Most Read
Most E-mailed
Print Article
The Color Management Perspective
By Seth Resnick
www.sethresnick.com
The really big issue today in color management isn’t that the technology doesn’t exist—it’s that the knowledge isn’t there. We should call it color mismanagement.
My basic GretagMacbeth (www.gretagmacbeth.com) setup includes Eye-One Photo. When I lecture I use their add-on product, Eye-One Beamer, as a projector.
The first part of color management: Profile your monitor. When the monitor is profiled it means when something is on my screen, and I send it to you, if your monitor is also profiled, it will look the same on your screen.
I profile my monitor every time I need to ensure color accuracy. If you worked in a black hole, you could get away with profiling once a month, but most people don’t work in a black hole. I live in Miami Beach. If the ambient light changes in the room, or the colors of the wall, everything around you affects your perception of color.
The next big issue: You have a profiled monitor, but your prints still don’t look right. Get the profiles for the ink and paper you’re using. When I try new paper, the first thing I say to the manufacturer is, “Do you supply free profiles?” If they say no, I don’t care what the paper feels like. I want to see ink on the paper, see how far off it is. You can download profiles (GretagMacbeth makes ProfileMaker, for example), and build your own paper profiles. These profiles show you on-screen how your image will look on that type of paper. In Photoshop you can add corrections, lighteners, darkeners, etc., to get it the way you want (soft proofing).
|
