Digital Imaging eNewsletter

Setting the Standard. Again.

Spyder3 - the next generation of display calibration and printer profiling solutions - made its debut in front of the thousands of photographers and digital imaging professionals who attended the recent PDN PhotoPlus International Conference + Expo 2007, the premier event for innovative imaging solutions.

The initial products in the new Spyder3 line, Spyder3Elite™ and Spyder3Studio™ are available immediately, and can be pre-ordered at the Datacolor Digital Imaging website.

Each Spyder3 product is specifically designed to address the color management needs of photographers and creative professionals that require the most accurate color for digital editing and printing. The Spyder3 line includes the only colorimeter available on the market offering a seven detector color engine, with an aperture several times larger than other devices for increased accuracy and performance.

"Spyder3 represents Datacolor's commitment to innovation and strong partnership with our customers to deliver the most effective color calibration solutions available," said Krista Behrend, Spyder3 global product manager at Datacolor. "Our customers rely heavily on the images displayed on their monitors. The new Spyder3 is a significant leap forward, making digital workflow more efficient and helping users achieve their creative vision with greater color accuracy than ever before."

Among its most innovative features is a new proofing capability called SpyderProof™ that brings a new level of color control to any digital workflow. SpyderProof enables professionals to evaluate calibration with a before and after mode. Professionals can view four quadrants of thematic photos to specifically evaluate saturated colors, skin tones, gradients, and black and white images to ensure the desired calibration results.

"Datacolor's new Spyder3Studio is intuitive, accurate, efficient, and has enabled me to manage color across multiple devices with incredible accuracy," said professional photographer Andy Biggs. "It is the best tool I've used for re-creating high quality black and white images in print."

According to professional photographer Christopher Villano, Spyder3Elite gives more precise control over white point and gamma and cuts re-calibration time in half with its new ReCAL option. "These two features speed up the entire process for me, so I'm spending less time setting the parameters of my work environment and more time creating strong images."

Read more about Spyder3!

Expert Advice
Calibration Versus Profiling

Calibrating a device, such as a monitor or printer, is different from profiling a device. In photography and digital printing, calibrating means to bring a device, such as a flat screen monitor, to a repeatable operating state, usually with the expectation that it will maintain that state over days or months before having to be recalibrated. For example, a factory that makes Plasma or LCD flat panel TV displays will generally set all the individual units of a particular model to a certain calibrated standard, with the brightness, contrast, and color settings set to specific starting points. LCD computer displays are shipped to users in a similar fashion, with the brightness, contrast, or color level adjustment set at specific default settings. A monitor can then be calibrated more accurately using various software or hardware tools (see Tip 62 for more on monitor profiling software and equipment).

After you calibrate your monitor, you can create and install a profile for it so that your images will look more accurate onscreen. To help you understand what a monitor profile does, think of it as being like a Photoshop adjustment layer or curve that is applied to and "fixes" the images you see on your screen. On machines running Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Macintosh OSX, you can choose from existing monitor profiles, or you can create your own. Although you can create monitor profiles using only software, such as Apple OSX's built-in Display Calibration Assistant, I highly recommend using a hardware device for monitor profiling.

(Excerpted from 301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers (Course Technology PTR) by Andrew Darlow

Photoshop Tip of the Month
Drop Shadow Effect

Rather than setting the Distance and Angle numerically, you can move your mouse outside the dialog box, right into your image window, and click on the shadow itself and drag it where you'd like it. Do this once and you'll never use the numeric way again.

Featured Photographer
Andrew Darlow

Andrew Darlow is a photographer, educator and digital imaging consultant. For over 15 years, he has consulted on the topics of digital photography, digital output and color management. He has written and edited numerous articles and reviews on the topics of digital and fine art photography, inkjet printing, and Photoshop techniques, and his work has been included in many photography publications, web sites and books. He has lectured and conducted seminars and workshops around the world at conferences, and for photography organizations and schools, including the Arles Photo Festival, School of Visual Arts, and the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York. His work has been widely exhibited and his inkjet prints are held in numerous private collections.

Photo by Jorge Julian

For more information, visit www.imagingbuffet.com.

Featured Book
301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques: An Essential Printing Resource for Photographers

Andrew Darlow's new book by this title is now shipping. Throughout the book, Darlow covers a number of Datacolor's products, and he highlights some of the features of Datacolor's printer profiling tools, including the ability to profile printable CD/DVDs.

"301 Inkjet Tips and Techniques," is a comprehensive, how-to guide to high-quality digital output that shows photographers of all levels how to make high-quality prints through detailed instructions and hundreds of full-color examples from more than 20 professional photographers and other artists. You'll discover how to choose the right inkjet printer for your output needs, how to manage your digital images, how to choose the right papers or canvas to match your needs, how to create captivating portfolios and framed art, how to use color management more effectively, and much more. Whether you are a professional photographer or a serious hobbyist this book will help you learn how to enhance your digital output skills and use your computer and inkjet printer to better express your vision and creativity. You can read the book cover to cover, or only the chapters that feature the specific tips and techniques that interest you. A comprehensive table of contents, index, and searchable companion web site will help you find the information you are looking for.

Additional content for the book, including hundreds of clickable links to many of the resources covered throughout the book can be accessed at: www.inkjettips.com.

Recent Coverage
We are constantly working to make color management more effective, affordable and easy to use. Here are some of our most recent sightings:

Spyder3
Datacolor Launches Spyder3 Color Management Line (PopPhoto.com)
Datacolor debuts Spyder3 (The Imaging Resource)
For Those Who Want the Best.... (BestStuff.com)

Read more reviews at: http://www.colorvision.com/reviews.php.