Step 1. Calibrate Your Monitor

We suggest setting your target white point and gamma curve to 6500k and Gamma 2.2. These are only recommendations; you may find that your viewing environment has warmer lights, in which case you could experiment with a white point of 5000k.

Step 2. Embed the Color Profile.

Without an ICC profile embedded into your files, we don’t know what color space your files are in. Most photographers use either Adobe RGB (1998) or sRGB as a working color space. Set up your color settings:

• For Adobe Photoshop

  Here’s how to properly setup your Adobe Photoshop Color Settings:

  1. Open Photoshop
  Mac OS X Users: Go to Photoshop in the Menu Bar > Color Settings
  Windows Users: Go to Edit in the Menu Bar > Color Settings

  2. Select a Working Space for RGB Files.
  We recommend either Adobe RGB (1998) or sRGB IEC61966-2.1.
  If you are unsure, you probably want sRGB IEC61966-2.1.

  3. Select "Convert to Working RGB" next to RGB under Color Management Policies.

  4. Check "Ask When Opening and Ask When Pasting" next to Profile Mismatches.

  Whenever you open a file that is saved and tagged in a color space other than your working space, Photoshop will prompt you to convert to the working color space. When you save your JPEGs out of Photoshop, make sure to check the "Embed Color Profile" checkbox in the Save dialog box. Without this checked, we do not know the color space of your files, and you will have unpredictable color in your prints.

• For Adobe Lightroom

  In Lightroom, there are no color spaces to choose until you export an image. In the Export screen, go down to the "File Settings" section. There is a pull-down menu for Color Space. We recommend selecting either Adobe RGB (1998) or sRGB.