Fred-
I think you are talking an ICM profile (like Adobe, ProPhoto, etc.) The gent wants to also include a printer profile like Fujicolor, Noritsu, etc., I take it. Similar but not identical.
Jeff-
I saw a bunch of profiles out there a while back that had profiles for Costco, Sam's, Walgreens, etc. They even had them for different stores of the same brand. All Fujis should be set linear but they are not. Then you have the "monkey" factor--how they have trained the monkey to fix stuff for you.
Here's one person's take:
I convert to Costco profile as one of my last steps. Before I sharpen I save the file as a tiff or psd. Then I change for RGB to LAB, and sharpen using the USM filter. Next I convert back to RGB. Then I convert to the Costco profile and save the file as a JPEG. Usually I see only a slight difference in the brightness (no noticeable color shifts). The only time I have a problem with Costco prints is if I forget to tell them not to apply color correction.
Another:
What you want to do is not use costco printer profile as a working space. It's just plain weird - use AdobeRGB or Prophoto. You want to "Convert" the image to their printer profile before sending it out, assuming they do not do any color management on their end (sometimes you have a selectable option). Many places expect sRGB images though.
I am just using Costco as an example.
Give this info to your friend (partially quoted from
earthbound light.com as educational under Fair Use:
In my opinion, the two biggest features Adobe decided to leave out are Curves and support for color management profile conversion. Having recently taken a look at adding support for Curves to Elements, it's time to do the same with color management. It turns out it too is actually in there, buried beneath the covers, waiting to be let out.
Direct him to
http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/elements-color-management.html for the full ticket on dealing with Elements since there is no Soft Proof. Basically, I think he will "Print to File" and use his shops profile as the printer driver.