OS X Yosemite color management
Feb 3, 2015 15:49:01 #
I just upgraded my 6 year old iMac to Yosemite - not the typical Apple OS flawless upgrade - but that's another story. As I was setting up my controls, I found in System Preferences/Displays/Color a whole boatload of color profiles to choose from (with iMac being the default, and the one I've used without realizing I might have had options all these years), including 10 Nikon specific profiles. Since I shoot with a D7100 set to sRGB, I wondered if I would get truer camera to printer to print color matching if I chose the specific Nikon profile. Anyone familiar with this topic under the Yosemite OS?
Feb 3, 2015 16:18:35 #
jerrypoller wrote:
I just upgraded my 6 year old iMac to Yosemite - n... (show quote)
I don't have an answer for you, but I didn't know that either and will have to check it out.
Feb 3, 2015 16:38:12 #
You can calibrate your iMac monitor to your own preferences rather than relying on Apple pre-sets.
Feb 3, 2015 19:09:26 #
lesdmd wrote:
You can calibrate your iMac monitor to your own preferences rather than relying on Apple pre-sets.
But wouldn't it be preferable to find profiles that already exist that sync the camera profile to the computer monitor profile to the printer profile? Or is that just wishful thinking? I don't know if I'm technically savvy enough to create a profile that will give me prints matching what I see on my monitor with a given camera color profile.
Feb 3, 2015 19:16:45 #
jerrypoller wrote:
But wouldn't it be preferable to find profiles that already exist that sync the camera profile to the computer monitor profile to the printer profile? Or is that just wishful thinking? I don't know if I'm technically savvy enough to create a profile that will give me prints matching what I see on my monitor with a given camera color profile.
It's brainless...you use calibration software. You don't need to know anything.
Feb 3, 2015 19:30:30 #
rpavich wrote:
It's brainless...you use calibration software. You don't need to know anything.
So, what is the purpose of Apple providing a couple of dozen color profiles from which to select, each of which is capable of being calibrated by supplied Apple software within the OS? And how does this assure that what I see on my screen is what I'll get when I print? Can you give a novice a little more information? Everything is easy (read: brainless) when you know how it's done. I look to the members of this forum to be helpful, not patronizing.
Feb 3, 2015 19:44:40 #
jerrypoller wrote:
So, what is the purpose of Apple providing a couple of dozen color profiles from which to select, each of which is capable of being calibrated by supplied Apple software within the OS? And how does this assure that what I see on my screen is what I'll get when I print? Can you give a novice a little more information? Everything is easy (read: brainless) when you know how it's done. I look to the members of this forum to be helpful, not patronizing.
I guess it's the "close enough" easy way. They don't know what you intend to use the laptop for, so they cover all bases (that's my guess)
When you calibrate using calibration software, you know that your particular screen is as true to color as it can reasonably get.
I wasn't being patronizing when I said brainless, I was just trying to say that you plug it in...run the software and then sit back and drink a cup of coffee and 10 minutes later, it's done.
No button pushing, no thinking or decision making.
that's what I meant by brainless.
Feb 3, 2015 19:53:11 #
rpavich wrote:
I guess it's the "close enough" easy way... (show quote)
Sorry I took your comment the wrong way - I'm just a little frustrated today (the install of Yosemite was a bear and I'm a little "technically" on edge today).
When I had a PC I bought a Spyder calibrator and got my monitor to be "perfect", but I never got prints to match. I've struggled with the same issue with my iMac - the colors are good, but not the same - always a couple of shades darker than the monitor. I thought I had stumbled upon Apple's answer today - maybe not. Anyway, thanks for the "supportive" reply above, and I apologize for not assuming "good intent" about your first reply.
Feb 3, 2015 19:58:06 #
jerrypoller wrote:
Sorry I took your comment the wrong way - I'm just... (show quote)
No problem...lol...I'm running the Yosemite beta and I've done a few reinstalls :) No fun.
Getting your monitor calibrated is part of the deal but calibrating your printer is another ball-o-wax. I send my prints out, I only print 4 x 6 fun shots; anything serious goes out to a print house.
As for the darkness thing, that's just getting the brightness adjusted. Computer manufacturers always crank up the brightness because bright makes things POP! but...prints aren't backlit LCD's and they don't look the same.
The solution is to crank down the brightness of your monitor until your perceived "brightness" matches that of what spits out of your printer.
It will be shockingly dark when you first do it....but you'll get used to it.
I have two settings; one for "everyday" stuff and one much darker for "when I'm editing photos for print."
Feb 3, 2015 20:10:50 #
I accept the claims that calibration devices that hang over the monitor, coupled with their software produce accurate color. Two reasons I do not use them: I 'm too cheap to make the investment, and I come pretty close to what I see on screen when I use Lightroom to set up a print profile, and I do not print many images. Now for heresy ---- I don't even worry about precise white balance. I want skin tones to be realistic and colors close to what I remember seeing, but it's not like I need the color of the red of the Cola can to be precisely what the manufacturer ordered.
As for Apple profiles: I don't know what they are supposed to simulate. I shoot in Adobe RGB, but the Apple settings look nothing like what the camera should be capturing. So, I go through the simple IMac monitor calibration process and come up with acceptable results.
As for Apple profiles: I don't know what they are supposed to simulate. I shoot in Adobe RGB, but the Apple settings look nothing like what the camera should be capturing. So, I go through the simple IMac monitor calibration process and come up with acceptable results.
Feb 4, 2015 08:57:48 #
I have used Macs for years. The most accurate way to profile a monitor for photography is use profiling software. I use colormunki, but there are others. You can use one of the provided profiles or you can calibrate the monitor to anything you like based on your eye. Under the systems preferences icon go to display. Click on the "color" menu and then click on the calibrate choice and follow the instructions.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Feb 4, 2015 12:07:44 #
jerrypoller wrote:
I just upgraded my 6 year old iMac to Yosemite - n... (show quote)
sRGB is a television standard based on the chromaticities produced by television tube phosphores. Of all the 'color spectrum' triangles set with the official chromaticity chart, sRGB is the smallest. A larger color standard would be Adobe RGB 1998. That chart plot looks like a thumb pointing N by NE and the periphery are the wavelength visible to the human eye - that is, a property of the optic nerve as translated by the brain. This is a my very simplistic understanding of the chromaticity chart and color standards employed in technology.
Feb 4, 2015 12:23:53 #
John_F wrote:
sRGB is a television standard based on the chromat... (show quote)
Thanks for the info. I set my color space at sRGB based on what i read from Ken Rockwell (http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/adobe-rgb.htm) Would Adobe RGB be a better choice? My main concern is getting equivalent color in my prints and my monitor.
Feb 4, 2015 18:26:57 #
You should use either the profile that is listed as your display type, for example iMac or if you have a Dell monitor its profile will have been installed when you set it up; or a profile created for your monitor by a calibration device or by one of the eyeball calibrators like SuperCal (this is plenty good enough for an sRGB monitor). All those other profiles are used for comparison purposes like soft proofing. They have nothing to do with a normal screen to print workflow.
Feb 4, 2015 18:53:44 #
jerrypoller wrote:
Thanks for the info. I set my color space at sRGB based on what i read from Ken Rockwell (http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/adobe-rgb.htm) Would Adobe RGB be a better choice? My main concern is getting equivalent color in my prints and my monitor.
I can only tell what I do because the print shop told me to do it this way.
My camera is set to aRGB. I save files two ways:
1) TIFF and aRGB for things that will be printed.
2) I use PhotoShop to covert the above files to sRGB and JPG for uploading to the Internet.
It's been working for me.
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