BigDJim wrote:
After photographing a color painting, the client looked over my shoulder as I "tweaked" colors and arrived at a finished product on my color-calibrated MacBook Pro. During the editing phase, the artwork was illuminated by an identical light source as used to photograph the painting and was positioned next to my computer. Upon completion, the client approved and was delighted with the finished product. To insure there would be no transmission problems, I presented her with a flash drive containing the photos of her painting.
Then she got home, downloaded the flash drive on her laptop to show to her husband or to send to the panel of judges in hopes of gaining entry in an art show and she wrote me to say that when our work was downloaded the color was off, the overall composition looked faded and in essence, suddenly, everything was unacceptable.
I honestly don't know how to control something like this when photos are edited on a MacPro, the client accepts the finished product and later reviews their artwork on what might be an aging or second-tier brand computer. If anyone has a suggestion, I would delight in hearing it, but as I see it, this is a no-win situation. Other artists are wanting me to do work with them photographing their artwork, as well, but I don't think I can satisfy any of them as far as getting the exacting colors they expect, especially in light of all of them probably reviewing my work on their home computers. Most of these people have never heard the words "color calibrated", leave alone having performed this procedure on their personal computers.
I would love hearing from anyone having experienced this same problem who might have a solution. In fact, I'd love hearing from anyone who has an idea, a system or procedure that might work. Thanks.
After photographing a color painting, the client l... (
show quote)
You could try to explain to your client the variation rests with her monitor, that you are running a calibrated system and as suggested have her check her images on other systems if available. What did you use for your calibration, let the client know if he/she wants to research it further for more detailed information about how it works.
For future projects such as this or any other reproduction work, or any work for that matter where you need to know for sure your colors are accurate, I would suggest you get your self an x-rite color checker passport with acompanying software so you can create profiles for the images to show that the colors are correct for both viewing on screen as well as print output and that they are repeatable. It's a fairly small investment that will pay for its self when trying to asure clients that things are accurate.
Good luck with this one and future projects, all the best and keep shooting....