Color Calibration Cracked Open

The biggest misconceptions about color management and calibration are that they’re unnecessary and difficult, yet they’re the easiest way to consistently capture and print true colors, like these blues and greens. All photos and diagrams © Eddie Tapp

Have you ever examined the basic foundation of color theory and thought about how color is funneled through the stages of today’s color-managed digital workflow? The technology of color management is remarkable, and yet the biggest change over the past two decades is that it has become easier and more seamless to work with.

Predictable results are the main objective with color management. Color film has characteristics of a single color temperature (white balance) and ASA setting (film speed). Today, we have enormous variations in camera settings, from color temperature to ISO settings, and on the computer we have an overwhelming amount of options, including plug-ins, presets and one-click miracles.

The vehicle for getting these results is consistency in exposure, process and color management. If you are getting unexpected results, then chances are you have one or more inconsistencies in the methods you use for input, process or output. While experience is the best teacher, a basic working knowledge of color management will take some of the mystery out of getting predictable results.

The Basics to Know
– Once a device is calibrated, it can then be measured and profiled in color and density values to become a color space, or ICC profile. 
– After you’ve profiled a device, you can manage your image color space from, within and to these devices. 
– A color space (i.e. sRGB) is sometimes confused with color mode (RGB, CMYK and Grayscale, for example).

Some of us pay little or no attention to color management because we don’t realize how much better the results can be, or we use a color shotgun approach and then end up printing something over and over again. There are, however, simple steps to enabling color management to work.

The devices to calibrate are cameras, monitors, projectors, printers and scanners. 

1. Calibrate your camera.
Camera calibration is a simple matter of white balancing. Sometimes auto can work against you, so use either a preset or custom white balance for camera calibration.

2. Calibrate your monitor.
No monitor is calibrated to a photographer’s specifications out of the box. Yes, your images may look great on screen, but you are actually viewing erroneous assumptions with your files’ color and tonal data. Using a monitor calibration device (such as the X-rite i1Display Pro or Datacolor Spyder 4) to measure the color and contrast ratio of your display will change the way you process your images (for the better). 

To calibrate your monitor, select a White Point (D65 is recommended), a Luminance value (Native) and a Contrast Ratio (also Native). Your device will give you easy step-by-step instructions with these settings in place.

Your monitor’s color space is limited compared to what you see in person, but a calibrated monitor will always do more justice to true color. 

3. Work in the largest color space possible with raw files.
ProPhotoRGB is the most common wide-gamut color space, and it is deep-seated within a 16-bit working file. Adobe Lightroom automatically takes advantage of ProPhotoRGB/16 bit; in Photoshop, you must establish these parameters in Adobe Camera Raw because the default raw workflow is sRGB and 8 bit. In most cases, a color space is not embedded within a raw file from the camera, only when it is within your workflow.

4. Export files in sRGB.
When you export your files for your lab or printer (especially images that will appear online), make sure to use the color space sRGB, an 8-bit color space suitable for screen and print. The work that you do processing your images in ProPhotoRGB and 16 bit will be centered for an 8-bit sRGB file when exported. Color and tonal values in larger color spaces, such as ProPhotoRGB or AdobeRGB, can be misjudged if not viewed in a color-managed and calibrated environment. 

The only exception to this is if your lab or client actually request a specific color space or, if you have an inkjet printer in-house, there is no need to convert the color space.

Eddie Tapp is a professional photographer and recognized expert in digital imaging and workflow, color management and Photoshop (Photoshop Hall of Fame 2006). He is a Canon Explorer of Light, Delkin ImageMaker and X-Rite Coloratti.