Today’s Question: When printing photos what does in mean to let the printer manage the process [rather than software such as Photoshop or Lightroom Classic]? What is the alternative and does it relate to ICC profiles?
Tim’s Quick Answer: When printing a photo, you can choose whether you want color management to be handled by the software you’re using or by the printer. In general, I prefer to let the software manage the color, but the most important thing is to avoid “double color management”.
More Detail: In the context of printing, color management primarily revolves around converting the color values for pixels in the image to appropriate values that take into account the printer, ink, and paper combination being used for printing.
This often involves selecting an ICC profile for the paper you’re printing to in the software you’re using to print the image, such as Photoshop or Lightroom Classic. The software then takes the color values for pixels in the image and converts those values based on the profile. The resulting data is then sent to the printer, where the print should be an accurate reflection of the source image based on the color management that was applied.
Another option is to not select a profile in the software you’re using for printing, but rather select the option to have the printer manage the color. In this case the source data is not altered by the software, but is instead sent to the printer driver, which will then perform the conversion as needed to ensure accurate color in the print. This process doesn’t necessarily involve the use of ICC profiles, depending on how the printer software operates.
In most cases either approach is perfectly fine. You may also find that in some cases it is better to have the printer manage color, rather than the software you’re using to print. For example, some Epson printers include a special mode for producing black and white prints, and letting the printer software manage color in this case often results in a more accurate print than you would get by having the software manage the color.
The key is to choose one or the other. If you’re having your software manage color, you need to disable color management in the printer software. If you’re using the printer software to manage color, you need to select the applicable option in the software you’re using. If you select a printer profile in the software you’re printing from and also enable color management in the printer software, the color data will be converted twice, resulting in an inaccurate print.
