Color Management - Training DVD wanted - Recommendations?

Following my recent problems with colour management at my printers, I need to get my designer and myself up to date with the latest principles of colour management and in particular as they apply to ID CS3.
I have found the following on the internet - Colour Management Essential Training at www.lynda.com A DVD course would be most useful as the designer and I could watch it together. Anyone care to recommend this or another one?

I hope you are making progress with your color management issues.
I know you have gotten a lot of information in the forum from various perspectives. Much of the focus has been on the monitor accuracy. It is important to have a good monitor.
But a good monitor will not guarantee a proper conversion to CMYK. It is my belief that the color being off on your last print job is more the result of a faulty conversion than anything else.
I don't want to jump to conclusions and blame Photo Paint. Try the following:
1. In InDesign, right click on the image. Go to Graphics: Image Color Settings. The profile will be "Use Document Default". If you click on the pull down menu, see if there is a profile name above "Use Document default" If there isn't, the image is "untagged." Go to step 2.
2. Open the image in Photo Paint. This app will have some way of measuring CMYK % values. Go to the very darkest area of the image and read the CMYK values. This is the "black point" of the image. Knowing this can help determine the CMYK color space of an untagged image.
Here is more color management advice (hope it helps):
In InDesign, the default is to "Preserve CMYK numbers". This means that any placed CMYK images do not undergo a conversion to a different CMYK when you output a PDF.
This is standard practice in the print industry, but there is much debate about this. To illustrate what preserve numbers means, you can use View: Proof Setup: Custom, in InDesign. Under "Device to Simulate", try selecting different CMYK profiles.
Each time you do this and hit enter, you will notice the color appearance changing on-screen. What is happening is this - the CMYK file number values are not changing. But as you choose different print conditions (newspaper, web, sheetfed, etc) you can see how the color can shift, sometimes quite dramatically.
This is why choosing an ideal destination CMYK is so important. If you choose the wrong one, there is no way you can properly anticipate the print color, even if your monitor is accurate.
As far as Photo Paint goes - I don't know much about it, and I'm not sure what its color management capabilities are. If you do a lot of image editing with this program, it needs to have the proper color management policies in place. You may consider moving to Photoshop eventually, if you plan to do a lot of photo adjustments and manipulation, because it is very compatible with InDesign. Even so - it is not necessary to convert images to CMYK in either of these applications. It is much easier to let InDesign handle the conversions when you output the PDF.

Similar Messages

Embedding profiles, color management settings

Greetings.
I've calibrated my monitor, and either need photos to give to my customers on a photo cd, or sometimes I need prints. I've downloaded my lab's profiles.
...and that's where things get weird...
My monitor never matches what the lab prints.
I shoot in RAW, run my images through Phase One's 'Capture One' Pro 3.79. In there, there are some color management choices.
There is...
1) Camera Product, which I've set to Nikon D200
2) Camera Profile, which I've also set to Nikon D200
3) Output destination, which I've set to sRGB (I have no need to use RGB)
4) Web destination, set to sRGB
5) Proof destination, which I've set to my lab's profiles that I've downloaded
6) Monitor profile. It is this one, that most concerns me. I can set this for sRGB, which is where it is now, or I can manually tell it to use the ICC profile that I set with my calibrator. This is a trick question, because I figured it'd be a slam-dunk to set it to the ICC profile. But I called X-rite calibrators, and he said not necessarily, and in fact, you probably want to leave that choice simply set to sRGB. He said to check with Capture One to see what they say, because with Photoshop you don't choose what monitor profile to use as it detects your ICC profile automatically. I will ask Capture One later, but wanted to hear from all of you as well (the guy from Capture One might give the wrong answer, so I'm hedging my bets).
Then within Photoshop CS4, there are also several choices.
1) Under Convert to Profile, since my image will be printed, I currently have the lab's profile selected.
2) Color Settings, is set to sRGB
3) Under Assign Profile, I currently have the lab's profile selected. Other choices, would be sRGB, the ICC profile, Capture One's settings, etc.
So overall, there are 9 settings x 5 choices or more choices most of the time = 45 options, if not more.
What d'yall think about what things ought to be set to? Again, sRGB is the color space I'm using.
Thanks.

"I've calibrated my monitor, and either need photos to give to my customers on a photo cd, or sometimes I need prints. I've downloaded my lab's profiles.
...and that's where things get weird... My monitor never matches what the lab prints."
If it's your prints not matching your screen that you're worried about, there are a few places to look, but first, how are they not matching - color, contrast, overall luminance or brightness, or something more specific? How did you calibrate your screen, which which device, and are you sure it was done right? What target values for color temp and luminance? What is your ambient light like in your editing space? How are you viewing the prints that don't match your screen - what light source for viewing?
There's a good chance that the lab's profiles are not great as well, and do you know how well calibrated they are and how stable their chemical processes are as well.
"I shoot in RAW, run my images through Phase One's 'Capture One' Pro 3.79. In there, there are some color management choices."
That's a very very old version of CaptureOne, and while it was always color managed, I can't recommend strongly enough that you upgrade to the latest version. Better processing. Better features. Much faster. Just much better all 'round. I'm up to v6 now and it's one of the most productive tools I own, particularly for working with large shoots.

Print Color Management Problem ?

I have a print color management problem I cannot solve. It reminds me of the print color management problem I had over a year ago when the compatibility conflict between LR and MAC Leopard produced horrible prints. I have Snow Leopard now and been out of the country for some months and yesterday when I tried to make some prints the same problem reemerged. So I downloaded current drivers (and ICCsfor Premium Luster) from Epson and LR 2.6 and spent a good part of the day with Martin Evening's book. I followed (I think) his instructions to make the basic print step by step but the prints still were terrible. My problem is with the color management pop up in the print settings dialog -- it says "color matching" not color management and I cannot check either "no color management " if I want LR to control the process (Kelby) or check "color sync" if I want my Epson R800 take over. I have no idea where the "color management" pop up went. I'm clueless as usual and probably omitting a step because of frustration or brain numbness. Any help would be appreciated. WJS

The settings in Lightroom are simple. and contain in the Print Job panel in the Print module. You either select manage in printer (and then select the profile in the printer drivers) or select the profile here and then turn of all colour management in the printer drivers. The second option will usually produce the best results. What you don't want is to have the profile selected in both LR and the printer drivers, so if the driver doesn't have an option to turn of colour management then you may be forced down the first route. However it would be an unusual decision for a printer manufacturer to make drivers that can't turn off colour management, so you may wish to ask how to do it to your printer manufacturer or check the printers handbook.

Color management book recommendation?

Hi folks,
I've been using Photoshop since version 2, but only as a violinist might relax with a bit of keyboard playing. My main gig over the years has been multimedia programming and 3D animation, both for onscreen delivery in the wonderfully sane world of RGB color.
I now have to turn to print in a big way, and to difficult print at that. I have to create a book cover for a print-on-demand job a Lightning Source. The image has lots of contrast, and LS imposes a no-more-than-240% ink coverage limit in CMYK, which means I'm going to have to massage the dark areas of the image without destroying the beautiful color tonalities of the front cover painting.
So color management is suddenly mission critical, and I'd like to dip my head in the theory in a serious way. If any of you print jockeys could recommend a source on the subject, I'd be grateful. I know Adobe Community Help has videos and article references, and I will peruse them gladly. But what I am looking for is a definitive theoretical groundwork text – something like an O'Reilly book on color management for print media that I can sit down and read cover to cover.
Many thanks,
Richard Hurley
Grass Valley MultiMedia

s-RGB="Satan RGB" I didn't want to mention this in the string because....... As mama used to say "Don't frighten the horses."
The s-RGB gamut is so small and incompatible with traditional CMYK that clipping and shifting is a given.....hence the heavy use of GCR (grey component replacement) and UCR (under color removal) in the printing. GCR is the enemy of the type of rich saturation that we see in this woman's portrait, but complex browns, purples, greens, and reds are very easily changed with even the slightest inattention or miscalibration during a typical press run (Forget about the blues). Swapping out the pigments with neutrals is designed to protect one's image from colorshifting as the inks get slabbered onto the paper. That is why finding a reliable and competent printer is such an important part of the process. Unfortunately, they are a dying breed. Also, sadly, even if one carefully manages the GCR and the UCR (to remove the extra saturation as this "Lightning" place is suggesting is really no guarantee that their print settings (PPDs) will not ovverride even the PDF file itself when they rip it.
That is the reason I suggested the importance of finding a reliable print house or else just making one's file "photo perfect" (without trying to accommodate the print house and then force the printer to reproduce a quality rendition at the proof stage. It is like playing pool on a moving train...all about relativity. Hence my caveat.
Your adjustment looks great....looking at the pdf of your curve adjustments, by the way. Still the presses haven't had their way with her yet. And that is the endgame. If we did not have to farm stuff out we could set our GCR and UCR in Photoshop along with our calibration process built to our own press specifications and forget about it. But the inmates do run the asylum. There I go, scaring the horses.
Something I remembered. A conversation with Bruce and Russell P.Brown (1997?) whom, if I remember correctly had some powerful new toys (Gee, how did he get a hold of THAT stuff???? LOL) One of his projects had to do with scanning the environment (my term for it) and he had images that were plotted at full size on a large plotter (Not QUITE the Grand Canyon but HUGE). The discussion/debate revolved around Russell's ability to reproduce the image without swapping the format and/or geeking with the gamut problems inherent in CMYK conversion. I didn't get it, really, and I do not think that Bruce got it...well let us say he was openly dubious...still Russell's very large printout was spectacular and Russell, being Russell was too excited to give a pixel. Late night standoff! Walking away, I realized that with newer pigments that were available from the digital printing world, I would have to stay on my toes when it came to discussing any print end format because the traditional CMYK printing inks were being seriously upgraded with the newer electrostatic and gelatin print technologies. (especially with Kodak and Agfa being such big players with the Creo purchase of Scitex and Agfa being Agfa). It seems now that we are in a whole new world and I am loathe to proclaim the ancient truths of CMYK as we traditional printers knew it. I have seen some work coming off of these newer printers that transcend the CMYK gamut. (It is interesting to think that the age of "cold type printing" lasted about twenty years before it began to be obsolete. One of the bonus points of geezerism (if I may use the term loosely) is the perspective of time warp speed of tech obsolescence. It seems sometimes that halfway through an answer to any given question the answer becomes quaintly out of date.
I can say that any equation depends on isolating the variables and finding those constants that will endure. Best example..... the half-life of Adobe 1998 as a transcendent color space. I am now convinced that ProPhoto has a fuller and more malleable gamut for the newer devices as well as the offset presses that will be with us for a while longer.
So I guess, my point is that one has to plant the flag somewhere. Pick any locus and relate to that to build one's foundation (s-RGB or 72 ppi for example) and know that in the shifting sands of a million minds, there will be hordes of wild indians waiting to excoriate the status quo without understanding the very underpinnings of the process.
One thing I have noticed in the fora is the very vituperation is inversely proportional to one's experience. That is one of the ways that people like Mssrs. Fraser, Brown, McClelland, and even you stand out. The dialog is temperate yet radically outrageous. I am not sure sometimes if the science has not turned to theatre. Hah!
I rant, but towards a point that recedes as I approach it.
Namely this:
be forgiving towards the quirks and kinks in the Adobe approach, the product, as does all revolutions, breeds evolution. Though each of their programs converts your average PANTONE color with a different ink percentage.
One does appreciate an open mind. Thanks for that.
Charlie Copeland (no not that one!)

I have a color management problem. I have OS X v 10.5, Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, and an Epson Stylus Photo R800. I want to print images I have scanned on a Epson Perfection 1660 Photo and corrected in Photoshop and get the colors accurate.

i have a color management problem. I have OS X v 10.5, Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, and an Epson Stylus Photo R800. I want to print images I have scanned on a Epson Perfection 1660 Photo and corrected in Photoshop and get the colors accurate.

I used the ColorSync utility to verify, and it came back with this report:
/Library/Printers/EPSON/InkjetPrinter/PrintingModule/SPR800_Core.plugin/Contents /Resources/ICCProfiles/SPR800 Standard.icc
   Tag 'dmnd': Tag size is not correct.
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Color/Profiles/Recommended/CoatedFOGRA27.icc
   Tag 'desc': Tag size is not correct.
/Library/Printers/EPSON/InkjetPrinter/ICCProfiles/Standard.profiles/Contents/Res ources/Epson IJ Printer.icc
   Tag 'dmnd': Tag size is not correct.
/Library/Printers/EPSON/InkjetPrinter/PrintingModule/SPR800_Core.plugin/Contents /Resources/
I did not know what to do next. At the bottom of the window it said to go to www.apple.com/colorsync to find a tutorial. I got a message saying that link does not work. Tried to find the tutorial by searching at apple.com, but could not seem to locate it. Does anyone know what the report above means and what I should do about it?
Also, how to find that tutorial?
Re Using RGB all the way through, When I print from Photoshop Elements, I select Adobe RGB, Photoshop Manages under "Color Handling", Relative Colometric under "Intent" and "ColorSync" i the Epson printer box. Do you mean to do something different in this sequence?

Do you recommend me "Learning Oracle 11g Training DVD - Tutorial Video"?

Hi
I found on Amazon "Learning Oracle 11g Training DVD - Tutorial Video by InfiniteSkills". Is it worth it? There are no Amazon reviews :-(
Do you use other video training? What do you recommend me?

I don't know if the video is any good, but Lewis Cunningham is a reasonably well-known authority on Oracle. He talks about the release of the video in his blog, gives a table of contents and a link to some samples:
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/oracle-guide/new-dvd-training-learning-oracle-11g-50929

I want to activate Color Management Suite from purchase via internet photoshop, illustrator and indesign, how? thank you for your reply

I want to activate Color Management Suite from purchase via internet photoshop, illustrator and indesign, how? thank you for your reply

hello, I already Bridge CS6 installed but can not be accessed by the> parameters color edition menu. The message said that eereur lme Suite Color Management is not enabled. What should I do?
De : gener7 <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Répondre à : "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Date : mardi 9 septembre 2014 14:20
À : jp <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
Objet : I want to activate Color Management Suite from purchase via internet photoshop, illustrator and indesign, how? thank you for your reply
Download and install Bridge CC, then in the Bridge Edit menu > Color Settings choose the color settings you want to synchronize your CC apps to.
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Color management workflow for beginners..

I am making a movie. I have several hundred clips, shot over a period of almost 5 months. Indoors, outdoors, morning, afternoon, mid day etc. I have gained experience with my Panasonic HMC 151 over the months, and during this time used a variety of settings. I will also use still photos, and use some computer generated graphics made in Daz3D Carrara. All in all - I have a lot of material which look very different.
When layering my clips in After Effects, I want to do it right, and not paint myself into a corner.
When compiling my scenes (compositions) I also want to do it "right".
Most important to me is to get a coherent look and feel. This is the main priority. Later I might wish to change the overall color if I find out I want my movie to look more like a movie than a "video show". For example, I have shot some scenes late in May at noon, ans some scenes in the afternoon in September, and they belong to the same dialog where people talk to each others.
The target media is DVD for home TVs.
Any links to workflows and step-by-step guides (video tutors) on basic approaches on how to avoid the big mistakes is very much appreciated!
ingvarai

ingvarai:
Color Management in indeed an important aspect, but from your description, it seems that you should be concerned with "color correction" first.
Color Management is about getting reliable and predictable color rendition. It's not really about defining the "look" of your project. If your shots are not properly exposed, for example, Color Management will only make it more reliable to assure they're not properly exposed. Color correction is all about fixing those problems, or stylizing the overall look. If two takes don't intercut well, for example, then you have to correct color balance, exposure, so one matches the other.
After Effects includes a ton of effects which can be used for color correction, including Levels, Curves, Hue/Satuarion, etc. And it also includes a streamlined color correction plug-in called Color Finesse. I think the Color Finesse documentation is a good starting point, regardless of what you end up using. If you go to the folder in which After Effects is installed, and look into the "Effects" folder, you should see a folder called Synthetic Aperture. The Color Finesse manual should be inside that folder.
Also, After Effects Help has a section on Color correction and adjustments. It includes a number of links to other resources.
Mark Christiansen's book After Effects CS4 Visual Effects and Compositing Studio Techniques is very recommended.
As for the Color Management workflow, there's a specific white paper on the Adobe web site on this very subject, but I am not sure that's a good starting point. Instead, I think the AE help page on Color Management is better to get your feet wet, and then go through the white paper. Again, there are several links to other resources in the AE Help page about Color Management.

Software To Create Interactive Training DVD

I have a new project I am working on. A interactive training DVD. I invision a split screen. One side text or still photos. The other side a video demonstration on the subject matter. There needs to be 2 controllers. The 1st would allow the viewer to advance to the previous or next slide. The second controller would allow the viewer to pause, start, stop rewind the video in the second screen. Additionally, there needs to be a "quiz" at the end of each section. The viewer would be asked several questions. Depending on their response, they would advance to the next section or be taken back to a previous section where the correct response is located.
I think I can do it in FCP & DVDSP. Does anyone have any recommendations or better software suggestions.
Oh yeah, I need to release the final product for use on windows machines.
Thank you
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

You mentioned DVD is your goal, so your options are extremely limited.
DVDSP or Spruce (which is Windows only and recently aquired by Apple) are really your only choices sub $10k as far as I know.
DVDSP could handle the project, but it would require very good planning and mastery of the scripting environment. You can't save files from DVD, or print pages, or have any serious interactivity beyond navigation scripts. Remember, DVDSP produces DVD's and only DVD's so make sure this is your only delivery medium before moving forward.
Personally, I think this is the kind of thing best suited for an authoring program which is most likely a CD-ROM or Web-based delivery platform. You might see if the DVD thing is set in stone, or if other platforms would be OK.
Macromedia Director is my favorite authoring program. It produces Mac and Windows executable files, not DVD's. Users will have to install Quicktime for Director to display video clips. It's a very powerful program which I use for all of my CD-ROM authoring. I've authored 20+ major CDROM titles including some very nice educational games with this software. It's sort of a container application that holds and displays your content which is often created elsewhere. For instance, I make video clips and fancy transitions in FCP or Motion and place them into the Director Timeline as media assets. Director "directs' the footage and makes everything interactive. I also design the interfaces and graphics in Photoshop, then place them and make them interactive or animated in Director, hence it's designation as the "container". Director 2004 has a very advanced way of communicating with DVD projects and "directing" the DVD footage in ways that DVDSP can't, but I can't recommend this to a novice. It's very advanced workflow.
Macromedia Flash is a more common program, and the latest version has a very nice Video codec so your user will not need to have QuickTime. It makes swf files for the web as well as Mac and Windows Projectors that run off CDROM. In my opinion, Flash is not quite as robust as Director for video and large project management, but that's mostly my own bias. Many people have been able to get amazing work out of Flash.
Macromedia Authorware is another platform similar to Director. I have no experience with this and don't recommend it to a novice.
LiveStage Pro is an older program that uses QuickTime's Authoring language so it's files are actually QuickTime Movs with basic interactivity. It's nice, but the user base is very small and you might have trouble even finding the software.
You could also build the project using Web pages with QuickTime content embeded in a table next to your active text and links. Just load a new page with each section. I use Adobe GoLive to make HTML and recommend it for it's superior workflow with Adobe Applications.
If you don't get a lot more of replies to this topic, you might try the DVDSP forum. Hope this helps.

Color management in Photoshop Elements...

Hello all
I know this is an Apple forum, but I also know many of you use Photoshop Elements as well, and I think there is a wealth information here.
So, I am very perplexed about something in PSE. I currently have PSE3 for Mac (although the version should not matter for my question).
My question has to do with the color settings in PSE preferences. As you know, one can choose No Color Mgt., Limited Color Mgt. = sRGB, or Full Color Mgt. = Adobe RGB. When I choose full color mgt., overall tones are VERY red. When choosing limited color mgt., colors are slightly red, and no color mgt., colors are fairly neutral. This is all by default. I know how to clean up the color casts, but for general printing, where should I be? I typically only print 4X6 or occasionally 8X10, nothing professionally. When printing, what is the ideal, or preferred Source Space? I have found that if the source space is the same as how the image is tagged, things look pretty good. I also keep the Print Space set to my monitor settings which is the iMac profile. I suppose the issue is that I do not want to have to constantly correct the reddish tones for every photo I manipulate in PSE, although I typically do.
So my basic question is this: What settings are you using in the PSE print dialog box that give you the best looking prints, i.e., source space, print space? How do you color manage you photos? And, what are your color settings in preferences?
Many thanks in advance…

mikwen:
If you compare the sRGB and Adobe RGB color profiles with ColorSync Utility you'll see that the Adobe profile is much wider. I understand it is used for high end CMYK printing or similar. The Adobe profile gives me a much darker onscreen image. Haven't printed with it in quite a while so don't remember what the output was.
Apple uses the sRGB profile in their books and other printed products. So I've setup PSE to use the sRGB profile and set my monitor to sRGB but with a 2.2 gamma. That seems to work for me.
I don't know which camera you have or what color profile it embeds but the Canon's, and others, have a camera profile that is very close to the sRGB. If you installed the software that came with your camera it probably added the camera's profile to the system and you can view it with ColorSync Utility.
Do you Twango?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've written an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Can't access Color Management options for HP 6700 under Mac OS 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion)

Hello.
I've got the HP Officejet 6700 Premium e-All-in-One and I can't find any way to access Color Management options.
The printer is attached (Wi-Fi) to my iMac running Mac OS 10.8.5 (Mountain Lion).
I want to correct a magenta cast to photographs that I've printed. I've had the magenta-cast problem under Lightroom and using Preview to print the photographs, so now I want to work with color profiles in Photoshop Elements.
Photoshop Elements recommends that I "disable color management in the printer preferences dialog".
However, I'm not able to find color management preferences for the 6700 in any of the settings under Mountain Lion:
Not under (Apple) > System Preferences > Print & Scan.
Not under (HP Utility) > Open Embedded Web Server.
Not under (HP Utility) > Printer Settings.
Not under Preview's print dialog.
Nor can I find any clear direction in the online help (at HP or elsewhere) that I've read so far.
Any suggestions would be most appreciated.
Thank you!
Michael
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Please note that in the Print dialog I get "Color Matching" not "Color Management."
Still, I am (at this point) able to control color from Photoshop Elements, so that's good enough to proceed.
Thanks again.

Color Management Problem

I just installed Photoshop CS3 on my home PC, and seem to be having a problem with color management. When opening photos taken with my Canon G9, or even pictures downloaded off the web, in Photoshop they appear badly posterized. Viewing the same photos in the Canon ZoomBrowser, or with the standard Windows XP tools, they appear correct.
Obviously, my color management is not properly configured. I am using the standard North American defaults with sRGB for my RGB working space, and I've tried every RGB color management policy. My monitor is an older Dell 24" LCD (I don't have the model number in front of me right now). My monitor is not calibrated, but that would not account for the dramatic difference I see in Photoshop vs. other viewing applications.
The best I can achieve is by switching the RGB working space to Monitor RGB (or proofing with that configuration), and discarding the embedded color profile (sRGB in my Canon images). And yes, Photoshop does list the specific color space profile for my Dell monitor. This still results in a different color rendition from that which I see when viewing the same photo in other applications, with blues shifted slightly toward purple.
I have several other Mac and PC based Photoshop systems in my office, but I haven't had the chance to see how the same pictures look on those. It seems to me that this is something particular to the color space of my Dell monitor, but I'm not sure of the appropriate way to correct it.

Your prints are too dark. So you need to either make your monitor darker,
or your prints lighter. Given that you are probably fairly happy with your
monitor for cruising the web, etc, let's focus on your printer.
If it's like my HP, there is a brightness adjustment in the printer driver
under Start>Settings>Printers and Faxes><"printer name">. Adjust it until
the overall brightness of the print matches, as closely as possible, the
appearance of your screen.
To save paper and ink, I recommend that you print a thin strip at the top
of the page, and snip off the strip after each test.
Here is a test strip that you can use, with a variety of blurred skin tones
as well as a gray test strip. The procedure is documented here:
http://curvemeister.com/downloads/TestStrip/digital_test_strip.htm
As a final check, download images from any well-known web gallery and print
them, or use one of the calibration images from www.drycreekphoto.com . If
they are too dark or too light, you may want to revisit the brightness of
your monitor.
Trust your vision, and treat this as a learning experience. With a little
patience, and a systematic procedure, you can get good results without a
calibration device.
Monitor calibration devices are a valuable tool in a professional or high
end amateur setting. No one is saying they are a complete solution to
matching display to printer, and some final tweaking may be necessary for
matching print and display.

Color management problems printing to Epson R2880 from CS3

I recently purchased an Epson R2880 printer. I am having a lot of trouble getting good color when printing from Photoshop CS3. I am running OS 10.4 on a G4 Mac. I have a high-quality monitor and an EyeOne calibrator. I have spent a total of a few hours on the phone with tech support from the store where I bought the monitor and calibrator, and with Epson. To try and keep it simple, I am using all Epson products (ink, paper, their ICC profiles downloaded from their site). I have calibrated my monitor to brightness: 80, white point: 5000 K, Gamma 2.2.
All that tech support has brought me to the point where prints I get on Epson Velvet Fine Art paper and almost where they match what I see on the monitor, though they still could use a touch more red. I've tried making a slight curves adjustment to the red channel but I still don't quite have it. But it's basically acceptable.
So then I tried Epson Premium Presentation Matte paper. After a lengthy session with the Epson tech, we determined that I can get a print that's almost right by printing out of Preview and letting the printer manage colors. If I make a levels adjustment and brighten it a good bit, I get a very good print. But if I try printing on that paper from CS3 I get something that looks like a washed out black-and-white print with a hint of color in it. The Epson tech (a level 2 tech) told me to use the SPR 2880 Matte Paper-HW profile. Didn't help. At that point he said that he'd done all he could do and that for further assistance I needed to contact Adobe about "advanced settings in Photoshop." Of course, I'd prefer to print out of Photoshop because it gives more options in terms of placement and size of the print on the paper.
So here are my questions:
- Is this kind of thing par for the course, and will I eventually figure out a system that gives me good results all the time with any Epson paper I choose with a minimum of tinkering with levels and curves?
- Or should I expect more from a printer that costs almost $1,000 and should I return it for, say, a Canon?
- Is there information online about those "advanced settings" the Epson tech was referring to?
- Or would I be advised to purchase a one-on-one phone consultation from Adobe Photoshop tech support to resolve these problems?
Thanks,
Helen

Mike,
Gee Ramón, I am guessing Mike did a search for Epson R2880/CS3 and noticed that a Mac user was having the same problem he was. If together, maybe Windows users and Mac users can come together and solve the problems of the Epson R2880, maybe we can set a good example for the Republicans and Democrats in Congress :-).
Anyway, since I posted this problem, I have been working on it getting input from a variety of people. The person who finally helped me was Jim, a tech at ColorHQ.com. If you are in the US or Canada and have to buy a monitor and/or calibrator, definitely consider buying it from them, because they offer free tech support to their customers!
So regarding yellowness, one thing that you definitely should look at is how you're calibrating your monitor. Despite some of the replies above that recommend calibrating to 6500K, ColorHQ, which specializes in solutions for the printing industry, told me that calibrating to 5000K is the print industry standard. (While 6500K is the standard for working on images for the web or for editing video.) 5000K will make the monitor look yellower, so see whether that's a better match to what you're printing. I have an Eizo monitor and am running their Color Navigator software. The nice thing about that is something called Color Navigator Agent that allows me to switch between calibration profiles on the fly if I'm doing some web work and then want to work on images for printing.
Calibrating to 5000K was helpful, but not the solution in my case. The ultimate solution to my problem was more of a Mac issue, so I don't know if this will help you, but I'll post it in case anyone refers to this discussion in the future: there evidently IS an issue with ColorSync Utility in the Mac interfering with Photoshop managing colors in OS 10.4. In my case, ColorSync was causing the printer to preserve RGB values rather than use the ICC profile. The afore-mentioned Jim suggested that I go to Edit: Convert to Paper Profile, then pick the profile from the list. When printing, in the first Photoshop dialog box choose Color Handling: No color management. All the other settings in the next dialog box are the same as when you don't want the Epson to manage colors. So what you're doing is making it so the profile is built into the file, and neither Photoshop nor Epson are managing colors.
The result to this was MUCH better. The soft proof is a little redder than the print, but I can adjust that by creating a curves adjustment layer and pulling down the red curve in the middle a little bit if I want to see what the print will look like. I can live with that.
Also Jim pointed out that those papers that you mentioned are in fact a little warm in tone -- put Velvet Fine Art next to a piece of ordinary copy paper from say, Staples, and you'll see the difference. He suggested that if it's the matte look I want (it is) that Hahnemuhle makes a couple of papers that are brighter: Photo Rag Baryta and Bright White He also likes Ilford Gold Fiber silk, but that's a luster satin finish. You can download the Hahnemuhle profiles from Hahnemuhle's web site and compare them in "Soft Proof" mode in Photoshop with the Epson papers you mentioned and get an idea of the difference with your images. I haven't actually printed on them yet, but I see what he means.
Good luck, and I'd be interested to know how it goes for you.
--Helen

System-wide color management

I work in a place where we get files from a variety of sources– anything from a MS Publisher file produced by a volunteer organization to InDesign files produced by professional graphic designers.
We've found that the same file can look totally different, depending on what program we print it from. For example, we got a PDF in that was created in InDesign. I placed in in InDesign so that I could combine it with another piece of art and printed it and the images looked flat and had a yellow cast. If I exported it as a PDF and opened it in Photoshop and printed it it was sharper and it lost the yellow cast.
I need to set up our system so that whatever the source of the file, out printer, (Konica-Minolta biz hub), will give us what the customer expects.
Of course, we have no control over the computers the jobs are being created on, and they're sure to be set up differently.
We also have different programs that we work out of. We can print straight from InDesign, we might save an InDesign file as a PDF so that we can bring it into a program called Printshop Mail and add addressing and other personalization. Printshop Mail likes RGB images better than CMYK.
Of course, we also work in Illustrator.
Is there a book on how to set up and color manage a system with hardware and software from a variety of vendors?

if you want to to do any faithful Conversion(s) to monitor space(s), target space(s), or print space(s) — you will FIRST need to use embedded profiles or Assign the correct profiles (if the profiles are missing)
when you are handed a 'problem' file, open it, and determine if you are using the embedded profile, or unknowingly Applying your own default working profile, or manually Assigning the wrong profile...ultimately you need to use (ie, Apply, Assign) the correct source profile to your file (that becomes a guessing game if the profile wasn't embedded or noted for you)
until this is understood from every possible angle, you won't get good consistent monitor or printed proofs (unless the file happens to be in your default working space or it has already been converted to your proofing space)
I recommend giving this a thorough read: www.gballard.net/psd/cmstheory.html

Safari Color Management

I am running Mac OS X Version 10.4.9 with a dual monitor set up.
Both are Eizo monitors, a Flexscan 1731 and a Coloredge CG 221. Since I've replaced my CRT Barco monitor with the CG221, I've seen huge color differences between Photoshop and Safari.
I finally realized the differences I see between Photoshop and Safari is that my working space is sRGB, while the monitor's profile (which it seems that Safari assigns to the web) is Adobe 1998. Since Eizo's CG221 has a larger gamut than the Barco monitor and my Flexscan S1731 (which are sRGB monitors), the drastic differences between Safari and Photoshop are more apparent on the CG221.
Eizo's solution is to calibrate emulating the sRGB space, which is possible with Color Navigator. But this does not sound like the best solution for me. Why should I clip the monitor profile? This would mean the only way to see my monitor's full gamut is to re-calibrate.
So now my question is, are there any browsers available with color management settings? It'd make sense if I could calibrate my monitor at it's full gamut and have a browser which converts to a working space instead of assigning the monitor profile, or which at least honors embedded profiles.
I must also note Eizo's suggestion of recalibrating to the sRGB space seems incorrect, because even if I worked in Adobe 1998 most webpages would display incorrectly (except my own which would have images with Adobe 1998 embedded). Even when I view Apple's website colors appear oversaturated, especially in skin tones.
Any help and feedback is highly appreciated.

An interesting problem indeed. It sort of emphasizes the lack of color management on the WEB.
The commonly recommended workaround, to calibrate all monitors to something close to sRGB is suddenly outdated when monitors can display a gamut outside of the sRGB range.
To clarify your problem a bit.
Safari uses the monitor color space as working space, always. This is not necessarily a problem, as long as images gets converted into the monitor color space when they are opened. However, this does not happen when the image does not have a color profile. Correct but inconvenient.
In Photoshop you can choose the working space. Best is if the working space is the same as the target space. Thus, if you work with WEB publishing choose sRGB. If you work with printing choose your printers color space etc.
But Photoshop will also have a problem if images does not have a color profile, unless the image has an EXIF tag, indicating that the image is in for instance sRGB color space. Photoshop is intelligent enough to understand this, because most digital cameras produce images without color profile but with the EXIF color space tag. In case there is no color profile, and no EXIF color space tag, Photoshop will, depending on your color preference settings, ask you to assign a colorspace or automatically assign working space, which could be whatever.
There are possible solutions to your problem.
1. If you publish WEB sites and want to browse them correctly, using your very expensive monitor without lobotomizing it's capabilities. Use Safari or other color managed browser and follow the two rules of image publishing for the WEB
Rule 1) Images on the web should be published in sRGB color space (otherwise they will not be displayed correctly in browsers on the MS-Windows platforms, with the exception of Safari, viewing images with a color profile)
Rule 2) Images should have a color profile, in particular the sRGB images (otherwise they will not be displayed correctly on the MacOS platforms. Maybe close to correct if you have calibrated your monitor to PC-gamma)
For a test, go to http://www.gballard.net/psd/golive_pageprofile/embeddedJPEGprofiles.html
2) If you want to browse WEB sites, created by people who did not follow the second rule, that is most WEB-sites, and by the way, includes parts of the Apple WEB site.
Do the following: In Safari, Safari Menu/Report Bugs to Apple - include the following statement.
Dear Safari development team. Most WEB sites on the internet does not display properly in Safari, due to the fact that most WEB publishers are unaware of that they should include color profiles in their images. Today, Safari effectively disables color management when the color profile is missing, a correct but not very practical approach. In reality, most images published on the WEB are in fact sRGB or close to that but without a color profile. In order to enhance the WEB experience for the vast community of Safari users, could you PLEASE include at least the option in Safari, to "Assume sRGB for WEB colors". Since Safari is already color managed, it should mean only a few lines of code in the Safari application.
I did this, but probably we need a lot of users to complain before it gets fixed. It has been like this for ever, but I really expected it to be fixed in Safari 3.
See also http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5204498&#5204498 and http://www.tomasjonsson.eu for more information
Tomas

Color Management - Training DVD wanted - Recommendations?

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