This last step involves setting up a Peak Imaging colour preferences 'preset' for you to use whenever you work on images to be sent to us, by using the Adobe Gamma program again. This 'preset' will allow you to easily recall the colour changes you will make when calibrating to our print.

Firstly, start Photoshop [or any other image-viewing program for that matter] and open the Peak Imaging calibration file that you downloaded in Step 2. It is preferable to view the image in it's entirety, and filling as much of the screen as possible.

Next, run Adobe Gamma again. Select the step-by-step wizard, and when the wizard suggests a starting profile, click the "LOAD..." button. Select the profile that you created in Step 1 as your starting point for the new Peak-specific profile:

Then, using the calibration print for reference, alter the gamma sliders until the image on-screen matches the print. This is ultimately a matter of personal judgement, but there are a few noteworthy points:

• Start off with the single [Grey] gamma slider to adjust the midtone representation. Look at the greyscale bar on the right, and the hair and t-shirts of the two ladies: You don't want to go too dark and lose detail in the hair, but going too light will lose detail in the t-shirts.
• Once you're satisfied with the grey gamma setting, switch to the Red, Green and Blue gamma channels [uncheck the "View Single Gamma Only" checkbox]. DO NOT switch back again to the grey gamma slider after making adjustments to the individual colour channel sliders, as you will lose any alterations you have made!
• Bear in mind that, as outlined previously, there are some colours you will see on-screen that look vastly different to their printed equivalent: the green lines, and the third [most vivid] column of colours in the bottom-right image are the most obvious examples. Instead, concentrate on the flesh tones, and on keeping the greys neutral [neither too 'warm', or reddish, nor too 'cool', or blueish].

Once you are satisfied that you have obtained as close a match as possible, spend five or ten minutes away from your computer before returning for another look, to compensate for your eyes' colour-fatigue. Tweak and repeat for as long as is necessary, then click on the "NEXT>" button of the Adobe Gamma wizard, continuing through the steps without making any further adjustments. Click on the "FINISH" button, and save the newly-created Peak-specific monitor profile under a new name:

You will now have two monitor profiles - the original general-optimisation profile, and the Peak Imaging digital-prints-specific profile, which - if you've followed all the steps - will be the one currently in use.

You will almost certainly want to revert to the general-optimisation profile at this point for everyday use, so start Adobe Gamma again, but this time choose the 'Control Panel' mode, not the usual 'Wizard' mode. Click on the "LOAD..." button at the top of the window, and select the original profile. Once you have done this, the display doesn't immediately revert back to the original profile - to apply this change of profiles, you then need to click on "OK" at the bottom of the screen. You will then be prompted to save this 'new' profile; simply click "SAVE" and then "OK" to overwrite the existing profile with the existing one [this is a quirk of Adobe Gamma - it's fine to overwrite/replace the existing profile, as long as you didn't make any adjustments, which you really shouldn't need to do at this point!]. The display will now revert back to it's generally-optimised state, and your computer is all set for everyday use once more!

We recommend that when using Photoshop for all RGB-based image manipulation work [not just for work to be submitted to us] you use the "sRGB IEC61966-2.1" working space [you can check this by selecting "Edit>Colour Settings..."

Now, whenever you are working on images that you wish us to print, you need to tell Photoshop that you want to view the images using the Peak colour profile that you created earlier. To do this, go to "View>Proof Setup>Custom..." whereupon a small dialog box will pop up:

You want the contents of your dialog box to resemble those illustrated above, i.e. the Profile box should show the name that you gave to your Peak-specific monitor profile, and the "Preserve Colour Numbers" checkbox should be ticked. It is recommended that you save this setup for future convenience - call it something like "Peak Imaging" for clarity. Once done, click "OK" to apply the changes and close the dialog box.

You can now toggle between your normal monitor display and the Peak-specific one by selecting the "View>Proof Colors" option [or by using the CTRL-Y key combination] if you need to.

If you have followed all the steps correctly, you will now have Photoshop set up in such a way that more accurately reflects any prints that we return to you!

Any questions or comments regarding this guide to better prints? email us at: imaging@peak-imaging.com.