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Rangefinder
Magazine
I remember the first digital photograph I took. It wasn’t big and it wasn’t sharp. And, although there was color on the print, there was no way you could tell what color it was, or what it was related to in the original. That was almost 15 years ago and a lot has changed. We’ve all watched image sharpness and the resolution of digital cameras grow tremendously, but the ability to render digital color with any degree of accuracy has often been painful. Of course, we’re not really looking for absolute accuracy, we’ve always been satisfied with some personal “memory” colors being correct and then we let the other colors fall where they may. Fortunately, the management of color has evolved and we’re now at a point where we can control not only the basic image rendition, but we can fine tune it in ways never before possible. Simply put, color management allows us to recognize and record how each device in the imaging chain responds to a known set of conditions in the color spectrum. Then this recorded response information is shared in a common way to ensure that all devices exist together in digital harmony—and output the most pleasing results. The tools we have make most of the process relatively easy; however, the science hidden behind this process is anything but simple. At last count there were more than 60 companies that manufacture and distribute products that are used in color management. And that doesn’t include the hundreds of others that provide direction and consulting services.
Likewise, there are a lot of opin-ions about different computer and device settings. Even though it’s possible to validate these recommendations, if you’re doing something different and it works for you, once again, stick with it. The first step in the “healing” is to acknowledge that this is just like any color photographic process and you need to reduce the physical variables that affect how you view the image on your computer and the print itself. So get your computer in a room where you can take control. This may be hard for some people, but it’s also time to get rid of that favorite screen shot or colorful desktop setting on your computer. You need to set the background to a midtone grey so that your eyes and mind are not distracted or biased by unrelated colors when looking at your images on the display. Ambient lighting, window light and the color of the walls should all be reviewed. If you can, change the lamps in overhead fixtures to use “daylight-” type bulbs (identified as D50). Paint the walls gray (or at least white), if possible, and put room-darkening neutral colored shades on the windows. Now, even though you may have improved the overall quality of the room, make sure there is a dedicated spot with controlled lighting to use for critical print evaluation. Although it’s not always fun to learn new vocabulary words, let’s deal with one called “Metamerism.” Metamerism is evident when two different colors appear to be the same under one set of lights, yet under other lighting show that they actually are different. This condition has always existed, but appears to be much more prevalent with digital output devices than it is with traditional photographic materials. So, back to that dedicated spot with controlled lighting—when it really counts, make sure you can use the same type of lights as the final location of the print (tungsten, warm fluorescent, whatever). Next, before you go any further, here’s the party line on CRT displays vs. LCD flat panels. Although the trend is to move towards the constantly improving LCD technology, don’t necessarily do it (at least not for photographic imaging). The “top-of-the-line” most accurate displays are still CRT-based. Run one of these side by side with an LCD and you’ll see that hard copy output is much closer to what the CRT shows you. Someday this may change, but that time is not now.
Making your display the reference for your input and output devices is actually a two-part process, first dealing with setting the display to some fixed level of performance (calibration) and then recording its color-rendering capability (profiling). There are currently three colorimeters on the market that will make your display profiling a reasonably easy task. A colorimeter is a specialized light meter (that reads anywhere from three to seven colors). They all have great software and work almost automatically by walking you through the process, while generating very specific color patches and graphical instructions on-screen. One area of great debate is how you set your display contrast (gamma)—and that’s not the con-trol marked “contrast.” Another debate surrounds what color temperature you select. Current thinking is that the old Macintosh standard gamma of 1.8 is no longer applicable, given the way devices perform today. So when you have the option, choose a gamma of 2.2 (which also puts Macs in sync with the default for Windows). Above: Some of the more popular color management solutions from ColorVision, GretagMacbeth, Monaco, Pictographics, Sony and X-Rite. The tools and devices pictured here are valued at just a shade under $22,000. Color
Space Basics Why What You See Is Not What You Get How Devices Communicate
Color
A Color Reference System To Profile
or Not to Profile (a Digital Camera) Stay tuned for Part II of “A Simplified Guide to Color Management in next month’s Rangefinder. Bob Rose joined the photo industry in 1978 after graduating from RIT. Less than ten years later he started working with Digital Products. Rose has been a contributor to a number of publications including the Focal Press Encyclopedia of Photography and has taught at Parsons School of Design. In 1999 he formed his own company, VMI. He can be reached at: vmi-info@earthlink.net. |
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Learning
Curve by Bob Rose
Anyway,
in keeping with the spirit of the title of this article, let’s
make it simple and limit the discussion to the most readily available
products from six of the more popular companies. It should be noted that
every product that was reviewed works under both Mac OSX and Win XP. 
This is a particularly important point,
as the single most critical component is your display. It’s your
window to the digital world and you need to know that it’s consistent
or all bets are off. There’s
no sense trying to see how an image may appear if you don’t know
whether your display is set too bright, too dark, or if it’s too
yellow or too blue.
Four Ways to See a Display 
There have never been more ways to make sure your display is properly
profiled. Gently holding on to the CRT with their little suction cups,
from left to right are the: Eye-One Photo (a full featured Spectrophotometer
for profiling displays, printers and more), and three colorime-ters (for
profiling displays only): the Eye-One Display, Spyder and OPTIX. All
include counterweights to support hanging them precisely in front of
an LCD so as to not damage the delicate flat panel.