MANAGE COLOUR

in a Digital Environment

by Mark Galer
Why is colour management important?
The Short Version: Because a professional takes pride
in mastery of their craft.

Mark Galer
Why is colour management important?
The Long Version: The reward for your effort (a small
capital outlay and a little button pushing) is perfect
pixels colour consistency from camera to screen to
print. Once the initial work has been carried out
predictable colour is a real no-brainer, as all of the
settings can be saved as presets.

The rewards for not implementing a colour-managed

workflow are confusion, anxiety, frustration and anger.

The secret to successful colour management is to adopt

a professional workflow that takes the frustration out of
seeing the colours shift as your image moves from
camera to monitor, and from monitor to print.

Mark Galer
The biggest problem a professional photographer
can face in the area of colour management is
the ignorance of others in the industry.

For peace of mind it is essential the

photographer knows enough to guide and advise
their client through to a successful conclusion.

Mark Galer
What is the issue?
Have you ever walked into a TV shop or
the cabin of an aircraft and noticed that
all the TVs are showing exactly the same
TV program, but no two pictures are the
same colour?

All of the TVs are receiving exactly the

same signal but each TV has its own
unique way of displaying colour (its own
unique colour characteristics). Different
settings on each TV for brightness,
contrast and colour only make the
problem worse.

Mark Galer
The Solution
In the perfect world there would be a way
of making sure that all of the TVs could
synchronise their settings for brightness,
contrast and colour, and the unique colour
characteristics of each TV could be
measured and taken into account when
displaying a picture.

If this could be achieved we could then send

ten different TVs the same picture so that
the image appeared nearly identical on all
TVs, irrespective of make, model or age. In
the world of digital photography, Adobe has
made the elusive goal of colour consistency
possible by implementing a concept and
workflow called ICC Colour Management.

Mark Galer
Key Concepts
1. Color Space or Gamut
Gamuts can vary in size and some are better
than others at displaying certain colours.

2. Color Models, e.g. CMYK or RGB These crayons are capable of producing a range of
colours that could be described as a small gamut.
RGB (Red, Green and Blue) for Display and
Inkjet Printing.
CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) for
Commercial Printing (Offset Litho).

These crayons are capable of producing a larger range

of colours than the crayons above.
Mark Galer
Colour Space
A digital image is essentially a series of colour numbers
that are meaningless without a corresponding Colour
Space - like directions for a location when the map does
not have reference coordinates or a scale.

Devices that capture and produce colour all behave

differently because they have unique colour spaces.

The same colour numbers will therefore produce different

colours on different devices if they are not colour-
managed, i.e. we sometimes have to change the colour
numbers of an image so that the colours appear the same
when handled by a device with a different colour space.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_management Mark Galer

 Adobe RGB: 202/169/68 sRGB 215/172/55
Different RGB numbers,
but the colours can appear the same in different Colour Spaces
Device-independent spaces
A reference space that is used to express colour in
absolute terms. CIE Commission International de l'
Eclairage (LAB).This space is used to compare the
colours in one space with those in another.

Device-dependent spaces
These device spaces describe the colour of a
particular capture device, monitor or printer. These
spaces can be described with Profiles.

Working spaces
These working spaces are used to constrain the
range of colours to a standard working palette
when a specific output device has not yet been
assigned.

http://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/phscs2ip_colspace.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_management
Mark Galer
Conversion to Grayscale
It is usual to convert images destined for CMYK offset litho
printing to Grayscale. Prior to conversion the photographer
should have knowledge of the Dot Gain of the printing press.

Dot Gain refers to the amount the dots of black ink will spread
when they are printed onto the paper. As they spread in the
darkest shadows the detail will disappear as the dots of ink
touch. Choosing a higher % of dot gain will ensure shadow
detail is preserved when the printer is printing to a lower
quality paper.

Note > It is common to print Black & White images using RGB
files when using an inkjet printer.

Mark Galer
 Choosing an RGB Working Space
sRGB IEC61966-2.1
Web

Adobe RGB (1998)

Web & Commercial Print

ProPhoto
Fine Print The range or gamut of colours that each output device is
capable of displaying can vary enormously. The illustration
shows two different views of the same gamut comparison.
Melissa RGB The Adobe RGB working space (shown in white) is able to
Lightroom contain the gamut of a typical inkjet printer (shown in
colour) and so offers a better alternative than editing in the
smaller sRGB space, which is primarily a monitor space.
Mark Galer
 ProPhoto: Why Bigger Isnt Always Better
ProPhoto is the largest Working Space in Photoshop but due to the
enormous size of the gamut a lot of levels are wasted describing colours
that the output device simply cannot render. Use ProPhoto ONLY with 16
Bits/Channel files and when the gamut of your printer exceeds Adobe RGB,
otherwise you risk banding of colour and lowering the quality of your file.

An illustration of colour banding when there are not enough levels to span the colour gamut
Mark Galer
ProPhoto image (right) uploaded to the web without an embedded profile

Colour Management fails as the web browser

assumes the untagged* image is sRGB

*Untagged refers to an image that does not have an embedded profile

Mark Galer
Out-of-Gamut Colours
Out of gamut colours will appear clipped in your image editing software (they
will lack texture and/or detail. In ACR or Lightroom the clipping warnings will
appear as a colour indicating one or two channels are at Zero or 100%
brightness (level 0 or 255).

Mark Galer
 Soft proofing
Lightroom uses the Colour Space
Melissa RGB which uses the very
large ProPhoto colour gamut. The
clipping warnings are slow to
indicate a problem with over-
saturation. You can choose to
activate Soft Proofing in the
Develop Module to get a clearer
idea of the colours that present a
problem for either the RGB space
of your monitor or your printer.

Mark Galer
Soft Proofing
When Soft Proofing to a Printer Profile you can choose to modify the colour
values of problematic colours or choose alternative printer profiles to establish
a superior print workflow for images with highly saturated colours.

Mark Galer
Output
When working on a project that may be
output to print and web, it is usual to
choose a Working Space larger than sRGB.

It is important, however, when we export

our image for the requirements of an output
device that we convert the Working Space
to an appropriate Output or Device Space.

For Web output it is important to Convert

to sRGB and Embed the profile.

For inkjet printing this may be handled by

Photoshop in the Print Dialog box or by the
Print Service provider.

Mark Galer
 Save for Web
File > Export

1. JPEG
2. Embed Color Profile
3. Convert to sRGB

Mark Galer
Implementing a Colour Managed Workflow

Mark Galer
Step1: Profile your Camera
x-rite Color Passport $120.00
Custom & Dual Illuminant Profiles

A custom profile can be created each and

every time you shoot or a dual illuminant
profile can be used instead of the Canned
profile in your Raw converter (ACR, DxO,
Capture One).

User/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/CameraProfiles
 Creating a Custom Profile

User/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/CameraProfiles
Creating a Dual Illuminant Profile in Lightroom

User/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CameraRaw/CameraProfiles
Step 2: Choose a Monitor
Desktop (Apple Cinema Display) or
Laptop for general work (web and
commercial print)?

BENQ PG, NEC PA ($1200+) or

Eizo ColorEdge ($2,000+) for Fine Print.

Mark Galer
Step 3: Choose your Color Settings in Photoshop
1
2

Mark Galer
Step 4: Choose your Preferences in Lightroom

Mark Galer
Step 5: Profile your Monitor
Use a Pro Colorimeter
i1 Display Pro
Colormunki
Spyder 4 or 5

Mark Galer
This is a three step process

1. Prepare
Working Environment
The monitor should be the
brightest thing in the room and
free from glare or reflections.

Whats wrong with this picture?

Mark Galer
2. Calibration
Calibration precedes profiling or characterisation, It is the adjustment of the
device to an appropriate' standard.
A White Point of D65 / 6,500K (slightly cooler than daylight) is common.
Choose D65 or Native White Point to prevent reduction in gamut of lower
quality monitor.
Choose a Display Gamma of 2.2
Optimum Luminance: 80-140 Cd/m 2

This is, however, heavily influenced by ambient lighting.

2)
Consider choosing a lower (80-100 Cd/m Luminance for Fine Print

3. Characterisation
The process of describing the behaviour of the device.
Creating an ICC Profile
Profiling - LUT (Look Up Table) - Color Space Conversion

http://www.imagescience.com.au/kb/questions/64/Calibration+versus+Profiling
Mark Galer
Step 6. Print a Profile Target
IT8 Target Image or Test Chart
Print with NO Colour Management
Adobe Printer Utility

Be sure to select the correct media in

your printer driver and switch off all
colour management.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/color-management1.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/monitor-calibration.htm
http://www.imagescience.com.au/kb/questions/64/Calibration+versus+Profiling
Mark Galer
Printing a target chart
without the Adobe utility
There is an alternative workflow to using
the Adobe Color Print utility to print your
non-colour managed target. When
opening the untagged profile target in
Photoshop assign the Profile sRGB
IEC61966-2.1. Do not convert the
image to the working RGB.

When the target image is open in

Photoshop proceed to File > Print. In
order to measure the unique
characteristics of the printer the colours on
the test chart, Photoshop must not change
the RGB numbers. Assigning sRGB as the
document profile and the Printer profile
(rather than coverting) will ensure the
colour numbers remain unchanged when
they are sent to the printer driver.

See Photoshop CC: Essential Skills

Mark Galer
Assigning a Profile or Coverting to a Profile
Assigning: Preserves the colour numbers and will change the
appearance as it adopts a new colour space.

Converting: Preserves than appearance of the colours by

changing the colour numbers as the colour space changes.

When do I need to Assign a profile? When opening an untagged

image you will have to assign the most appropriate profile
(usually sRGB if it was acquired from the internet) and then
convert to the working space.

Mark Galer
Step 7. Send target print to a Print Service Provider

Mark Galer
Step 8. Install your ICC Printer Profile

/Library/ColorSync/Profiles
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Profiles/Recommended

Mark Galer
Step 9. Add your profile to Lrs Print Module

Mark Galer
Step 10. Test your print workflow
Note > A Printer Profile is suitable for only one
Printer, Ink & Paper combination

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/color-management1.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/monitor-calibration.htm
Mark Galer
Choosing a Rendering Intent
Most photographers use Relative Colorimetric or Perceptual. Colorimetric handles out-of-
gamut by clipping these colours to the edge of the gamut, leaving in-gamut colours
unchanged. Perceptual moves out-of-gamut colours into gamut, preserving gradations,
but distorting in-gamut colours in the process. If an entire image is in-gamut,
Colorimetric is OK, but when there are out-of-gamut colours Perceptual may be better.
Mark Galer
Viewing Conditions for Prints
Daylight or Solux Globes

Mark Galer
CMYK
NEVER convert to CMYK until you have obtained the
CMYK settings from either the client or the printer.

The most popular CMYK in this country is:

U.S. Web Coated SWOP v2

but there are hundreds of other flavours of CMYK

that are fine-tuned to the printing press, the inks
and the paper stock being used.

Get it wrong and the print job will most likely be

awful then somebody has to pay (big time).

Better to Load a named CMYK setting from the

printer or client rather than messing up.

Mark Galer
Whos responsibility is it anyway?
If a client insists that you convert the RGB files to
CMYK you should either:

1. Obtain a written agreement (terms and

conditions) that they take full responsibility for the
final print quality.
or
2. Ask for the Printers contact details and ask for
printers proofs prior to running the print job.
Printers proofs are a visual contract for the printer to
achieve a certain level of colour consistency. There
are usually two copies that need to be signed. You
keep one and compare it to the final print job.
Engaging in this service should require an additional
fee being charged to the client.
Mark Galer
 Print Ready PDFs
RGB images can be used in
Desktop Publishing applications
such as Adobe InDesign. All
images can be converted to
CMYK when a PDF is exported
using the Printers Adobe PDF
Preset or joboptions that can
be loaded into InDesign by
going to File/Adobe PDF
Presets/Define/Load.

Note> The standard resolution

for CMYK jobs is 300ppi and
images usually need to have an
image bleed of at least 3 to 5
mm on each page edge. Check
with the printer before
proceeding.

Mark Galer
Custom CMYK Conversions
Due to the very different and very small gamut of
CMYK it is often necessary to check the conversion
from RGB to CMYK of images where you suspect
strong saturated primary colours will suffer in the
conversion. This can be carried out with the help of
Soft Proofing in either Lightroom or Photoshop.

Lightroom and Photoshop can show the colours that

are out-of-gamut for the destination Colour Space.
This gives you the opportunity to make choices about
how to deal with those colours prior to the conversion
process (either lower the saturation of problematic
colours or skew the colour to one that will print more
easily). If the client insists on accurate, but highly
saturated colours they can additional spot colours
to the CMYK printing process

Note > Lightroom cannot export a CMYK file.

Mark Galer
MANAGE COLOUR
in a Digital Environment

by Mark Galer