Basic Color Management Question

AS
Posted By
Abe_Silverman
Nov 19, 2003
Views
418
Replies
8
Status
Closed
Hey all —

I run a commercial website (www.beadstore.com), and quite frankly, don’t really understand the color issues. I’m using 7.01 on XP Professional on a fairly new Dell computer and monitor.

For a while, I’ve noticed that the color on my pictures when I went to "Save for Web" was darker (and not as good) as what was appearing on my monitor. I’ve "fixed" that problem by clicking on "view", then "proof setup", and then "Monitor RGB". So now at least what appears on the screen looks like what is being saved in "Save for Web".

Two problems / questions — First, I seem to have to do this every time I scan in a new picture, and I know there must be a way to make the setting permanent. Second, is this what I should be doing?

Our merchandise is very color-sensitive, and I should be using whatever settings will be the most uniform to the greatest number of web viewers — I know that’s an inexact science, but I figure there must be a "best practices." What you you all suggest?

Thanks for your help.
Abe Silverman
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AS
Abe_Silverman
Nov 19, 2003
Turning color management off seems to have helped…. but I have the sneaking suspicion that this is just a Bad Idea. Am I right?
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 19, 2003
yes. rerun adobe gamma from the control panel. and save it under a new name (don’t save over AdobeRGB or something!) Then select AdobeRGB as your working profile.
L
LenHewitt
Nov 19, 2003
Abe,

For web work, set your working space to sRGB rather than AdobeRGB as Dave suggested – that way you will see little difference when you switch to Save for Web if your monitor is reasonably calibrated.
DM
dave_milbut
Nov 19, 2003
sorry, thanks for the save len (said the color mgmt dweeb).

dave
JH
Jake_Hannam
Nov 19, 2003
" … save it under a new name (don’t save over AdobeRGB or something!) Then select AdobeRGB as your working profile."

Dave, Len:

If you select AdobeRGB or sRGG as the working profile, haven’t you just negated the changes you saved under the new name?

Jake
L
LenHewitt
Nov 19, 2003
Jake,

haven’t you just negated the changes you saved under the new name?<

You are confusing the monitor profile and the Working Space profile.

When you run Adobe Gamma you are creating a Monitor profile. When you select your working space you are selecting a colour space profile.

You ‘tune’ the monitor profile to match YOUR monitor. You don’t mess with colour space profiles unless you have a specific need (for instance outputting CRITICAL colour to a CMYK PostScript device) and some hi-end hardware calibration devices such as photospectrometers.

Sooooo,

You open Adobe Gamma and load the sRGB profile as a starting point, make the modifications to tune it to your monitor, change the description in the description text filed to, say, "Jake’s Monitor" and then Save it to a new file – say "Jakes.ICC". That is the profile the monitor will use. The sRGB profile is still intact and that is the one you will use for your RGB working space.
JH
Jake_Hannam
Nov 19, 2003
Thanks, Len. I already had the monitor calibrated but have been trying to figure out which profile to use with Photoshop with my Epson 3000 printer. I keep reading about setting Photoshop and InDesign (the two I use the most) to the same profile to get the same results on my printer (Epson Stylus 3000). Then I read where some folks suggest turning color management OFF for the printer and to use Printer Management but others say just the opposite.

I have read Ian Lyon’s tutorial several times but, I am ashamed to say, I am still confused. Sometimes I feel really stupid when I can’t quite grasp something …

Jake
L
LenHewitt
Nov 20, 2003
Jake,

If it helps you in any way here is my short "idiot’s guide to CM" <g>

There is data in a file. That data doesn’t represent specific colours UNTIL the colour space is stated (embedded profile or assign profile).

The working profile sets up the colour space you are working in, and the embedded profile allows the CM engine to convert the file data values to your working space values so those values still represent the same colour as originally indicated by the file data and embedded profile.

The monitor profile alters that data from your working space on the fly to allow the monitor to display the colours represented by the data within the working space profile.

When you print, the output profile alters the data to allow the printer to reproduce the colours represented by the data and the image profile.

The monitor profile effectively drops out of the equation when you print.

Provided the ‘translation’ from working space to monitor is correct AND the translation from working space to output device is correct, the print will match the monitor.

However, only if the translation from embedded profile to working space is also correct will the monitor and print also match the original file intentions.

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