Many thanks for this informative post; even though most of it is beyond my limited understanding of color management. I have taken the liberty of picking through this information and re-formatting it in a manner that I can (perhaps) better comprehend. Please check it for errors of fact and/or interpretation.
Input image (?RGB) → process image using Input Profile → CIELab
CIELab → Monitor Profile (RGB) → Preview Image (soft-proofing disabled)
CIELab → Printer Profile (CYMK / RGB) → CIELab → Monitor Profile → Preview Image (soft-proofing enabled)
CIELab → Working Profile (RGB) → Color picker values (RGB) (option in Preferences / General = checked)
CIElab → Output Profile (RGB) → Color picker values (RGB) (option in Preferences / General = unchecked)
CIELab → Working Profile (RGB) → used by some tools for internal calculation.
Conclusions:
-
To the extent that my synopsis is correct, it is clear that the Output Profile plays no role in soft-proofing,
-
If “use working profile” is unchecked (Preferences > General) the values displayed by the color picker, but not the appearance of the preview, are affected by the choice of Output Profile.
-
If “use working profile” is checked (Preferences > General) neither the values displayed by the color picker nor the appearance of the preview are affected by the choice of Output Profile. However the color picker values are affected by the choice of Working Space.
-
Alteration to the Printer Profile (Preferences / Color Management) do not affect the values displayed by color picker nor are they changed by enabling / disabling soft-proofing.
-
Alteration to the Printer Profile (Preferences / Color Management) will affect the appearance of the preview image only when soft-proofing is enabled.
-
The choice of Working profile does not affect the appearance of the preview image. (??)