photowriters
14-06-2007, 18:14
Who can help me understand color management in the digital world?
I've searched the Internet and read everything I can get my hands on and printed much of it for future reference. I am not a dummy when it comes to photography. I majored in photojournalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia, and although most of my work has been in black and white, I understand color from the standpoint of the necessity for accurate exposure and the importance of color temperature and balance. Nevertheless, something about digital color management escapes me.
I understand that that: Each digital camera/sensor has a different profile.
The monitor that you use must be calibrated for accurate color.
The software/icc profile you use will impact what you see in a print.
That you must match the printer to its icc profile.
Etc.But something still escapes me. If I print locally, I can tweek things until I am satisfied, but if I let someone else print my digital image files, and I have the correct icc profile for the printer/paper combination that they use, I am not sure what I have to do with the digital image files, if anything, to get the image I want.
If have edited an image file to the point that I am satisfied with what it looks like on a calibrated monitor using the imbedded icc profile of the camera, is there anything else that I must do to get the color I want in a print other than selecting the icc profile for the printer/paper combination?
FYI the software I use for editing/correcting the raw image is Nikon's Capture NX. Its image management software is not as elegant as Adobe Lightrooms, but its editing tools are easier to use IMHO. I also have Photoshop for specialized editing down to the pixel level.
I've searched the Internet and read everything I can get my hands on and printed much of it for future reference. I am not a dummy when it comes to photography. I majored in photojournalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia, and although most of my work has been in black and white, I understand color from the standpoint of the necessity for accurate exposure and the importance of color temperature and balance. Nevertheless, something about digital color management escapes me.
I understand that that: Each digital camera/sensor has a different profile.
The monitor that you use must be calibrated for accurate color.
The software/icc profile you use will impact what you see in a print.
That you must match the printer to its icc profile.
Etc.But something still escapes me. If I print locally, I can tweek things until I am satisfied, but if I let someone else print my digital image files, and I have the correct icc profile for the printer/paper combination that they use, I am not sure what I have to do with the digital image files, if anything, to get the image I want.
If have edited an image file to the point that I am satisfied with what it looks like on a calibrated monitor using the imbedded icc profile of the camera, is there anything else that I must do to get the color I want in a print other than selecting the icc profile for the printer/paper combination?
FYI the software I use for editing/correcting the raw image is Nikon's Capture NX. Its image management software is not as elegant as Adobe Lightrooms, but its editing tools are easier to use IMHO. I also have Photoshop for specialized editing down to the pixel level.