color management workflow
DESCRIPTION
A presentation on color management compiled for the Comox Valley Camera Club.TRANSCRIPT
COLOR MANAGEMENT WORKFLOW
Nathaniel TubbCVCC Education Committee
www.nathanieltubb.ca
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The Goal of Color Management To process a digital image from capture to
final presentation state as efficiently and accurately as possible
Note that color management may appear as CM throughout this presentation.
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A Bit of Background “… color management as a solution rather
than a meaningless punishment.” The Scenario: your final print doesn’t match
what you see on your display
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Light, and How it is Displayed Red, Green, Blue Values
R + G + B = White > (255, 255, 255)
Cyan, Magenta, Yellow Values C + M + Y = Black-ish + K = Black
Displaying Color Monitors are Backlit Prints are Reflective
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Light, and How it is Displayed
“Different scanners and cameras will produce different RGB values when… confronted with the same original or scene.”
Likewise, different monitors will produce different colors when given the same RGB values.
Scanners and cameras use different filter sets just as displays use different LEDs to produce the color.
Notice the problem???
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1st Purpose for CM Render ambiguous RGB values
unambiguous By associating them with a specific color as perceived by
humans, color appearance
CM achieves this by assigning a profile to the image.
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Typical Image Profile Color Gamuts
ProPhoto RGB, Adobe RGB (1998), sRGB
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Camera Capture Digital cameras* are not limited to sRGB
capture Camera sensors are often capable of
capturing colors outside Adobe RGB *Some compact point ‘n’ shoot cameras
may only support saving as sRGB
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2nd Purpose of CM Match the specific color
appearance throughout the workflow Camera > Monitor > Print or
the Web Characterize (profile the
devices) > Standardize (a controlled constant) > Translate
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CM Setup CM begins with
Your Monitor Calibrating and
profiling the display Colorimeter/
Spectrophotometer vs. The Human Eye
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Calibration/Profiling Devices X-Rite
i1 Photo Pro 2 $1300 ColorMunki Design $500 ColorMunki Photo $400 ColorMunki Display $170
Pantone Huey Pro $100
Datacolor Spyder Studio $560 Spyder 4 Elite $250 Spyder 4 Pro $170 Spyder 4 Express $120 Spyder Print $350
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The Working Environment Tips to keeping a consistent viewing area:
Monitors work best in low light Avoid automatic dimming D5000 (daylight balanced) light bulbs Avoid direct light sources falling on your monitor Remove colorful or other distracting objects from around
the workstation
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Settings for Photoshop CS Edit > Color Settings North American Prepress 2
Defaults Gray Working Space = Gamma of your
RGB working space Convert To Working Spaces Deselect > Profile Mismatches: Ask
When Opening Deselect > Profile Mismatches: Ask
When Pasting Select > Missing Profiles: Ask When
Opening
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Settings for Ps Elements Edit > Color
Settings Not as much
control Optimise for
Printing Adobe RGB
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Previewing Prints WYSIWYG; sorry, not entirely possible No printing technology* can reproduce the bright,
saturated colors like your monitor displays Equally, monitors cannot display metallics, fluorescents,
nor dark saturated colors as can print *Brands such as Epson have developed proprietary inks
that are capable of a much boarder color gamut than traditional CMYK inks.
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Previewing Prints in Photoshop CS
aka. Soft Proofing View > Proof Setup
Printer + Paper ICC Profiles
Check > Use Black Point Compensation
Printing to Canvas? > Paper White and Black Ink
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Previewing Prints in Ps Elements
Does not natively support Soft Proofing
PsE Requires Add-ons Elements+ QImage
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Adjusting the Soft Proof Duplicate the image and display side-by-side
Image > Duplicate, Window > Arrange (PsE) File > Duplicate
Use Adjustment Layers such as Brightness/Contrast, Curves or Levels, or Vibrance/Saturation
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Finally to Print Photoshop
Manages Color Printer + Paper
Profile Relative
Colorimetric or Perceptual
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PsE Print Dialog
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Publishing to the Web Monitor Majority Rules
Very few people calibrate their monitors
Tagged (profile assigned) vs. Untagged Do your images have embedded profiles (sRGB or Adobe RGB)?
Not all web browsers are color-managed Many browsers ignore embedded color profiles or ignore your monitor profile
Keep your working Adobe RGB images for editing/printing but upload sRGB images for now, until more browsers are on board
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Resources Adobe Color-Managed RAW Workflow
Find link on my site…
The Adobe Photoshop CS5 Book for Digital Photographers, by Scott Kelby kelbytraining.com/books
London Drugs Photo Lab ICC Profiles http://www.londondrugs.com/PhotoLab/content.aspx?id=3012167b-1b04-495
c-bed7-9a9ab82f1393
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