Step 2: Color Management
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Digital Photo Print Guide
Step 2: Color Management
Suppose you take pictures with your digital camera, retouch them on your monitor, checking their color,
and print them on your printer. This usually will not result in your intended or expected prints. To
improve the color appearance of your picture prints, both your monitor and printer should be configured
to produce color as close as possible to its original, which will lead to similar color produced by the
devices. Such a configuration process is called color management. This chapter explains all about color
management, which is essential for creating successful work.
Color Management Systems
The color tones of the image data can look different when the image is viewed on a display and as a
printout. This is because computers, monitors, printers, scanners and other devices each have their own
specific color reproduction characteristics. Even if the RGB color information of the original image data
is reproduced on another device, it may not be possible to reproduce exactly the same color.
In order to reproduce colors as closely as possible between devices with different characteristics, it is
necessary to use a common color space. Alternatively, you can use a process where you translate the
color information unique to each device to a common color space, then retranslate the color information
to the color space of the next device. Managing the colors used between different devices with a
consistent method is called color management.
For performing color matching (standardizing the color space) between devices, color management
systems use color information definition files called ICC profiles. The purpose of color management is to
make adjustments using the content of the definition file so that the same color is reproduced on any
device.
(When data is processed, the profile for the input device that sends the data is called the input profile,
while that of the output device, mainly printers that receive the data, is called the output profile.)
Schematic of color management
