The Professional Photoshop Book - Volume 7 2015

Pro tricks for mastering colour

16 The Professional Photoshop Book

© Deane Nettles

© X-RITE

DESIGNER DEANE NETTLES (WWW.DEANENETTLES.COM) ON THE

IMPORTANCE OF CALIBRATING MONITORS, CAMERAS AND PRINTERS

WHY AND WHAT TO CALIBRATE

HOW, AND HOW OFTEN TO CALIBRATE

Imagine walking into a department store: “There are a

hundred TVs on the wall. They’re all receiving the same television signal. But they’re all slightly different colours;

one has great reds; one has a blue cast; and one has less shadow detail but more contrast. This is the situation with

everything a graphic designer deals with: our monitors render colour one way, each digital camera renders colour

another way, and every printing press and paper and ink combination renders it another way”

Don’t leave it too late: “It’s even possible to hit a

perfect storm; the original photo has a colour cast, the editing monitor has a different colour cast, and the

designer uses that to balance the colour of the original, so by the time it reaches the printer the colour is way

off and it’s impossible to fix it on press”

Know what you’ve got:“Calibration is accomplished by

taking a standard colour target (physical in the case of

cameras and scanners, digital in the case of monitors and

printers) where the values of the colours are known”

Working together: “Use software or hardware

to compare the colour of the standard against the colour output by the device. The hardware

or software then creates a colour table that tells the computer how to compensate for

those differences. The result is truer colour. Ideally you want to calibrate everything”

Side by side: “You’re only going to notice

[the difference] if the audience sees the same image printed on different pieces and

those pieces are placed next to each other”

Eye of the beholder:cases, the colour that you get, with “In many

an uncalibrated camera, an uncalibrated editing monitor and an

uncalibrated printing press (or viewing monitor) looks okay to the

average person. The human eye is very adaptable; if you put on rose

coloured glasses, in a very short time your eyes adjust and you

barely notice the colour change”

Simon Prais, the technical director at X-Rite Photo

Europe (www.xritephoto.com), says that “monitor

calibration should be repeated on a monthly basis.

The process takes between three and ten minutes

depending on if [you are] using the i1 Display Pro or

the Color Munki Display.” He advises that brightness

should be 90–120 CDm2, with “the lower end if you

are in low light, the higher end if you are in brighter

conditions.” Colour temperature should ideally be

D65 (6500°k), as “this is very much the accepted

standard for a calibrated monitor white-balance

temperature, however if [you are] matching to prints

viewed in a professional controlled D50 viewing

booth, a corresponding D50 monitor calibration

should be set.”

He continues: “The frequency of printer

calibration depends on a number of factors;

predominantly the consistency of the printer and

media, along with your own personal expectations

of colour accuracy. As a general guide a printer will

benefit from profiling every two to three months

• but other considerations such as a different batch
  of ink or media could result in the necessity to
  re-profile. Camera calibration (if shooting in RAW),
  should be implemented whenever time and the
  situation allows. This comprises of capturing an
  image of an X-Rite Color Checker Passport chart
  and then processing it to create a calibration file
  that can be applied to your images, at the point
  when you come to work on them.”

LEARN HOW TO

USE HISTOGRAMS

ON P24 AND

TAKE COMPLETE

CONTROL OF

YOUR COLOURS

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