Color management and screen calibration — from camera to print.
Why the image you see on the screen is not always the image the customer gets
Introduction
Colour is not an absolute size — it is an interpretation that your screen, your printer and your customer's phone each make in their own way. Without colour management, the same image can look warm and saturated on your screen and cold and grey when printed or displayed on another device. Colour management is about keeping track of the chain that starts at the camera and ends at what the viewer actually sees.
Color space: sRGB and Adobe RGB.
A colour space defines which portion of all visible colours an image can contain. sRGB is the most widespread colour space and the standard for web content — what most screens, browsers and social media expect. Adobe RGB (1998) covers a wider spectrum than sRGB, especially in greens and cyan hues, and is often used by photographers working with print because the extra hues can be better exploited on paper than on an ordinary screen.
| Color space | Typical use |
|---|---|
| sRGB | Web, social media, delivery to customers displaying images digitally |
| Adobe RGB (1998) | Editing and print, where the wider colour gamut can be utilised |
Screen calibration
Your screen may not display colors correctly as they come out of the box. A hardware calibration tool measures the screen's actual reproduction and creates an ICC profile that corrects the deviations so what you see lies closer to the actual color values in the file. Because screens change character over time it is recommended to calibrate regularly — for example monthly — so your assessment of color and light does not slowly drift off course without you noticing.
ICC profiles for print
A printer profile describes how a particular printer, with a particular ink type, on a particular paper type, reproduces colors. Because paper and ink behave differently, the profile must match the concrete combination to give accurate results. Softproofing lets you simulate the finished print on your calibrated screen using the printer's ICC profile so you can see and correct any color deviations before the image is sent to print — and avoid an expensive surprise when the proof arrives.
Work process from camera to delivery
- 01Shoot in RAW to preserve as much color and light information as possible to work with.
- 02Edit in a wide colour space if the images are to be printed later.
- 03Convert to sRGB when images are delivered digitally or to be displayed on screens.
- 04Use the printer's ICC profile and soft-proofing before you send files for professional printing.
“An uncalibrated system is like measuring with a ruler nobody else uses—the numbers only match themselves.”