images).

The profile regulates the parameters of the colour division – Total Ink Limit (TIL), Tone Value Increase (TVI), Grey Component Replacing (GCR), etc. In order to keep these parameters, it is not recommended to perform any changes in the image related to the colour adjustment after converting it to CMYK.

When the converted picture is saved, do not include the colour profile in the file. It may be done also the parameter Embed Colour Profile is disabled in the dialogue Save As.