Color Manage + $0 Profiling

[ljl269]

Recently I received some very good help in this forum so in the spirit of 'giving more than u receive' I'm hoping the following will benefit some here:

1-I was having trouble getting info on CM from sourses such as forums, newsgroups, & web sites which was at the right level of detail for me. I am a mathematician and the numerical examples explaining CMS @ http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/13605-2.html were the first that sat well with me. For those who know Linear Algebra, think of profiles as invertable matrices (ie XYZ conversion @ http://www.easyrgb.com/math.php?MATH=M2#text2 ).

2- I also liked the flowchart (Figure 5) in Why Colour Management @ http://www.color.org/info_profiles2.html


3-ICC Frequently Asked Questions @ http://www.color.org/faq.html is actually a course in CM with alot of detail.


QuickMonitorProfile @ http://quickgamma.de/QuickMonitorProfile/infoen.html is a new $0 profile generater. It works as advertised but I have no way of judging how it compares to AdobePS or manufacturers profiles. My monitor's chromaticity values could not be found so I used the default ITU-R BT.709 chromaticity values but I dont know what that means. http://www.easyrgb.com/colorfaq.php?FAQ=Q7#text7 seems to say it's a good choice tho. I run 2 monitors & tried it with both connected & then 1 disconnected in the nVidia driver. Same result. Will run it next with only 1 monitor physically connected .

Comments/suggestions/corrections appreciated.
Larry

[slipchuck]

spending the extra money on a (for example) gretagmacbeth eye-one monitor profiler is really worth the investment. make sure the white point is set to your lab or 6500k for general work. 5000k is the choice for proofing.
If you can't afford one, try this method.
if you have a good lab ask them to send you a kodak color evaluation target on a c.d. (a print of it from them if you want to profile your scanner as well)
open it up in photoshop, make sure the rendering intent is relative colorimetric with adobe RGB 1998 chosen.
after it is open, open up curves.
use the eye dropper after you select the first eye droper to the left. click on the darkest black block.
then click on the eye dropper to the right.
click on the pure white block in the evaluation target.
then choose the middle eye dropper and click on the middle grey block.
now save this setting.
next time you open up a photo, imediately go to curves-then click on the load button on the right.
double click the file you saved and....now you have a the proper colors on your monitor. print your own with the soft proof option using your printer profile. compare the one your lab printed for you and the one that came out of your printer..it should be very close if you have a photo printer
then just edit away!

hope this is of interest to you



slipchuck

[ljl269]

I am really tardy with this reply since my PC was doing random power OFF's due to a dying power supply. Surprisingly the hardest part of
replacing it was NOT the electrical but rather the physical hookup!

Then there was Hurricane Charlie too for which I had to evacuate!

I have PI8 which has curves & levels very similar to APS that can be SAVED which I just toyed with so this is very helpful unlike the HELP file!!

Cheap IT 8.7 (Q60) Scanner Color Calibration Targets@ http://www.targets.coloraid.de r a good alternative & only $15 & van be used to profile scanner, monitor,etc. Author of Quick Gamma site has been most helpful.

I am composing an 'acid test' print with colors everyone should know what they look like: faces of 4 races, flag, forrest, blue sky with clouds shot with polarizer, fruits & vegetables,etc. This could be printed & displayed as a final test for calibration, profiling, soft-proofing, etc. Will post it here for comments.

Also will pull everything I know about CM together in 1 site where people can do 'soft-proofs' (say 80% accuracy) but for under $100 total cost- software, D65 bulbs, calibration, profiling,Q60 card,... & not have to learn too much jargon or color theory. Here ICC has been most helpful as simplification & acceptance is 1 of their goals.

I welcome ur input in both of these endeavours.
Comments/suggestions/corrections appreciated.
Thanks- bye- Larry

[ljl269]

YES QuickMonitorProfile works with only 1 monitor physically connected

Originally Posted by ljl269

QuickMonitorProfile @ http://quickgamma.de/QuickMonitorProfile/infoen.html is a new $0 profile generater. It works as advertised but I have no way of judging how it compares to AdobePS or manufacturers profiles. My monitor's chromaticity values could not be found so I used the default ITU-R BT.709 chromaticity values but I dont know what that means. http://www.easyrgb.com/colorfaq.php?FAQ=Q7#text7 seems to say it's a good choice tho. I run 2 monitors & tried it with both connected & then 1 disconnected in the nVidia driver. Same result. Will run it next with only 1 monitor physically connected .

Comments/suggestions/corrections appreciated.
Larry

[slipchuck]

Hi again
before you buy color target from any other sources then kodak etc.
The color target from origanal sources like kodak are highly controlled printing.
they are very thoroughly tested to see if they are right on the money as far as acuracy goes.
I am not saying sources like http://www.targets.coloraid.de/ are not any good, but I would follow up yourself to check this issue out.
The reason these target prints are very expensive from kodak and other high end manufactures because of the above reasons.
I have taken color samples from a digitized version of a kodak target and the same target printed from a pro lab and the digitized version had consistant numbers going across each color block and the version from the pro lab had inconsistances in the color numbers going across the same blocks with the eye dropper tool in photoshop.

just I thought this may help you a bit

P.S I could send you the digitized kodak target but it is close to 100 mb file

slipchuck

[ljl269]

Greetings slipchuck & thank you for your response.

Yes I know that the color target from origanal sources like kodak are highly controlled printing. My ex's father was director of FTS that produces them & I was a consultant to EK Printing Div! They all come from same emulsion batch & I think r individually calibrated. I worked at EK 12 years.

I am an APPLIED mathematicial doing this for curiousity & analogy between color spaces & basises in Linear Algebra. So the law of diminishing returns w/r/t money applies at about $20 for me.

I thank you for pointing this out tho. I think if we ever get *most* people into CM we have to reduce costs & jargon. Neither my vet nor my cardiologist r willing to pay $50 for a D65 lightbulb! Maybe $7 for 1 80% as good.

Its all subjective.
Comments/suggestions/corrections appreciated.
Thanks- bye- Larry