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![]() Getting Back to Basics: A Guide to Color Management
By Jonathan Read, InteliCoat Technologies
During these difficult economic times, the sign industry is facing many of the same challenges as other unrelated industries. Although no person or company can be completely immune to these economic woes, signmakers can take a proactive stance in ensuring business success by going back to basics, including re-assessing their processes and making the most of their existing printing equipment.
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At the heart of this challenge remains the ability to retain customers and improve ROI with limited investment. Customers are constantly looking for signmakers to produce the “perfect sign,” which features the highest level of efficiency and image quality. Although a basic concept, color management is one of the most critical and commonly misunderstood aspects to creating this perfect application. Employing proper color management techniques can become a headache. There are literally hundreds of varieties of devices that possess very significant color differences. As a result, signmakers are constantly seeking advice on ensuring that files will retain their essential integrity when sent to different devices. The following article will provide a ground-up approach to color management, including an overview of the science behind the process, discussion of how ICC profiles for consumables, such as media and ink, can contribute to a fully color-managed workflow, as well as provide advice on ways to employ color management techniques for success.
The Basics: Color Theory and Beyond Light emission, reflection or transmission can alter or modify the wavelengths, and in turn how color is perceived. Since different objects can absorb different wavelengths, the wavelengths reflected from an object are sensed by our eyes and ultimately perceived as color. Our visual system processes wavelengths down to dominate regions; red, green and blue. These dominate regions are referred to as additive primary colors, which can be mixed to produce subtractive primary colors: red and green light produce yellow, red and blue light produce magenta, and blue and green light produce cyan. Equal amounts of subtractive primary colors can make the additive primary colors: magenta and yellow produce red, cyan and yellow produce green, and cyan and magenta produce blue. While devices such as cameras, monitors and scanners are classified as RGB because they add red, green and blue light to darkness, printers and paintings conversely are classified as CMYK since they are applied on a white substrate, hence subtracting light. Lastly, L*a*b* is a device independent color space because it is used to communicate colors from device dependant color spaces such as RGB (monitors, cameras, scanners) and CMYK (printers). Among these color spaces, there are varying differences in gamut size between the input profile and output profile.
ICC Profiles: The Keys to Color Management Success The output ICC profile is built upon predetermined conditions. These conditions are the building blocks or foundation for the quality and accuracy of the final output. If the foundation is poorly built or altered, then the ICC profile is rendered useless and quality output is impossible.
The key to ensuring the accuracy of an ICC profile rests in checking that all of the steps that occurred below the profile do not vary drastically. The figure below outlines the seven steps required for this process, which include ambient /environmental conditions, calibrating a media to the printer, print settings, primary ink restrictions, linearization, total area coverage and lastly ICC profile. By keeping these steps, as well as the corresponding implications in mind, signmakers can optimize the color management process.
The following is a checklist for signmakers to use as a guide in managing the color management process:
Step One: Ambient & Environmental Conditions
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Step Two: Calibrating a Media to a Printer
Step Three: Print Settings
Step Four: Primary Ink Restrictions
Step Five: Linearization
Step Six: T.A.C. (Total Area Coverage or Total Ink Limit)
Step Seven: ICC Profile It’s also important to note that colorcasts can be present in an ICC profile due to limitations of technology and false readings caused by optical brighteners. Additionally, no matter how great the quality control is from any manufacturer, minor differences will still occur. The minor differences between inks, media, printers, and ambient environmental fluctuations can add up. This statement also applies to using a “canned” profile (a profile created on one printer and shared with another). These subtle differences can be minimized if accounted for properly. Signmakers may also be able to correct these subtle differences with re-linearization of output. Re-linearization can accommodate subtle density changes; however, it cannot correct drastic changes like changes in print speed, pass count, resolution, changes in ink restrictions, or changing the total ink limit. When re-linearization is not an option, a new custom profile must be generated.
Conclusion
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