Retouching From A Colour Management Perspective

The document profile (source profile) used in the digital printing workflow is either Adobe RGB or sRGB. The white point in these profiles is set as D65 and for this reason, some people think that the colour temperature of their monitor should be 6500 K.  However, the ISO and Japanese printing standards stipulate viewing under D50 light source (5000 K) and it's also worth remembering that the white point in Photoshop is also processed at 5000 K.

For this reason, when retouching photographs, it is essential to prepare a 5000 K work environment that accords with these standards. Also, you should always embed the profile when saving a file so that the colours of the image can be accurately conveyed right through to the back-end of the process.

So, remember to: make the monitor setting 5000 K, check images under the correct kind of fluorescent lighting, print with the right printer setting and embed the Adobe RGB or sRGB profile (depending on what you're using) when saving files. 

More tips on colour management can be found over in EIZO ColorZone's technique and article sections. 

Visit the EIZO website.