colour management

Improved colour management software at Copyrightimage

I’m currently building some test print profiles using the new i1 Publish software from x-rite in Germany. This is intended to replace i1Match that I have used up till now with my i1 Photospectrometer.

The advantages are starting to show after a very dodgy start when the program crashed on Windows 7 when building profiles and trouble reading dense strips from my Epson 3800 printer. I’m happy to report I have been working via a contact at x-rite to beta test changes to the software and they have been very helpful in sorting things out.

Its still early days and I’m not trusting the software with mission critical work just yet but I have been building some very usable and improved profiles for the papers I use. These early profiles show an improvement in gamut (wider range of saturated colours) and greater smoothness of gradients, much less cloggyness in the shadows also – closer to a high end RIP than you would expect a print driver to achive. Im particularly looking forward to building profiles to suit the lighting that the prints will be displayed in, something that was not possible with i1match.

The plot above shows my old Permajet 240 Matt profile in solid colour with the new i1 Publish profile overlaid in grid view, the projected gamut lines at the bottom show the larger colour space of the new profile.

I’m hoping the investment benefit all my clients who need the occasional print profile building or use my printing services for exhibition quality prints.

Stephen

New Eizo CG303W monitor at Copyrightimage

I have recently invested some £2,500 in the business by purchasing a high end 30″ Eizo CG303W wide gamut display. The primary purpose of upgrading my older Eizo CG211 monitor was to get better pre press softproofing of greens and blues and therefore make better CMYK separations for some upcoming client book projects. I can do this as the new monitor covers some 98% of the Adobe 1998 gamut against the (approx) 70% coverage of the CG211 it replaces.
The new screen also allows for faster editing and retouching as I can see more images in Lightroom or Bridge and more of a single image at one time (the image above shows 100% 1:1 views of the same photo).
Colour evenness across the screen is extremely good (no visible difference), there is a slight left to right brightness gradient of approx 13 cd/m2 when set to 80cd/m2 but this is within quoted tolerances.
Some 19 years ago when setting up the imaging department at Tony Stone Images I had to return a 30″ Barco Graphics Color Reference monitor for a 20″ replacement because there was a HUGE colour difference between the left and right hand sides of the monitor. The fact that the 30″ Barco CRT monitor cost £12,000 in 1990 would indicate that things have progressed significantly since then and almost (but not quite!) makes the price of the Eizo seem reasonable.
By investing in the new monitor I can continue to work to the very highest industry standards and at the same time keep my production work flow operating efficiently and enabling me to offer very competitive retouching rates.
A monitor such as this one would be overkill for most clients to purchase, an Eizo 24″ would suit most needs but contact me if you need help in choosing.
Stephen

Adobe colour settings file for European Stock Photography (CS2/3)

This colour settings file will help you manage your colour workflow. It sets Adobe 1998 as your working space and if you ever need to supply a CMYK file for a generic European press using coated paper this will also set your default CMYK to a Fogra standard.

Download the zip file here (save it to your desktop then extract the settings file from the zip)

The colour policies are set to respect the colour tags of files not in Adobe 1998 (thus ensuring they display correctly though don’t forget to convert to Adobe 1998 if your agency requires it).

To load into Photo shop:
Start Photoshop and select EDIT:COLOUR SETTINGS. Click on the load button and navigate and select the downloaded file.

To synchronise colour settings throughout Adobe Creative Suit (If you have it!):
Do the same as for Photoshop above then:
Start Bridge and select EDIT:CREATIVE SUIT COLOUR SETTINGS.
And select European Stock Photography from the list.

Stephen

Managing multiple monitor profiles in Windows XP and Vista

If you have a Gretag Macbeth product registered with the company then you can obtain a useful utilitiy:

DisplayProfile freeware for Windows

DisplayProfile allows you to store multiple monitor profiles for your PC and have a way to easily switch between them. By moving the window to any connected monitor you can dynamically update the profile for that monitor. You can download the software here: http://gretagmacbeth.com/getfile?send=1&id=8712 (requires login)

This is a useful utility to have whilst we wait for Gretag Macbeth to release a calibration loader that works fully with Vista, possibly in the next release of i1Match. I will inform you here just as soon as I know….

Stephen

Colour management services

 

Over the next few weeks I will be building some sets of camera profiles for the Canon 1ds. The purpose of this is to judge the usability and usefulness of camera profiles in studio conditions using controlled lighting. I hope to report back on the results here in the near future so keep checking back.