In this video, I share my thoughts and feelings on photography and color.

Find out more about color management here.

Read other interviews here.

Read my artists statements here.

Category: color management, Interviewed, Video
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Profile Your Printer

December 21, 2011 | 2 Comments

Prints made with default (left) and custom (right) profiles compared.

Good printer profiles help make good prints. Better printer profiles help make better prints. So, logically, you’ll want to use the best printer profiles to help you make the best prints.

How do high quality printer profiles contribute to print quality? A good printer profile helps render optimum shadow and highlight detail, gradation, neutrality and graybalance, as well as color rendition and saturation. (Remember, printer profiles characterize the combination of a printer’s hardware, ink, media setting, and the substrate you choose. You’ll need different profiles for different substrates on the same printer.)

How can you get good printer profiles? Look to three primary sources. One, use profiles provided by printer manufacturers; they’re free. Two, hire a printer profiling service; profiles cost approximately $100 each. Three, make printer profiles yourself; printer profiling systems run between $400 and $1000. (Profiles supplied by substrate manufacturers are of uneven quality; a few are good, many are bad.)

Which solution is right for you? It depends on both your printing conditions and needs.

If you’re using substrates supported by the manufacturer of your printer, try using the profiles they provide first; they’re often quite good. Years ago, Epson raised the bar on the quality of printer profiles provided by manufacturers. The highly sophisticated routines they use to produce their printer profiles processed by supercomputers are truly state-of-the-art. It’s arguable that you can produce better profiles, even with the most sophisticated profiling solutions available. Their profiling routines factor in subtleties like dot structure or screening frequency. One of the reasons a solution like this works is because the technologies and manufacturing standards they use are so consistent that the unit to unit variation between individual printers of the same model is extremely low. (It’s less than a Delta E of 1 or the minimum variation the human eye can detect.) Some, printer manufacturers, like Canon, provide a large number of profiles for substrates made by other companies; their quality is generally quite high with only a few exceptions. Other printer manufacturers, like HP, produce self-profiling printers. They need to be self-profiling, as the state of the printer is constantly changing; when nozzles clog, new nozzles come on line; when ink cartridges are swapped nozzles are replaced. One advantage to a system like this is you can quickly profile a new substrate on a printer with no additional equipment. The quality of the profiles is often good, but there will be times where you’ll want to improve upon it.

No manufacturer provides a comprehensive set of profiles that will cover the entire spectrum of fast-evolving substrate industry. A little experimentation with new media is advised, sometimes a lot. If you experiment with many medias or use more exotic substrates, you’d be well advised to have someone make custom profiles for you or do it yourself.

Read more

Category: color management, Printing
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X-Rites’ Color Checker Passport can be used to quickly deliver more accurate color in a variety of ways.

Set White Balance, White Point, and Black Point

The X-Rite Color Checker Passport is the industry standard target that can be used in several ways to render color in your digital images more accurately – setting white balance, creative enhancement, and visual confirmation.

It’s easy to use. Shoot the Color Checker once at the beginning of each shooting session and you can use that exposure as a target for all exposures made under the same light. The exposure of the target doesn’t have to be perfect. Just, roughly fill the frame with the target; it doesn’t even have to be focussed. To use the exposure of the target, use your choice of Raw conversion software to open it along with other exposures you’d like to apply the same measurements to; click on the appropriate color patches (black for black point, white for white point, gray for gray point); and sync all of the files. It’s that simple.

Create A Camera Profile

The X-Rite Color Checker Passport can also be used to make custom profiles for your individual camera. You can create a camera profile with the same exposure of the target that you use to set white balance. While camera profiles are generated with the same target, the resulting exposures are not used to set white balance, instead they are used to deliver significantly improved color rendition and saturation, providing the best starting point for any color adjustment strategy you choose. Camera profiles are created with the X-Rite software supplied with the Color Checker Passport, stored, and later applied with your choice of Raw conversion software, typically Adobe Camera Raw or Adobe Lightroom.

For optimum results, exposures used to generate camera profiles need to be made under the light (color temperature and spectral distribution) that subsequent exposures are made in. Using two exposures of the target made under different light temperatures, you can create a dual illuminant camera profile that can be used for all exposures made under a wide range of color temperatures. Single illuminant profiles are recommended for exposures made under very warm or very cool light temperatures – below 3600K (golden hours) and above 6800K (twilight).

How do you make a camera profile? First convert one or more exposures of the Color Checker Passport from the manufacturer’s proprietary Raw format to Adobe’s open standard Raw format – DNG. (Use either the free Adobe DNG Converter, Adobe Bridge, or Adobe Lightroom.) Open X-Rite’s Color Checker Passport software. Click DNG or Dual Illuminant DNG. Drag one or two DNG files into the open window. Once the software has identified the specific color patches it needs to build the profile, click Create Profile. The profile will automatically be stored for you in Camera Profiles and will be available for your use the next time you convert a Raw file in either Adobe Camera Raw or Adobe Lightroom. You’ll find it under the Camera Calibration tab/panel under Camera Profile. Save New Camera Raw Defaults and your new camera profile will be automatically loaded when you open Raw files and previews in Adobe Bridge will be rendered with it.

Using a Color Checker Passport target or a camera profile generated with it doesn’t mean that you are locked into the results they generate, they simply give you the best starting point possible for adjusting your images. Read more

Category: color management
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Joe Brady demonstrates making camera profiles with X-Rite’s Color Checker Passport with Photoshop.

Read more in my color management ebooks.

View more in my color management DVD.

Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

Category: color management
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Joe Brady demonstrates making camera profiles with X-Rite’s Color Checker Passport with Lightroom.

Read more in my color management ebooks.

View more in my color management DVD.

Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

Category: color management
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Seth Resnick discusses his use of X-Rite’s Color Checker Passport.

Read more in my color management ebooks.

View more in my color management DVD.

Learn more in Seth’s D-65 workflow workshops.

Learn more in out Digital Photo Destinations workshops.

Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

Category: color management
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X-Rite’s new ColorMunki Display and i1Display Pro make major leaps forward in color managing displays.

Technologically Advanced Hardware

Both ColorMunki Display and i1Display Pro devices feature an advanced, high-end, optical system with custom-designed filters that provide a near perfect match to the color perception of the human visual system, delivering superior color measurement results.  Both devices fully support all modern display technologies, including LED backlight and wide gamut displays. Both devices are spectrally calibrated, making them fully field upgradeable to support future display technologies.
The ergonomic all-in-one design combines three important functions …

Ambient Light Measurement – an integrated ambient measurement diffuser allows you to to take ambient light measurements of your work environment.
Display Profiling – rotate the ambient diffuser arm and adjust integrated counterweight, with push button action, along the USB cord for display profiling ease.
Projector Profiling – rotate the ambient diffuser arm to use as a tabletop stand for device positioning, or use the built-in threaded tripod mount for larger venues.

Next Generation Profiling Software

Ambient Light Measurement – automatically determine the optimum display luminance for comparing prints to your display, based on a measurement of the lighting conditions where prints will be viewed.

Ambient Light Smart Control – the intensity or amount of ambient light surrounding your workspace affects the way you perceive colors on your display. These solutions can compensate for this effect and provide the option to automatically adjust your profile or simply notify you as ambient light conditions change.

Flare Correct™ measures and adjusts your display profile for reduced contrast ratios caused by flare light (or glare) falling on surface of display. By accurately measuring your effective display contrast ratio, you’ll have an even more accurate display profile.

Intelligent Iterative Profiling, an adaptive technology that produces optimized results for maximum color accuracy on each unique display every time you profile.

Automatic Display Control (ADC) technology automates the adjustment of your display’s hardware (brightness/backlight, contrast, and color temperature) to speed up the profiling process and eliminate manual adjustments to ensure highest quality results.

Find out more about ColorMunki Display here.

Find out more about i1Display Pro here.

Read more in my color management ebooks.

Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

Category: Equipment
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I discuss many of my primary passions in this new video from X-Rite.

Find out more at X-Rite.

Learn about the i1Photo Pro here.

View videos on X-Rite’s i1Photo Pro here.

Category: Video, X-Rite i1Photo Pro
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Category: Video, X-Rite i1Photo Pro
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Embedded in the i1Photo Pro program are no nonsense instructional videos that walk you through the software step by step.

i1Profiler Data Analysis allows you to look at and compare printer measurement data. This can be from two different printing devices, to see how closely they perform. Or from different sheets throughout a print run, or day to day, to determine if your device is running within standards.

Read more in my digital photography ebooks here.

View more in my color management DVD.

Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

Category: color management, Video, X-Rite i1Photo Pro
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Embedded in the i1Photo Pro program are no nonsense instructional videos that walk you through the software step by step.

i1Profiler Printer Quality Assurance, or Printer QA can help you determine whether your printer or digital press is within tolerance of defined print standards. You can also use this tool to validate that the printer is staying in tolerance for proofing or production.

Read more in my digital photography ebooks here.

View more in my color management DVD.

Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

Category: color management, Video, X-Rite i1Photo Pro
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Embedded in the i1Photo Pro program are no nonsense instructional videos that walk you through the software step by step.

X-Rite’s i1Photo Pro offers four advanced printer profiling options.

Linearization

OBC Correction

Profile Optimization

ColorChecker Proof.

Read more in my digital photography ebooks here.

View more in my color management DVD.

Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

Category: color management, Video, X-Rite i1Photo Pro
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Embedded in the i1Photo Pro program are no nonsense instructional videos that walk you through the software step by step.

Print targets directly out of i1Photo Pro – not CS5.

When producing printer profiles it’s important to set the print driver properly.

1 Set media type
2 Set resolution
3 Turn off all color management in the print driver

Read more in my digital photography and digital printing ebooks here.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

Category: X-Rite i1Photo Pro
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Now there’s a quick and easy way to evaluate what your monitor can do with the Q&A functions in X-Rite’s latest version of i1Photo Pro. Calibrating and profiling your monitor is the first step.  After that, you can identify which colors are displaying well and which have issues. You can use this information to identify the your best monitor for critical color work and even when it’s time to replace a monitor.

Read more in my digital photography ebooks here.

Learn more in my digital printing and digital photography workshops here.

 

Category: color management, Video, X-Rite i1Photo Pro
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i1Profiler makes it fast and easy to profile your display.This instructional video takes you through the process to achieve accurate on-screen color.

Read more in my digital photography ebooks here.

Learn more in my digital printing and digital photography workshops here.

 

Category: color management, Video, X-Rite i1Photo Pro
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Learn more about color management in my online lessons.
Learn more about color management in my digital printing workshops.

Category: color management, Video
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X-Rite i1Photo Pro

April 8, 2011 | 2 Comments

“The long awaited day is here!  X-Rite i1 Professional solutions, which includes the new i1Photo Pro, are now available. Each solution features the all-new i1Profiler software application designed to delivers superior color results!  i1Profiler is driven by a new color engine, sports a dual mode interface (basic and advanced) and new quality assurance features, plus so much more. The new i1Photo Pro was designed specifically for discerning photographers to attain the highest quality color results and color control throughout your complex digital photo workflow, at a very attractive price.

The new portfolio is comprised of three software/hardware/target bundles ­– i1Basic Pro, i1Photo Pro, i1Publish Pro – and i1Publish, a software/target solution. All four feature groundbreaking new i1Profiler software technology designed to accommodate all levels of proficiency and expertise, and provide the power and control needed to create the highest quality color profiles. The new PANTONE Color Manager color swatch bridging software,  ColorChecker Proof, a new ColorChecker target for direct viewing analysis against a printed target and ColorChecker camera calibration system are also featured.

Upgrade packages are available for those who have i1Pro devices as well as MonacoPROFILER 4 and ProfileMaker 5 users. Read more about the upgrade opportunities and review the features of i1Profiler software at www.xritephoto.com.”

The advances in software make every function more precise.
Printer profiling takes a major leap forward with easy to make light temperature and image specific profiles.

If you haven’t invested in X-Rite technology do it now.
If you have, upgrade now.
This is a major upgrade that all users should seriously consider.

Find out more about i1Photo Pro here.

View more in my DVD 6 Simple Steps to Good Color Management.

Learn more in my digital printing and digital photography workshops here.

Category: color management, Equipment, Software
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BlurbColorVideo
X-Rite and Joe Brady offer this free 52 minute webinar on how to get great color in Blurb books.

video Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Book (37 Minutes)

Learn how to: create your book; work with photos, text, and layouts; upload your book; and more.

video Blurb BookSmart® Design Tips and Techniques (26 minutes)

For those who already know the basics of BookSmart, this intermediate session explores several design ideas you can use in your books.

video Using InDesign® to Make a Blurb Book (3:33)

A short three-minute introduction to using Adobe InDesign® to create compliant PDF files by using the Blurb PDF/X-3 Export Preset and the Blurb Templates.

Learn more with my Bookmaking Lessons.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.

Category: Blurb, color management
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JPBlurb-300x212

I sat down and discussed many issues involving print on demand bookmaking with Brenda Hipsher of X-Rite before my recent Toronto Blurb Seminar – How to Make a Gorgeous Photo Book.

You can listen to three audio excerpts here on X-Rites blog.

Color Management and Bookmaking
Reproducing Black and White & Using BookSmart
Practical Uses for Blurb Books

Find books on bookmaking here.
Learn more about books with these online resources.
Learn more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops.

Category: Blurb, Books, color management
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Do you need to make your own printer profiles?

Probably not, if you’re using a printer manufacturer’s standard papers.

Yes, if you’re using 3rd party or exotic substrates or inks.

Is it hard?

No! This video highlights several easy solutions.

Learn more on my DVD Fine Art Digital Printing.

Learn even more in my Fine Art Digital Printing Workshops series.

Category: Printing, r/evolution, Technique, Video
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