Get the Color Prints You Want: Color Management on the Cheap
by Lee on Sep.27, 2015, under Articles, Lightroom, Monday Morning Tips, Photo Editing, Photoshop CS2/4, Photoshop Elements
CMS (Color Management System) Tips & Tricks
The above screen grabs are from a very powerful tool I bought while researching color management. Chromix ColorThink plots icc profiles as well as image colors in 2D and 3D. The “squiggly” orange area in the 2D chart (top left) represents all the colors in my friend’s photo (right) which appear to be fully contained within the printer gamut (multicolored outline) but when converted to a 3D graph, it’s easy to see that many colors are actually out of gamut meaning the printer can’t reproduce them. The second row shows a 2D graph of all the colors in the PDI test chart (right) versus a 3D graph (center) showing some colors are out of gamut. The main difference is that the colors in the PDI chart can be brought back into gamut without visibly affecting the print but the colors in my friend’s image are so far out that major compromises will be required.
Anyone who prints photos knows it can be tough getting just the right colors from either their own printers or from a service provider. If you’re just pumping out a few prints for Grandma & Grandpa, spot on color probably isn’t a big deal but if you’re printing an 8×10 to frame, getting the right color can be a pretty finicky process. If you’re producing a print for competition, spot on color can be the difference between winning and also ran.
Six months ago, the Sedona Camera Club invited me to present a program on CMS. Specifically, they wanted a program to help members who don’t own their own printers and aren’t interested in spending lots of money to implement a “proper” CMS. Of course, I said, “Sure, no problem” before thinking through what I was getting myself into.
In a flash of inspiration, I decided to break down the presentation into two distinct parts. First, I’ll explain how and why proper CMS is such a huge, complex and expensive endeavor. I’ll explain the science behind color from human eyesight to camera capture to editing and, finally, to print. This will be a 30,000 foot overview, so to speak.
The second half of the program will concentrate on an “old school” technique borrowed from the darkroom, test strips. I’ll demonstrate how to quickly and easily create digital test strips in both Photoshop/Elements as well as Lightroom to avoid multiple, costly bad prints. This isn’t a particularly innovative idea. I used to do this all the time in the old chemical darkroom days. I first read about the digital version in Rob Sheppard’s book, Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing (Lark, 2005, out of print.) In fact, I posted an article about this technique back in 2011. The post was specific to Photoshop Elements and contains a minor difference from what I now recommend but produces nearly the same results.
It’s doubtful most people will spend $150 for a copy of ColorThink plus another $1000 to $3000 for a printer, suitable monitor and colorimeter. However, using test strips, you can get very close. Over the next few weeks, I’ll post step-by-step procedures for making test prints using Photoshop CS4, Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 9 & 13. Stay tuned.
3 Comments for this entry
1 Trackback or Pingback for this entry
-
$1000 Door Prizes at Sedona Meeting | The Digital Photo Guy
October 9th, 2015 on 10:11 am[…] Many sponsors have stepped-up to donate over $1000 worth of door prizes for my program to the Sedona Camera Club (SCC) on November 30, 2015. Sedona is a very art-centric community in the red-rock country of northern Arizona. As you might imagine, a camera club in such an artistically inclined town has many extremely talented members. It was an honor to be invited to speak to them about something I understand, the interface between art and technology. You can read about the presentation in the previous post. […]
-
Welcome to My Cyber Classroom
You've come to the right place for digital camera and photography information and workshops.
Lee Otsubo, The Digital Photo Guy, has presented digital camera and photography classes, seminars, workshops and lessons to over 30,000 participants since 1998. We hope you are next.
We specialize in webinar lessons and "hands-on" photoshoot workshops. Webinar (web conference, video conference, webcast, etc) is the most productive and efficient means of teaching in the 21st century. Contact us for more information about our webinar classes or review the available classes under Workshops. 
Here’s What’s New at Strobist- Travel Photography Is About People: How to Connect, Approach Strangers, and Make Photographs That Matter August 25, 2026For nineteen years, Strobist has been about light. This post is about the other thing, the bigger thing, the thing that took me forty years and ten thousand assignments to fully understand. The success or failure of a travel photographer is not decided by gear, and only partly by technique. It is decided by how […]
- The Traveling Photographer’s Manifesto,Discounted for Strobist Readers June 11, 2024For fifteen years, this site focused on lighting. Before that, I worked as a newspaper photojournalist. Lighting was part of the job. So were access, preparation, and learning how to walk into unfamiliar situations and come back with something useful. Lighting solves technical problems. The harder problems are usually human. The Traveling Photographer’s Manifesto grows […]
- Travel Photography Is About People: How to Connect, Approach Strangers, and Make Photographs That Matter August 25, 2026
- Here’s What’s New at DP Review
- Canon Camera Connect app: how well does it work? October 10, 2026Easy smartphone connection is one of the most asked-for features we hear when talk to people about cameras, so we thought we’d investigate the current state of all the brands’ apps. Beyond a few frustrations, we found Canon’s Camera Connect to be one of the better options, at least with the recent cameras we had […]
- Generative AI scandal has come to one of Nikon’s competitions October 10, 2026The company has stripped an entry to its Small World In Motion competition of its first place prize.
- Canon Camera Connect app: how well does it work? October 10, 2026
October 28th, 2015 on 7:26 am
Will be looking forward to the test print procedures for getting better color prints at home. Am currently printing using the program which came with my Canon cameras (easy photo print ex) as the color is more accurate with that than going thru LR and PSE which are what I use for editing. Still have to adjust as the reds/blues seem to always come out too brilliant…and of course there is that lightness/darkness issue which I fiddle with. Am open to trying something different. Thanks!!
October 28th, 2015 on 7:45 am
Hi Karen,
Thanks for being such a long time reader. Sorry I haven’t gotten around to posting the procedures, I’ve been suffering through a severe gout attack. If you know anyone who suffers from gout, you’ll know how painful and debilitating an attack can be. It takes all my effort to focus for 15 minutes, never mind the 6-8 hours it takes to document an editing process. I stared at an image for about an hour the other day just to make a minor levels adjustment. This getting old stuff is getting old!
Lee
October 28th, 2015 on 8:36 am
As a pharmacist for almost 40 years, I can well imagine the pain you’re in…hope it will resolve soon! Will look forward to your post whenever it occurs. As you can see, I’m late in reading your email update. Nasty 35 degree day with ice crystals flying on the northwest wind here so no gardening and I get to catch up on some photo editing that has piled up. Best to you!
Karen