Correct Colors

[Hagen Henke]

Hello,I just answered a question concerning color management and profiles and my remarks may be of general interest so here they are again slightly improved for those who may not have taken a closer look at my answering email:You want to print an image file so the colors come out as they were when the photo was taken in real environment?It is very difficult to achieve a professional result. Semi professional results can be achieved with manageable financial effords.Taking the photoUse professional cameras with manual setting like 1/160 shutter speed and 16 for apperture and two or more studio flashes. There are systems availabel to do perfect calibration with standard color targets with color patterns on. Hold them into the picture for the first shot, don't change your settings and let a special software do the calibration later in the computer.You can see that situation where a model holds the target on www.xrite.com and there even is a great video to be started from the first page showing how to use the system for pros with raw files or for semi pros with jpgs. Never touch the color pattern as it woul ruin them and keep dust away.Take away one of the elements in a colormanagement workflow and the whole thing is dead.Processing the photoUse a calibrated high quality monitor only. Once your monitor is not calibrated or calibrated by the eye you cannot change anything in the photo for good. You need a device to be put onto the monitor and software to do the calibration which results in a monitor profile. Using a cheap hardware colorimeter? Don't even think of it. Get a good one or it is a waste of time and money. I have the DTP 94. It looks like a black mouse.PrintingUse a printer as expensive as you can afford and calibrate the printer which results in a printer profile that does it's job in the background while printing. For calibrating you can find a service via Google or ask xrite.com. I think they email you a file with a color pattern you print and mail for measuring which results in a printer profile valid for the ink and paper type used to the pattern print only. Optical brighteners in the paper can cause problems in measuring so you better ask for an appropriate paper you can buy today and in the future. You need a seperate printer profile for each paper or ink combination you use so it is a good idea to use one kind of ink and paper all the time. In GraphicConverter you can select the printer profile from File / Edit Color Profile... dialog or from the bottom left corner of the print dialog as this is handy if you print on different printers every now and then.Please read the chapter "Color Profile with ColorSync" in my manual you can open from the Help menu.In professional printing presses there are two methods for color management in use:The old styleEvery printing machine has it's own profile you need to use when separating image files from RGB to CMYK like in an enviroment like a design agency.The new styleAll printing machines are adjusted so they match a standard like fogra27 coated for example. Coated describes the paper surface. The paper used follows this standard. Now you can use the standard fogra27 coated profile to convert your RGB images files into CMYK mode. That preserves color shine especially in strong bright reds and blues much better than the very old style conversion to an average CMYK profile.The usual workflowWhat you normally do when you create a magazine for example with Adobe InDesign is not to change the profile but to convert the color space of the image from sRGB or Adobe RGB to CMYK. Doing that you need to apply the profile so the next software using the image file can display and print it correctly. In GraphicConverter the batch function "Change Color Profile" does convert the image into the color space of the new profile you select. For a single image you can also open the image and select Picture / Mode / CMYK or other color space. The image will be converted to the color space defined in the dialog File / Edit Color Profile... and when saving the correct profile will be attached. Please see my manual for details, chapter "Color Profile with ColorSynch".There is no need to change the profile without converting to the color space of the new profile, except when the profile attached to your image file is wrong. If so please use the function "Insert Profile into selected JPEGs/TIFFs" as it applies the profile without converting into the color space of the new profile.How can you find out the current color profile is wrong? When you open an image file and it doesn't look as expected, the profile may be wrong. Colors can be too pale or too strong or it looks like milk glass lay over it due to low contrast. If so please open the palette Information by clicking the I Icon at the lower left hand side in the window frame. In the EXIF tab check "Color Space" and try to find out what it should be by asking the creator of the image. Next you insert the correct profile via the context menu and open the image again. You can also apply another profile from the ICC tab with instant preview. With the correct profile the image should look ok.Please feel free to ask any further questions.Regards, Hagen Henke