Real World Color Management
Book Review by J.William MarrWith the advent of digital cameras and relatively inexpensive color printers--with expensive ink cartridge--many more people are trying to do their own picture processing. The results are often less than satisfactory. This book explains the problems and tries to lead the reader toward the goal of color fidelity.
To try to understand the problem I will try to define it in a little more detail. Color is defined as an event that occurs among three participants; a light source, an object and an observer. If any of those changes, the color event is different. Consider for example the color of an object perceived in daylight as compared to the same object viewed under fluorescent light. Now take a color film picture of that object. The major difficulty is that no film can accurately reproduce the total range of the color spectrum. Therefore the manufacturers of color film compensate for this inability. The result is a "warm" Ektachrome, a "cold" Kodachrome, a "rich" Velvia and many other formulations. In each case, the manufacturer is trying to produce an interpretation with the realization that it is only an approximation of the actual event.
Having taken this picture (with a film of your choice) you then scan it into a digital file into the computer. Of course, the scanner sensors can not accurately measure the colors of the slide. Another set of compensations are made. The results are then viewed on a display, either plasma or cathode ray tube, but each with their own set of limitations and compensations. Of course the effect is also dependent on the ambient light on the viewing surface.
Printing, which is usually the final objective, has additional problems. First, printers employ a color production different than those of all devices so far discussed. And it goes without saying that printers can not fully reproduce the color range. More compensations and calibrations need to be made.
This book does an excellent job of explaining color management from the theoretical level to how it pertains to the various elements in digital editing and printing. The goal is that the image on the screen or in print appears to be the same as what you perceive with your eyes.
The first seventy five pages are an excellent discussion of color theory. The amazing part of this discussion is that no equations are used. Graphs are used to illustrate the ideas. The book then continues to describe how devices interpret and display color; building and tuning color profiles for input devices such as digital cameras and scanners, displays, and output devices such as printers. It describes optimum color management workflow and how to manage color within and across popular design applications, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat.
If I was planning a commercial printing operation, this is the book I would read first. I am a computer consultant to a professional photographer who is continually having problems matching what she sees on the screen to what comes out of the printer. She is getting a copy of the book! I will furthermore make sure she reads the pertinent parts.
Finally I would recommend this book to anyone who takes color pictures and has them commercially printed. Reading this book will teach you to appreciate the process, understand it's limitations and perhaps suggest alternatives to produce a more pleasing product.Real World Color Management
By Bruce Fraser, Fred Bunting, Chris Murphy
Peachpit Press
1249 Eighth Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
534 pages, $49.99