designpro

Color Management starts with choosing the right software, display, video card and printer for editing and printing photos...

If what you're using right now works for you then stick with it. If you want to print on the pro level and make a living in this field Printing fine prints from the photos you shoot, there is a few thing you may want to look into.

Most everything you are about to read here I have gathered from various sources from print and from the web.


Understanding how your camera works is one thing, how to get the best prints after the shoot is another issue if you plan on doing your own Printing and to what level of print quality one wants to archive.

There are many important factors to be addressed on this subject and I'll cover a few. If you can not trust the colors displayed on your monitor, all other color management is a waste of time. Calibrating and profiling your monitor Should, therefore, be your first priority. Luckily, it is the easiest part of the image capture, editing, and printing system to profile.

The cost to do this ranges from free to expensive. If color accuracy and the ability to match your prints to your monitor are important to you, a decent hardware calibration system is essential. With a little work you can get good color from your monitor. If digital photography is your business, or you simply want the best colors you can get, the expense of a high quality calibration system is more than justified.

First off, most of the lower priced LCD displays on the market will not cut it when it comes to color accuracy. The color space ratings on these Displays won't even come close.

On the other hand, you can tweek and play around with your settings that may get you: What you see is what you printer with luck.


A devices color space simply describes the range of colors, or gamut, that a camera can see, a printer can print, or a monitor can display.
Editing color spaces, on the other hand, such as Adobe RGB or sRGB, are device-independent. They also determine a color range you can work in.

Their design allows you to edit images in a controlled, consistent manner. A devices color space is tied to the idiosyncrasies of the device it describes. An editing space, on the other hand, is gray balanced — colors with equal amounts of Red, Green, and Blue appear neutral. Editing spaces also are perceptually uniform; I.e. Changes to lightness, hue, or saturation are applied equally to all the colors in the image.

The color gamut range is one of the most important issues when choosing the right display to work from. Color gamut refers to the various levels of colors that can potentially be displayed by a device. There are actually two types of color gamuts, Additive and subtractive. Additive refers to color that is generate by mixing together colored light to generate a final color. This is the style Used by computers, televisions and other devices. It is more often referred to as RGB based on the red, green and blue colors used to generate The colors.

Subtractive color is that used by mixing together dyes that prevent reflection of light that then produce a color. This is the style Used for all printed media such as photos, magazines and books. It is also generally referred to as CMYK based on the cyan, magenta, yellow and Black colors used. For those of you that don't know, the letter (K) in CMYK stands for Key color!

Since we are talking about LCD monitors, and in order to quantify how much color a device can handle, it uses one of the standardized color gamuts that define a particular range of color. The most common of the RGB based color gamuts is sRGB. This is the typical color gamut used for all computer displays. It is one of the oldest and therefore narrowest of the color gamuts that is used in reference for computer and consumer Electronics.

(Adobe RGB) was developed by Adobe as a color gamut to provide a wider range of colors than sRGB. Adobe developed this to be used with their various graphics programs including Photoshop as a means to
give professionals a greater level of color when they work on graphics and photos before converting for print. CMYK has a much greater color range compared to RGB gamuts, thus the wider Adobe RGB gamut gives a better translation of colors to print than sRGB.

(NTSC) was the color space developed for the widest range of colors that can be represented to the human eye. Many may think that this has to do with the television standard group that it is named after, but it is not. Most real world devices to date do not have the ability to actually reach this level of color in a display.

So, to quantify the various color gamuts in terms of their relative range of color of narrowest to widest would be: sRGB < Adobe RGB < NTSC. In general, displays are generally referred to and compared to the NTSC color standard unless they state a different standard.

Those that are looking to use a display for graphical work and photography for either a hobby or professional use will probably want something that has a greater range of color. This is where many of the newer high color or wide gamut displays have come into play.

If an LCD monitor's color is an important feature for your computer and work output, it is important to find out how much color it can actually represent.

Here's some specks...

(Average LCD: 70 to 75% of NTSC)
(Professional non-Wide Gamut LCD: 80 to 90% of NTSC) ...GOOD...
(Wide Gamut CCFL LCD: 92 to 100% of NTSC) ...BETTER...
(Wide Gamut LED LCD: 100%+ of NTSC) ...BEST...

Here's a list of displays that produce good color gamut output and they are expensive.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/687611-REG/Eizo_CG223W_BK_ColorEdge_CG223W_22_Widescreen.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/651901-REG/Eizo_CG243W_BK_ColorEdge_CG243W_24_1_Widescreen.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/460727-REG/Eizo_CG221_BK_ColorEdge_CG221_22_2_Widescreen.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/818436-REG/Eizo_CG232W_BK_ColorEdge_22_5_Color_Calibration.html

Next, you need a good video card that can handle colors. A $59.00 card in your computer will not cut it here.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6437147&CatId=3598
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1890907&Sku=P450-7974
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=28&sel=Mfr%3BMfr_111

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I'm not saying that you have to run out and spend 5 months of your mortage payments and quit feeding the dog just to print great photos, I'm showing you what most of the pro's are useing today including myself. Most of my work, 90% or so goes to print and I use the best equipment to produce the best output I can.

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A good printer is the next step and I personally use Epson, if you choose to do your own in house printing...

(Good starter Printers) ...NICE PRINTS AT LOWER COST...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/838610-REG/Epson_C11CB53201_Artisan_1430_Inkjet_Printer.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/555315-REG/Epson_C11CA16201_Stylus_Photo_R2880_Inkjet.html

(Pro Level Printers)...INK IS VERY EXPENSIVE...Up to
$1000.00 just to replace!

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Pro/SeriesStylusPro4900/Overview.doBV_UseBVCookie=yes
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Pro/SeriesStylusPro79009900/Overview.do?BV_UseBVCookie=yes

Good color managment takes a good understanding and a lot of trial and error. By the time you get all your ducks in a row and everything working your head will spin but well worth it.

I've just scratched the surface here and if I don't stop now, this post would be 10ft. long or better!

Kudos all...

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

i made color edge out of a piece of card board paint an several hippie stickers all over it

designpro

What???
I think you are saying that you made a, "lets us the term, lens hood" to keep unwanted light from hitting your display!

A far cry based on some of the higher end displays I've listed here...for some of us here, color managment is a big issue and all Joking aside, that's like me pulling up to a job site to dig a foundation for example with a shovel and a wheelbarrow when in fact you would need, "to do the job correctly", either a 955H, a 953 or a 963 but maybe the best tool for the job if it's a large hole, you would need a 973 to do the best job! Please, facts are facts. As I said what works for you...I'm confused with that statement Sir!

Love yeah all the same...

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

it just shuts down the glare all i wanted. works pretty good.

designpro

Yes sir...

bvargas Loc: Palm Harbor, Florida

Save time & money and send out your work to a Professional Lab, and let them deal with the problems and they stand behind their product, and they will do a better job. They have the latest equipment and you can't compete. You just pass the cost to your client. More profit in your pocket. I have been doing weddings for over 40 years and believe me this works. Less headaches. BV

designpro

I have sent out work to a Professional Lab. Not sure of the problems you speak about but until you own a pro level wide format printer these companies can't come close.

Mind you, MY OPINION...Nuf Said!

Yes, they do a very very good job but, nothing like seeing first hand how your work look right now. If you do need to tweak a setting for some reason, it's done now not next week. Most of my portrait clients for example get their prints when they leave the session. Weddings on the other hand which are about the lowest paying gig in this industry, I will send out most of that work depending on what the client wants...

Enjoy your day sir and happy creating...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I love your "instructionals." Keep 'em coming.

Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

Please pardon my ignorance. I have an imac computer and a canon printer. My computer is 4 tears old. To me, my print colors look perfect. That said, I don't know if you would agree if you saw my prints, as your expectations may be different than mine, and your eye is trained and used to very high specifications. My question is, should I do something to improve the way my equipment is set up, or are my factory settings as good as can be expected, given what I have. I cannot afford the type of printer you have and I am not making a dime on my photos. I just want to know if there is a simple thing I should be doing to improve my prints which are basically just for the enjoyment of friends and family, mostly myself? Should I save my photos using Apple settings, RGB, sRGB, or something else?

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

The info cited above is very good; however, if you would like a very good book on the subject (I have several on printing) it would be:

"Mastering Digital Printing" 2nd ed. by Harald Johnson it covers everything mentioned in this thread and then some in great detail.

It is available at Amazon.com.

jenny Loc: in hiding:)

Yeah i guess what you said..and the quote from Yogi does it,"When you get to the fork in the road,take it". A vast difference between those of us who want to sell and those who want to enjoy. There has been so much discussion on UH about calibrating one's monitor it made me do a heck of a lot of thinking before even considering to post a pic.. It started out with everyone's monitors being at different settings,but the people i email to never heard of calibrating their monitors. No one could tempt me today with any amount of money to shoot a wedding or anything else,to have to be doing something to please anyone else. If i print anything, it will be for myself or for relatives or a friend. When i shot color reversal (slide) film, it was what you see is what you get. Any printing and the results were what i knew to expect. Now that everything is so "automatic",fast,and supposedly technologically perfect,it seems there are just more complications with digital photography. Fortunately i don't feel i have to take that "fork in the road".

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Just to add to this discussion; I just calibrated my monitor and couldn't believe how different my prints were looking...

What made me calibrate it was that I had sent my mother a print of the family that looked fine on my monitor and I didn't give it any thought and I didn't ship it to myself first...I shipped directly to her...and she said "how come it's so dark"?

After I calibrated my monitor, I realized how bright I had it....and that's what she was referring to.

I also had done some post to a few pictures and they came out with a purple cast...and I realized that I have to do something....the colors and brightness I was seeing were not reliable for printing.

jenny Loc: in hiding:)

So, if what i see when photographing something, is the same as what was intended when looking through the viewfinder,and all the same when viewing it on my monitor,it wll perhaps be about the same when someone else views it if not having done calibration? That would depend then i think on some sort of more or less basic standard for what factory settings are for monitors. Also,i have my monitor settings adjusted for both brightness and contrast because on day one it was too bright.I've done a very small check on what friends were getting and the feedback was that they were getting just about the same things in emails. This was the sole reason i got into digital to begin with,and with much resentment about losing Kodachrome etc., but now enjoy photography again,and tremendously,the so-called happy camper

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

This purple cast that you allude to may be caused by what is called "double color managing" ---that I responded to for another printer problem just a day or two ago.

This happens when your editing software and the printer driver are both attempting to manage the color of the print. You need to make sure that your printer isn't attempting to manage the color too, by turning off printer manages color in the printer driver menu.

there is a very good video on this by Tim Grey it uses Lightroom in his example, but the explanation is applicable in regard to other editing software as well.

Here is the link:

http://www.thedigitalphotographyconnection.com/LFDP_playerm4v.php?ID=jnng88nU

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I don't think that's it...I had sent the prints to print house...I don't print my own.