Fundamental Color Concepts in Wedding Photography and Printing

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Doing wedding photography is not just about negotiating with romantic couples, planning with

them, taking theirs and their relatives’ photos before and during the wedding day, and working

with the other wedding service providers such as videographers and wedding coordinators

whom they have contacted. This professional field also requires the wedding photographers to

work well with printing devices and media in order to produce and deliver a final output that

preserves best the skill and technique employed in the process of taking the digital

photographs.

In order to perform the task of color preservation pretty well, certain concepts in color

matching must then be properly understood. Some of the most fundamental of terms relating

to color photography and printing are thus given and defined below.

1. Color management. Digital imaging devices such as scanners, cameras, computer

screens and printers have different systems of color representation. The process by

which these devices communicate color and try to achieve the desired color

compatibility with each other is called color management.

2. Color profile. In the context of color management, the color profile refers to the

overall data set concerning a color device, basically defining the devices’ color input

or output. Color profiles are formatted according to the set standards of the

International Color Consortium (ICC).

3. ICC. The ICC or the International Color Consortium is a body formed by several

industrial companies, created to set a standard color management system which may

then be used across device software packages and computer operating systems.

4. CMYK. CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and the key color, black. These colors

form the color model used best when color printing. Some printing devices and

printing software packages use the CMYK color model as the default setting for

printing photographs. This concept is thus very important to remember especially

when setting up your wedding photos for the final printing.

5. RGB. RGB stands for the additive primary colors red, green and black. As opposed to

the CMYK color model in terms of use, the RGB setting is often used for digital display

output systems. Thus, the RGB model is used when flashing one’s wedding

photography output on screen while the reception is still going on.

Indeed, these concepts need to be learned and consequently be granted due application when

one is doing wedding and pre-wedding photography. Just remember how clients tend to quickly

judge a provider’s abilities based on just what they see in the end.