Ensuring the profile is embedded

Question

Hi
I have a eMac and calibrate my computer with a Spyder2Express.
Have Lightroom and newly required Photoshop CS3
I have a novice when it comes to colour management. Having never printed my photos
For the first time ever I have decided to have some of my photos printed by a recommended Lab.
The requirements from the lab are: This lab requests 200 dpi. My requirement is for the lab to print for 5X7.
Colour Profile:
1.This can be Adobe98 sRGB or ProPhoto RGB.
2. Please ensure the profile is embedded.
After Calibration the message I receive is that the profile has been embedded.
1. Does this mean it is automatic that once I send the photo to the CD burner to send to the lab, that the profile is "embedded", i e is no other action is required by me?
2. Also somebody suggested that I request a white boarder? Is this a good idea?
3. Is it best to transfer the photo to the CD burner from Photoshop CS3 or is Lightroom ok?
4. Any other help for me to take these steps as painlessly as possible?
thanks
Sue

Answer 1

Hello Sue.
I print my images at home from my iMac and R2400 but if I was to send them to the lab you have contacted, I would use embedded Adobe1998 or ProPhoto . sRGB is suitable for web viewing and printing out on low-end printers but the colour gamut is not as wide as the other two.
The lab aren't alluding to monitor calibration; they are talking about your images. If your camera has an Adobe1998 facility on it , then I would suggest that you use that if you are always going to have your pictures printed, as embedding the image file at source will save any confusion at a later stage of your workflow.
As a rule of thumb, Adobe1998 for printing and sRGB for web viewing, as 1998 can look washed out on the web ( just remember to change things in-camera, depending on your intentions).
The camera will then embed all your future images in the 1998 colour space, unless you change it. If your camera doesn't have that choice, then open your image in Photoshop, click on Image->Convert Colour Profile and you will see a facility for choosing Adobe1998 as the colour space for the image. Choose it, wait a couple of seconds, then save your image and it should now be embedded with the Adobe1998 profile. It assigns a new profile and changes the data of the image.
Open up the image into Photoshop and in the bottom left just under the picture, you should see a line that gives a little info about the image. Click on it's drop-down and you will see all the data on the image , such as document size and document profile. Click on document profile and you'll see the confirmed colour space of the image.
The idea is to have everything from camera to printer talking the same language. If I may suggest it : Enter 'Colour Management' into Google and have a read of some of the articles pertaining to it - it'll give you some idea of how your workflow should be ( especially useful if you ever start printing your pictures at home ). Just don't get hung up on it because it can get a bit complicated at times.
As for saving images to the desktop for copying to a CD at your leisure, open Finder and click on File->New Burn Folder and give the folder a suitable name. The folder will save to the desktop and then simply drag the images you intend to copy to CD into it. When you're ready to burn, double-click the folder and click on Burn, then insert a disc and follow the instructions. You can safely trash the contents of the folder when you have finished with them because it only saves an alias of an image.
I hope it helps you a little , although I also hope you'll forgive me for the long-winded reply !
Kind regards,
David Gaynor.