please HELP with some Basic Color Matching questions

"dtn" wrote in message
om...
Any help at all in getting through the color matching processes that
also defines non layman terms along the way would be very useful!!

I think you may want to read something like
http://194.100.88.243/petteri/pont/H...anagement.html
or http://digitaldog.imagingrevue.com/tips/index.shtml or at least the parts
of it that you find interesting. Those sites give you the basics of color
management, as well as the nitty-gritty details if you care. Should also
tell you how to install profiles, calibrate your monitor, etc etc.

Basically, in order to get good looking prints, you need to do this: When
your monitor is somewhat accurately calibrated using a software that
produces an ICM for it (atleast one software/method described on the page I
linked), and your pictures are looking fine on screen, you need to convert
your image to profile of the specific printer that you're gonna use (be it
Costco or a cheap inkjet). I don't know how good PSP is at color management,
but with Photoshop it's a breeze. This profile conversion will adjust the
colors of the image so that they come out right on the printer. If you fail
to do this step, your prints will always suck.

The thing to realize is that your picture is likely to be in a clearly
specificied color space such as sRGB or Adobe RGB. Your monitor, however,
has a color space of its own (hopefully known by the manufacturer). And,
again, the printer has one of its own. So when your photo editing software
displays an image on screen, the image data needs to be remapped from the
image file's working space (say, sRGB), to that of your monitor (defined in
its ICM file) before the image is displayed. Likewise, when the image is
printed, it need to be remapped into the color space of the printer. All
this is only coming to reality if your software understands color
management. Photoshop is pretty good at that, whereas pretty much all other
normal Windows software is not. (When you view an image in Internet Explorer
it's going to look different than when viewed in Photoshop, simply because
IE skips the phase of mapping the image data to the profile of your monitor.
That, for some people, tends to feel very weird indeed, but once you get
your head warped around the idea for *why* that is being done, it feels like
a walk in the park.)

All this color management hazzle would be completely unnecessary if all your
images where in sRGB space, your monitor would comply 100% to the sRGB
specs, and the printer would do the same. However, that's hardly ever the
reality...

Have fun

hmmm I don't know if it is connected but a friend of mine had some prints
of digital images from the same source and every print had a clear and
obvious pink-brown hue

Can't they ask a service team to advise?

Artie

"dtn" wrote in message
om...
I've scowered the postings on printing digital photos and I find it
all so rediculously confusing. There are so many terms about "color
spaces" sRGB and some kind of vector space CYM something something...
and references to one's Gamma but not specifically refering to the
Monitor's Gamma or the video cards Gamma. And furthermore there is the
Gamma setting in Desktop-Advanced-color and the Gamma settings in
some secret option in at least Paint Shop Pro, which one do you set?
And why do you have 3 in Paint Shop Pro and only one in Windows?

And worst of all I think I see references to color temperature D50
D65? I really have little idea what this stuff is. What is it?

I would like to simply print my photos at Costco. I know great prints
are possible but HOW to give them a JEPG or a TIFF file that will tell
their printer the colors I want to see I find completely elusive.
(Not to mention any tiff from Paint Shop Pro isn't readable from their
computer but other people's TIFFs are readable? Why is that?)

I can get an .ICM file of the printer at Costco but how do I use it?

I'm also getting the picture that the world only uses Adobe Photoshop
for real printing is Paint Shop Pro just useless when it comes to
printing accurate color?

I'm using Windows98
I take pictures using a Cannon G5
My Monitor is an ImageQuest Q770 Monitor

I tend to set the Contrast to MAX the brightness to MIN
The Color Mode to USER with R:89 G:70 B:70 (the other Choices are 6500
and 9300). 6500 just makes everything look yellow so why would anyone
use it? Is this 6500 the D65 I see in some postings?

I tend to edit my photos in Paint Shop Pro 8. I'm generally satisfied
with the color I see ON THE MONITOR with these settings from my
digital camera but for printing at Costco, the color only works out if
I take my photo and tweak them making them reder first

Any help at all in getting through the color matching processes that
also defines non layman terms along the way would be very useful!!

Specifically how do you install a printer file like, one for a printer
at Costco, into your system? Does it have to be installed or plugged
into your software program? Do you have to create 'a virtual printer'
Does Paintshop Pro support this? (I couldn't care less about using my
attached printer)

What is the cheapest way to calibrate your Monitor? Does calibration
result in a .ICM file? or just a Gamma number? What is the correct
probably more expensive way to calibrate your Monitor?

Do you have to set your Monitor at an awfull color setting like '6500'
to have any hope of getting good prints or of calibrating your
monitor/printer?

Like I said before is Paint Shop Pro not so Pro and just hit or miss
as far as color rendering does one have to fork in the money to buy
Adobe Photoshop to have any hope of getting colors right?

Thanks very much in advance for reading and answering this somewhat
ranty post.

"dtn" wrote in message =
om...
I've scowered the postings on printing digital photos and I find it
all so rediculously confusing.=20
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
Print directly from your storage media. Select one or two images
that have come directly from your camera you feel represent good
color and exposure. Please don't use any image that has been altered.

I use gamma 2.2 / white point std illuminate A / primaries P22-EBU
and "Display using monitor compensation" ticked. I have almost a
perfect match for color and exposure between monitor and CVS's
wet develop printer. Should I decide to print my own, then for the
print dialogue I select RGB and "use printer color management".

Here's something interesting too. Occassionaly I have to desaturate
an image because it's too far gone to remain in color. The settings
I mention above work superbly. I do not change RGB to print in
greyscale.

sRGB used to work for me when we had a different camera and
a different older monitor.

mark_

"dtn" wrote in message =
om...
I've scowered the postings on printing digital photos and I find it
all so rediculously confusing.=20
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
Print directly from your storage media. Select one or two images
that have come directly from your camera you feel represent good
color and exposure. Please don't use any image that has been altered.

I use gamma 2.2 / white point std illuminate A / primaries P22-EBU
and "Display using monitor compensation" ticked. I have almost a
perfect match for color and exposure between monitor and CVS's
wet develop printer. Should I decide to print my own, then for the
print dialogue I select RGB and "use printer color management".

Here's something interesting too. Occassionaly I have to desaturate
an image because it's too far gone to remain in color. The settings
I mention above work superbly. I do not change RGB to print in
greyscale.

sRGB used to work for me when we had a different camera and
a different older monitor.

mark_