what does 'Proof Colors' in PS do?

[shuy]

it's at 'Working CMYK' at default mode. but the colours appear abit bluish, definitely more so than when i open it using irfanview, or from the cam's LCD itself. the picture looks alot better at 'Monitor RGB' though...

i was wondering, what's all this proofing? and can i just untick the 'Proof Colors' option? what do i stand to lose?

 

[zhoufang]

Prints have a different color gamut from your monitor, and in most case it will have a smaller gamut.
That means some of the very vibrant color you seen on screen can never be reproduce on print.
What proof color in PS does is to give you a review of how the print will look like on paper. It is also called a soft proof, as hard proof will be physically make a print too see how it looks.

Soft print has some limitations.
1. your monitor must be very well profiled for it to be of any use. (very seldom it is the case)
2. if the gamut of your output device is lager than the gamut of your monitor in any way, you will still not be able to see that very saturated color that only your output device can produce. (most photo grade injet can produce more saturated greens than the sRBG gamut of a tipical monior)

 

[shuy]

so if i dont print the picture, i can safely turn off color proofing rite?

another thing, pics opened on irfanview look very different from pics on PS. im really wondering y...

 

[zhoufang]

Originally posted by shuy
so if i dont print the picture, i can safely turn off color proofing rite?

another thing, pics opened on irfanview look very different from pics on PS. im really wondering y...

yes.

That's due to color management.
PS is one of the very few softwares that is colour space aware. So what PS shows will be closer to the right color, provided (again) that your monitor is well profiled.

I suggest you can learn more about color management, e.g. what is ICC, ICM profile.
Google will be a good starting pt...