How do I convert iris print profile to direct to print rgb file on g5

Question

Good morning, everyone
I am kind of new at this whole color Management business.
>my question is what is the best way to convert
a raw Photoshop PSD file on a MAC G4
which is profiled to print on an IRIS printer 
to a direct print RGB file printed from Mac g5 using an Epson 11880.
> Is there a tutorial about printing profile conversions.
Please help

Answer 1

Porefungus,
Your question isn't very clear, which probably has something to do with being new to color management.  For color management to work, every file has to be "tagged" with a profile, or if not tagged, one needs to be "assumed".  RGB images in Photoshop are usually tagged as sRGB, Adobe RGB, ProPhoto RGB, or some other variant.  This "tag" gives precise meaning to each individual color in the file.  For example. 225R, 40G, 25B is definitely a red, but what hue, saturation and brightness of red?  It will be translated differently depending on which RGB tag is associated with the file.
The same is true of printer profiles.  In fact, these profiles (or tags) are like languages.  In order to understand what someone is saying, you have to start by knowing, or assuming, what language they are speaking.  Sometimes you have someone who speaks only English and someone else who speaks only Chinese.  In this case, you need a translator in the middle who is fluent in both.  That is color management.
If your original file is edited in Adobe RGB (ie, tagged with that profile) and you are sending that file to be printed on an RGB printer (it uses CMYK and other inks, but the data stream being sent to the printer is RGB), you need to have a "profile" for your printer/paper/ink combination that accurately describes what that ink/paper combo is capable of doing.  Then you need a middle man to translate from your source profile (in this case, Adobe RGB) into language that your printer is capable of understanding (ie, printer profile).  That middleman is*L*a*b* color space, the universal translator for ICC based color management.
It is way too involved to get into in depth on a forum, but I have some articles on color management on my website.  Use the link below and click the links to the left of the page to read them.
http://www.dinagraphics.com/color_management.php
Real World Color Management is a good book on the subject.  There are plenty of other good resources in books and on the internet.
Lou