colour management problems?
have you come across any of these colour management issues?
Check out some client comments here.
I can help you
If you have issues with any of the above points I am here to help, I can provide telephone or email support, or a site visit to provide training, profiling or just help with adopting a good robust workflow. [Please see "Services" section for info. on suggestions and charges.] Or just send an email with a few details about your setup, type of work and any problems you're having and I'll be in touch for a chat.
- Are you confident that your monitor screen is set up correctly to properly display the actual colour values in a digital image file?
Consider this - have you ever looked in a TV shop window, or down the aisle in a plane, or even in a computer shop and seen the difference between a row of screens - even when all showing the same program or image? Basically display screens are not automatically consistent. - Are you sure that your screen settings are right for imaging work, perhaps you're still using "out of the box" default settings, in which case it's very unlikely they are optimal. Most screens need optimised settings AND a good colour profile. I have an ebook about this.
- Have you tried adjusting a monitor using a visual calibrator utility - i.e. making manual adjustments whilst working without a sensor device to read screen colour from the screen - you will likely have noteced that there is quite a lot of leeway in the slider adjustments provided and that an opinion is often needed - so that it's is often not possible to decide exactly what slider setting to chose? is it even possible to set it up the same each time? Did you consider that the guesswork and estimation needed when using a visual utility means that a screen set up by another user, or even by you yourself at a different time may have a quite different appearance although you (both) thought both were right?
- Have you considered that perhaps making actual measurements of a screen using a GOOD sensor designed for the job - or at the very least setting with a good visual utility by comparison to a verified print or certified proof print is the only way to achieve visual continuity between different sites and between users.
- Are you confident that your Photoshop and other imaging application settings are right for your working methods AND those of your clients?
- Have you ever received an image from another user with no embedded ICC profile - or opened such an image and wondered how to proceed in Photoshop when attempting to find the colour the originator intended?
- Have you ever finished working on an image, been happy with the appearance and printed it on your own printer to find that the colours nowhere near match your screen? So, either screen or printer must be "wrong" but which one is it, or could it be both? You may have noticed that a printer manufacturer's own driver software offers lots of combinations of settings in various windows often with no indication of how to use these to best effect. The process of check print error - adjust - test - assess - adjust - accept compromise uses up a lot of paper, ink - and, perhaps worse than that - saps creative energy, perhaps you've noticed?
- Have you sent out a file on disc or uploaded it for a client or printer and eventually seen a printed version which bears little relation to your intentions as to colour and tone? Could it be your fault that it went wrong in print? Is your client or his printer blaming you and you lack the confidence to know whether you could have done anything to prevent this. Or perhaps don't know how to prove that what you've done is good work and someone else's error is to blame?
- Have you worked hard on a file to edit colour and tone only to find that, when it prints, there are tonal steps like contours in the areas of smooth graduated tone in smooth areas like skies or perhaps car bodywork?
- Have you worked on images for the web in Photoshop only to find that when shown in a browser the image looks incorrect, perhaps somewhat unsaturated, or even oversaturated? Is there an easy solution to this?
Check out some client comments here.
I can help you
If you have issues with any of the above points I am here to help, I can provide telephone or email support, or a site visit to provide training, profiling or just help with adopting a good robust workflow. [Please see "Services" section for info. on suggestions and charges.]
You can learn about free consulting here too.
Or just send an email with a few details about your setup, type of work and any problems you're having and I'll be in touch for a chat.
