rbmitch123

Yes you are missing something — It's the fact that color management is a system. The weakest link in the system is monitor calibration AND PROFILING.

Yes, you need to calibrate your monitor monthly. That requires a colorimeter or spectrophotometer. But more important than that, is that AFTER you calibrate your monitor, it must be PROFILED, using the same colorimeter or spectrophotometer.

If you use a raw workflow (record raw images and post-process them in Lr or whatever):

• Record an image of a white balance target at the camera. This will give you something for a "click balance" in Lr, using the eyedropper tool.
• If you can, perform a Custom White Balance at the camera. This affects only the JPEG preview image stuffed into every raw file, AND, any JPEG you save separately. The point of doing this is to have a close-to-accurate preview image when it first comes into your operating system or Lr. It's not *necessary*, but it is recommended.
• Buy a calibration kit from DataColor or X-RITE. Don't get the cheapest one. Note that the big difference among all the DataColor Spyder5 models is the SOFTWARE. The colorimeter "puck" is the same in all kits.
• Follow the instructions that come with (or within) the software. DO NOT DEVIATE.
• For a monitor to match your prints, use these aims:

Black Point, 0.5 cd/m^2 (candelas per square meter)
White Point, 85 to 120 cd/m^2
Color temperature 6500K
Gamma 2.2 (whether using a Mac or a PC).

If the software allows setting the contrast and brightness, use the onscreen tool to do that as accurately as possible.

Let the software do its thing, displaying gray and color patches and measuring them. When it is done, it will create a profile, let you rename it (I add the date), and then store it in the operating system where it belongs. Finally, it activates this custom profile.

Be sure you install ALL the paper profiles for the papers you use in your printer. If you use OEM papers and inks, the driver software should take care of that for you.

DO NOT DOUBLE PROFILE. Let EITHER Lightroom OR the printer driver control color, but not both. Try both ways to see which works better.

DO NOT adjust any front panel controls on the monitor UNLESS you are going to re-calibrate and re-profile it.

It is entirely fruitless to calibrate a monitor by eye, or with the operating system "calibration" routines. Here's why:

The whole point of ICC color management is to "characterize" each device in the system. The operating system company (Apple or Microsoft) updates their software about quarterly to add new raw image profiles for new cameras. YOU are responsible for creating and saving CUSTOM monitor profiles. The printer company or third party paper supplier creates and supplies profiles for specific combinations of printers and papers. With all three types of profile in place, your operating system or Adobe Color Engine will convert the color characteristics of the camera to the "working profile" (such as ProPhoto RGB). From there, it converts it to the monitor profile for viewing. In order to get accurate color at the printer (or in a TIFF or JPEG for digital uses), the monitor profile must be accurate. If it is, the color in your image files will be accurate, and should translate correctly through the printer profile to ink on paper.

If you use the correct camera profile, the correct monitor profile, and the correct printer/paper profile, you should have a VERY close match from monitor to print. BUT, the match can never be perfect. Monitors are RGB additive color devices. They start with black, and add various amounts of red, green, and blue light together to form a full color image. Printers are CMYK+++++ subtractive color devices. They start with white light reflected off paper through color dyes (or off of solid, colored pigments), and subtract light with those dyes or pigments. So one model favors highlights, and the other favors shadows. Beyond that, monitors and paper have very different color transmission or reflection capabilities! So it's a wonder we can get close at all, but we can, with the right profiles.

Remember, calibration only LINEARIZES a device. That means the device can create perfectly neutral gray at all tones from 0-255 or 0-1024 (for example, an 8-bit vs 10-bit per channel monitor).

Conversely, profiling only describes the range of color (gamut) that the device is capable of reproducing. Without accurate calibration, the profile is garbage. That is why we don't touch our monitor controls after calibrating, unless re-calibrating and re-profiling.

It is pointless to profile a device without calibrating it first, and it is pointless to calibrate a device without profiling it! That's why calibration kits exist.

ONE MORE THING: Don't waste time calibrating a laptop or notebook computer display. Get a decent desktop monitor capable of displaying 100% of sRGB, and AT LEAST 80% of Adobe RGB color space.

MORE HERE:

https://www.xrite.com/categories/calibration-profiling/i1display-pro

http://www.datacolor.com/photography-design/product-overview/spyder5-family/

http://www.colormunki.com

rbmitch123

I received input that my printer only supports Adobe RGB not ProPhoto RGB. And that my camera, monitor computer and printer should be set that. Correct?