Comment from CRAIG. on 2008-09-02

2008-09-02T23:24:26Z

Further more: I didn't want to bore you with a monster post, so here's the 2nd installment; the other aspect of reproducing colour is the ability of the printer. All colour equipment has a measurable gammut range - the gammut is the limit of colour it can display/print. Printers are a key example for profiling images, as every printer, even between same models, vary in their gammut of colour reproduction, however so slightly. Part of the colour calibration/profiling event is to determin the printers "dot gain". This is the increase of contrast that happens at EVERY step of reproduction - where highlights become lighter and shaddows become darker. A dot gain will show you on-screen what parts of the image will 'drop out' - become too white or too black to see detail. A printer can not print at such vivid quality that you can see on most screens - you need to profile/compensate and 'scale down' your screens quality to match the printer, so what you see is what you get. If you have a printer installed on you computer, there's a good chance there is a profile suitable for your printer on your system - if your application supports colour management, find this profile and use it when you print. Hold up the print next to your monitor, and adjust the settings (contrast, bright, colour) on your monitor to suit the print - now, what you see on screen is what you will end up with in your hand. Just to foil this, cheap programs can vary in their ability to pass on all the image information to print accurately, if you want to print pics or flyers or documents, try and stick to an application your familiar with - and back up your preferences for when you crash and loose your settings. Right Leo!

]]>

A comment on: Why do picture colors vary from computer to computer, or when I print them?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comment from Craig on 2008-09-02

2008-09-02T23:13:10Z

Calibrating monitors is a major part of one point of the process, but to generalise, the process is called "profiling". A colour profile is a collection of 'corrections' compiled to correct an images colour so that it displays correctly (monitor) and prints correctly (hardcopy reproduction. Leo, you're quite right in saying calibration is hard, it is very difficult to get it right, and you need a lot of information of the conditions where the image is going before you can profile it or what is called 'embedding a profile'. This is were the worth of more expensive image applications come in to play, like Photoshop, where colour management on the program enables an image to be displayed correctly using a preset profile. If you right click on a colour image file and go down to properties, into summary and look at 'Advance' options you can see what has made the image and if it has a profile embedded. 99% of the time it will be "sRGB" which is quickly being adopted as the basic standard for digital images. In my work I use a calibrated monitor, which is high contrast, dull colour and low light - not what a lot of people would like for gaming on, and I use no profile in my images, ie colour management turned off, because it depends on where my image is going as to what profile will be assigned to it, by the end-user. As for your solution, you would be best to first contact the IT at the gallery and ask for a profile to be emailed to you, it is likely to be a ".icc" file, which you can right-click on and choose install. This will place it in your *root*\system32\spool\drivers\colour and be available as an option to use as a profile on your system, hence bringing you closer to what they see - the rest will be up to you using the contrast, brightness, colour of your monitor and your quality of monitor to reach this accuracy.
Why does one 22"monitor cost $350 and another $600 ... I think we're closer to understanding why now - there's players, and there's workers.

]]>

A comment on: Why do picture colors vary from computer to computer, or when I print them?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
Leo's Answers Newsletter - Ask Leo! in your inbox every week.

Comments for Why do picture colors vary from computer to computer, or when I print them?

Comment from CRAIG. on 2008-09-02

Comment from Craig on 2008-09-02