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10 Steps for True Colors in Photoshop
By Brad Hinkel

Here is my 10 step program for setting up your color management system. I like teaching color management through these steps, since most of the concepts are taught alongside specific tasks. If you perform each of these tasks, you should have a color management system that functions well.

Pick a Color Space

Colors in the computer are not simply defined by values of RGB (Red, Green & Blue). A color space is required to define the specific colors represented by a set of RGB values. Most users pick either sRGB (easier) or AdobeRGB (harder) for their color space.

Get a Good Monitor

Your monitor is the essential tool to ‘see' the image that is stored inside your computer. A poor quality monitor merely displays poor quality images. This does not have to be an expensive option, since there are a number of good monitors available for around $200. But before plunking down the dough, there are options for testing your system.

Create a Good Work Environment

The most commonly skipped step in setting up a digital darkroom is also one of the easiest: create a good work environment for evaluating and editing color. You need to configure your computer desktop to be as gray as possible. Remove distracting colors from your environment and get a good light for evaluating prints.

Calibrate and Profile Your Monitor

Even the best monitor still needs to be setup properly to produce the best possible colors. Calibration involves properly setting up your monitor to display colors. Profiling both measures and corrects the specific color errors for your individual monitor. A well-calibrated, well-profiled monitor produces a very good display of the images from your computer.

Get a Good Printer

Your printer is the tool you use to create your final printed product (unless you are only making images for the web). Most modern desktop printers produce excellent results. And online printing services are also available to create excellent prints. I recommend you start with your existing printer or an inexpensive desktop printer for your digital darkroom. There are many excellent professional printer choices you will eventually consider once you have some experience with digital fine prints.

Create Basic Prints -- Have the Printer Driver Manage Color

The basic printing option is to print using the built-in options in the printer driver software that came with your printer. For many printers, this is an excellent and easy option. Online printing services are also very easy to use. These basic printing options are limited in terms of the papers that you might use for printing, but are a very good place to start and suffice for the majority of photographers.

Test Your Color Management System

Once you have all the basic steps completed, test out the various elements -- software, monitor & printer -- using a set of standard test images.

Create Advanced Prints – Manage Color using Printer Profiles

The limitations of basic printing can be overcome if you manage the color of your images yourself by printing with printer profiles. Primarily, you can improve how precisely your monitor and print match and you can usually print to access the full range of colors available to your printer.

Obtain Profiles

In order to print with profiles you need to obtain profiles that are specific to your printer and the paper type on which you want to print. Profiles can be downloaded over the Internet, made by professionals or you.

Adjusting Colors for Advanced Printing

If you want to go through the additional steps for printing with profiles, I suggest you also carefully adjust your colors for the best possible print.