Color Management

Color Management - An easy introduction to consistent true colors in capture - edit - print
By Klaus Bjarner

How is calibration done?

When broken into parts, color management is actually a simple task to perform. The benefit from having color calibrated your equipment is, that you have consist colors though out your entire workflow, meaning you will have the same correct colors on every device you work on from monitor to printer or projector. The image will look the same, even when send to off site print or to an editor at a news paper or some other external source.

The steps for you to perform can be broken down into the following:

1. Calibrate your computer monitor.
2. Calibrate your printer by making a profile for the paper you use.
3. Set your printing software to use this profile when printing.
4. Calibrate other output devices like Plasma screen monitors, TVs or projectors.

Let's look more closely at the steps:

1. Calibrate your computer monitor using a monitor calibration unit like the Spyder3Elite from Datacolor. The process is almost automatic and adjusts your monitor, so the colors you see on the monitor are 100% accurate compared to the colors in the file you are viewing. All color casts caused by inaccuracy in your monitor have been removed. This ensures that you can edit your images, knowing that what you see is correct to the image file.
2. Calibrate your printer, so the colors match your calibrated monitor, no matter what type of media you print on. This is done by making a color profile for each of the different printer/paper/ink combinations you use. So if you like to print your black & white on Hahnemühle paper you make a profile for that particular paper. If you print your color photos on Epson Premium Luster, you make another profile for that paper. You are no longer bound to only use the papers from the printer manufacturer, but have total freedom in terms of ink and media with 100% accurate colors.
3. Set your software (e.g. Photoshop) to use the profiles you have created for your printer, when printing on that particular ink/paper combination. This insures you 100% accurate colors and a true match with your calibrated monitor.
4. Calibrate other devices you use for displaying, like a large plasma screen or a projector, to achieve true accurate colors on those devices.

These are the basic steps. In the following pages you will find each one thoroughly explained, to help you achieve your goal - true accurate colors.

Continue reading: Calibrating your monitor »