Color Workflow for the Photographer

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Color Workflow for the Photographer
Presented by Joe Brady MAC Group US Field
Marketing Seminar Manager
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Consistent Color for Photography
Capture Edit Output
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Basic Color Management

• Simply put, Color Management allows us to better
  control the translation of color from one device
  to another

Correct Color at Capture
Correct Color on your Display
Correct Color on your Print
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Why is Consistent Color Important?

• What will it do for you?
• Save time
• Make each print you need just once
• Save money
• Reduce wasted paper and ink
• Save your Sanity
• Eliminate problems before going to print

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So, How Do You Accomplish This?

• Start thinking about it at capture
• Calibrate Profile your Monitor
• Create Custom Printer Profiles
• Learn how to Soft Proof
• Beware the Print Settings!

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Lets take a look at Capture

• Try to have a neutral reference point
• RAW files dont have an embedded white balance,
  but
• No Auto White balance!

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Monitor Calibration Profiling

• Before you do any editing, you must have a
  monitor that is calibrated and profiled!!!!!

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Monitor Calibration Profiling

• Calibration means establishing standard operating
  settings
• Brightness
• Color Temperature
• Gamma/Contrast Curve

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Monitor Calibration Profiling

• Profiling means creating a known response for how
  colors are displayed on your monitor

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Why Cant I Make Adjustments by Eye?

• Heres some proof why not!

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The eye is too easily fooled!

• Heres some proof why you cant do this by eye!

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Monitor Calibration Profiling

• So, once again - Why?
• And If we dont?

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Question Break

• We dont want to guess about the color in our
  images, and we cant profile by eye
• We need the tools to get color under control
• Any questions so far?
• Now, how do we accomplish this?

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Monitor Calibration Options

• The appropriate hardware/software combination
  depends on your needs.
• 1. Not doing your own printing?
• You need a colorimeter like an i1Display2
• 2. Doing finished prints on your desktop printer?
• The ColorMunki may be the right choice
• 3. Printing Fine Art and/or Large Format Images?
• The i1XTreme will do everything you need

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Monitor Calibration Profiling

• Lets take a look at how easy monitor profiling
  can be

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Monitor Calibration with ColorMunki

• The opening screen of the ColorMunki Photo
  software makes everything very clear.
• Simply choose Match My Printer to My Display

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Monitor Calibration with ColorMunki

• The first step is to calibrate the ColorMunki
• Follow the on-screen directions and rotate the
  center wheel to the indicated calibration
  position.

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Monitor Calibration with ColorMunki

• Simply click on the Calibrate button and the
  ColorMunki will do the rest.

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Monitor Calibration with ColorMunki

• After calibration, rotate the center dial down to
  the measuring position as indicated on the screen.

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Monitor Calibration with ColorMunki

• Place the ColorMunki into its zippered pouch in
  preparation for monitor profiling. Make sure that
  the protective sliding door on the bottom of the
  pouch is open before placing on the monitor.

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Monitor Calibration with ColorMunki

• The ColorMunki works equally well on both desktop
  and laptops

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Monitor Calibration with ColorMunki

• The monitor is then directed to display varying
  values of red, green, blue and gray. These known
  values are compared to the actual values that the
  ColorMunki measures off the display.

By comparing the results with the expected
values, a profile is built to insure that your
monitor correctly displays colors.
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Monitor Calibration with ColorMunki

• When profiling is completed, the profile is
  automatically saved and implemented. Profiling
  once a week is a good idea and make sure that
  your monitor is on for at least 60 minutes before
  profiling!

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LCD Profiling with ColorMunki

• To profile and LCD Projector, choose Profile My
  Display and select Projector
• You are then instructed to rotate the dial to a
  new measuring position

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LCD Profiling with ColorMunki

• With the dial now rotated to the LCD Projector
  measuring position, dim the room lights to the
  same level you will use when projecting.
• Point the ColorMunki at the projection screen,
  click next, and the software takes over.

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Question Break

• Weve seen how easy it is to calibrate and
  profile your monitor
• LCD Projectors are profiled just like monitors,
  except that the ColorMunki measures colors
  projected on the screen

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Now Lets Create a Printer Profile

• Why?
• Factory profiles may be close or way off
• When you create a custom printer profile, you are
  matching the way your specific printer and paper
  combination performs

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Printer Profiles

• Just like when you create a monitor profile,
  printer profiles are a set of corrections made
  based on your printers output vs. known values

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Printer Profiling with ColorMunki

• Creating a custom printer profile is simple to
  do.
• Choose Create New Profile, select a printer,
  and name the paper

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Printer Profiling with ColorMunki

• The next page directs you to print out the first
  test chart

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Printer Profiling with ColorMunki

• When you click to print the test chart, you are
  directed to make sure that the settings you use
  match the paper you are printing on, for example,
  Premium Lustre at 1440dpi
• Also turning off any color management in the
  printer driver is a must!

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Printer Profiling with ColorMunki

• Make sure you let the prints dry before measuring
  them. Some papers take longer to both dry and set
  before they are stable so make sure to read the
  instructions that the manufacturer includes in
  the paper box.

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Printer Profiling with ColorMunki

• After your print has had time to dry, measure the
  first chart with the ColorMunki. If you click on
  the video instructions, a QuickTime movie
  animation shows you how to do it!

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Printer Profiling with ColorMunki

• After measuring the first chart, the software
  begins to calculate a profile and generates a
  second chart to further refine the results.
• This two-step process creates a much better
  profile than a single chart.

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Printer Profiling with ColorMunki

• Once the second test chart is measured, the
  profile is generated and saved.
• You have the option of making the new profile
  your default profile for Adobe CS Suite and Quark
  Xpress softwares useful if you only print on
  one media type on one printer.
• After completion, you are returned to the startup
  page.

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Printer Profiling Optimization

• If you wish to add more color information to a
  profile youve already created, click on
  Optimize Existing Profile
• Additional color targets will be created by
  loading in images that represent the type of
  color scheme common to the photography done

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Utility Application 1 - Digital Pouch

• Digital Pouch is a utility that lets you share
  images with clients.
• Simply drag or add you images into the window,
  save the file and email it to your client.
• Its a platform independent software that takes
  your color corrected files and puts them into a
  single applet for sending.

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Digital Pouch for your Client

• When your client receives the file, simply double
  click on the .jar file
• The applet opens and the images load
• If the ViewSafe message displays a green check
  symbol and Display is Profiled, then the viewer
  knows that their display currently has a valid
  monitor profile in effect.
• If a red check is displayed with Monitor not
  Profiled, then the viewer is being told that the
  colors they are seeing may not be correct and
  that their monitor needs to be profiled.

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Utility Application 2 - Color Picker

• The Color Picker utility is a great tool for
  extracting colors out of images for use in
  creating mattes, borders and complimentary color
  schemes for use in design work.
• Simply choose an image, and the most prominent
  colors are chosen, displaying their sRGB and LAB
  values and the ability to choose variation and
  similar complimentary colors.

Colors may be chosen and added to a project
palette. Click on the Synchronize box and the
next time you open any Adobe CS software, the
colors you added will be available to add to the
color swatches in your application
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Question Break

• Now we have a custom profile for our paper.
• Weve also learned how to send images to our
  clients and learned how we can create design
  palettes for use with our images.
• Next, well take a look at what makes for a great
  monitor and some color space issues you should
  know about!

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The Benefits of a Great Display

• Think you have a good monitor?
• Monitor Window to your digital world!
• Might it be the weak link in for editing
  workflow?
• Despite any limitations, any monitor will benefit
  from calibration profiling!

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sRGB Monitor vs. Adobe RGB Monitor

• This graph illustrates the difficulty when trying
  to edit an image in the Adobe RGB space on an
  sRGB monitor.
• Notice how much larger the Adobe Color Space is.

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Limitations of Color Editing on a Laptop!

• This graph illustrates the difficulty when trying
  to edit an image in the Adobe RGB space on a
  laptop monitor.
• Most laptops display significantly less color
  than the sRGB space

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Question Break

• A great monitor allows easier editing and
  evaluation of your images
• Most laptops have limited color gamuts which
  makes color editing less precise
• Lets now put our printer profile to work!

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Soft Proofing Where We See Our Print on our
Monitor!

• With a calibrated and profiled monitor and an
  accurate profile for your printer/paper
  combination, Photoshop will show a close
  representation of what your print will look like
• Understand that a paper print will never exactly
  match a backlit RGB screen, but you can get very
  close!
• Based on the soft proof, adjustments can be made

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Lets Take a Look at Soft-Proofing

• These tips are applicable all the way back to
  Adobe Photoshop 6.0
• Well use the latest version CS4
• Dialog boxes may appear slightly different, but
  the choices to be made will be the same
• Lets take a look at where this all happens in
  Photoshop

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Proof Setup - Custom
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Rendering Intents

• Rendering Intents deal with color that are out of
  the gamut of a device
• Two Choices for Photos
• Relative Colorimetric
• Perceptual
• If no colors are out of gamut, then Rendering
  Intent has no effect

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Perceptual Rendering Intent

• Perceptual Rendering takes any color that are out
  of gamut and moves them back in.
• Any colors that are in the way are moved to
  maintain the relationships between the colors

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Relative Colorimetric Rendering Intent

• Relative Colorimetric Rendering takes any color
  that are out of gamut and moves them back in.
• All colors in gamut stay where they are.
• May cause problems on fine gradations

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Printing - Applying your Profiles

• When printing from Photoshop, its important to
  check several settings

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Printing - Applying your Profiles

• When printing from Photoshop, its important to
  check several settings

Color Management Turned OFF!
Print settings match the paper
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Soft Proofing Summary

• Make sure your monitor is profiled!
• Have an accurate printer profile ready
• Make sure that the application is doing the color
  management, not the printer driver
• Make sure to turn off all printer driver color
  management
• Be careful to judge your prints under an even,
  full spectrum daylight light source thats what
  soft-proofing assumes
• Then a beautiful thing happens your print
  matches the image on your monitor!

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Summary - what weve seen

• Think about color from capture
• Calibrate Profile your Monitor
• Use accurate printer profiles
• Soft proof before you print
• Dont let your printer driver interfere

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Get the right tools and get started!

• My email address - joeb_at_macgroupus.com