We are a commercial Photography Studio shooting a wide range of products. We are using Macs and Eizo monitors. We are proofing on our Epson Stylus Pro 4800 using a ColorBurst Rip. We are currently using SP4800 SWOP Epson Proofing White Semimatte PK.env. We are using the Spyder 4 to calibrate our monitors to match the epson proof. This has been our workflow for the past 7+ years and has worked relatively well. I would like to improve and update our current workflow and wondered what was available. Our goal is to get what we see on the studio monitors to match the digital monitors and the final proof. Do you have any recommendations for a complete photo to proof workflow and is SWOP still a good target for printed materials? We are finding that most of the images we shoot are being repurposed for internet use. Which brings up another question. How do you standardize how to view the files when everybody has their own proofing device (monitor)?
It sounds like you have the equipment and software already to get good results. SWOP is not as popular these days as GRACoL, as GRACoL provides a slightly larger gamut and most quality printers are able to hit that standard. The GRACoL 2006 standard has been widely adopted, but they have just come out with an updated standard in 2013.
The best you can do when preparing images for the web is to convert them to sRGB. That has been the standard expectation for years. Anyone wanting to view color accurately online will assume the images are in sRGB space. Of course, out in the real world where users don’t calibrate their displays, it’s anybody’s guess. The one thing that is helpful is our own eyes’ ability to adapt, so sometimes what a client sees on an uncalibrated monitor can look better than we would expect.
There are several RIPs out there that do a great job of proofing. They can have iterative processes that will help you fine tune the profliling to make it even more accurate. Maybe some others can chime in here on what RIPs they like.