Soft proofing simulates on a calibrated monitor what a photo will look like after printing with the correct printer profile in order to identify color differences and colors that cannot be displayed (out of gamut). It is used in programs such as Lightroom and Photoshop to make color corrections before printing and avoid costly misprints. However, a hard proof remains the most reliable method.
Category: Photography – Advanced Topics > 10. Monitor Calibration & Color Management Article ID: 10.6 Created: May 2026
The Essentials at a Glance
- Soft proofing simulates on the monitor what a photo will look like after printing—before actually printing
- It shows which colors the printer cannot reproduce (out-of-gamut warning) and enables targeted corrections
- Soft proofing only works reliably on a calibrated monitor with the correct printer profile
Explanation
What Is Soft Proofing?
When printing, colors are converted from the monitor color space (RGB) to the printer color space (CMYK or a specific printer profile). Colors are inevitably lost in the process—especially bright, saturated tones that a monitor can display but a printer cannot.
Soft proofing simulates this process on the screen: It shows what the image will look like after conversion to the printer color space—without making a single print.
Hard proof for comparison: A physical test print on the target printer and paper. Expensive, but the only fully reliable proof.
Requirements for Meaningful Soft Proofing
Three things must be right:
- Calibrated monitor—without calibration, the soft proof shows only a distorted simulation
- Printer profile (ICC profile)—the specific profile for the printer/paper combination; often provided by the printer manufacturer or print shop
- Color-managed software—Lightroom, Photoshop, or comparable programs that support soft proofing
Soft Proofing in Lightroom
Activate: In the Develop module, click “Soft Proofing" in the toolbar at the bottom (or press S). The image gets a white border, and the background color changes to white (simulating white paper).
Choose a profile: The Soft Proof panel appears in the Histogram area. Under “Profile,” select the desired printer profile (it must be installed on the system).
Choose a rendering intent:
- Perceptual: All colors are proportionally compressed to fit within the printer gamut. A good choice for photos with many saturated colors.
- Relative Colorimetric: Colors within the gamut remain exact; colors outside it are shifted to the nearest reproducible value. Often a better choice for images in which only a few colors lie outside the gamut.
Out-of-gamut warning: Click the monitor icon in the upper-left corner of the Soft Proof panel → colors that the monitor can display but the profile cannot are highlighted in color (blue = the monitor exceeds the print gamut).
Create a proof copy: When activating soft proofing, Lightroom asks whether a “proof copy” should be created. Recommended: The proof copy is a virtual duplicate on which print-specific corrections can be made—without changing the original.
Soft Proofing in Photoshop
Activate: View → Proof Setup → Custom → choose the printer profile + set the rendering intent → View → Proof Colors (or Ctrl/Cmd + Y)
Out-of-gamut warning: View → Gamut Warning (Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + Y) → colors outside the printer gamut are overlaid with a color (default: gray)
How Do You Correct Out-of-Gamut Colors?
When the warning marks specific areas, there are several strategies:
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Bright greens in nature | Lower saturation in the green channel (HSL) slightly |
| Saturated blues in the sky | Reduce blue saturation or increase brightness |
| Bright oranges | Reduce saturation in the orange channel |
| Colors that are generally too saturated | Lower vibrance slightly (preserves skin tones) |
| Switch rendering intent from Relative to Perceptual | Often, switching the intent is enough without manual adjustments |
Important: Not every out-of-gamut color needs to be corrected manually. With “Relative Colorimetric,” they are automatically mapped to the next-closest printable value—often an acceptable result that does not require manual correction.
Obtaining Printer Profiles
Manufacturer profiles: Most printer manufacturers (Epson, Canon, HP) offer free ICC profiles on their websites for their printers in combination with original papers. Search term: “[printer model] ICC profile download.”
Print shop profiles: Professional print shops often provide their own ICC profiles for their machines and paper types for download—on the print shop’s website or upon request. These profiles are particularly valuable for soft proofing because they represent the exact machine.
Creating your own profiles: With a spectrophotometer (→ Article 10.3), printer/paper combinations can be measured and profiles created yourself—for maximum precision.
Practical Tip
Proofing workflow in practice: Activate soft proofing → create a proof copy → enable the out-of-gamut warning → selectively correct the marked areas → print. After the first physical print, compare the proof with the result—as time goes on, you develop a good sense of how much the simulation differs from the actual print. No soft proof is perfect, but it drastically reduces costly misprints.