Photography News Issue 29

Interview 18

Photography News Issue 29 absolutephoto.com

Profile SimonPrais Colour management is such an important topic but it is one often neglected by keen photographers who then wonder why their pictures don’t look right. We spoke to the technical director at Color Confidence and asked him his view

Can you briefly sum up what Color Confidence offers? Color Confidence is Europe’s leading colour management specialist in the digital imaging markets.Weofferthewidestrangeofproductsand services from the world’s leading manufacturers including X-Rite, DxO, EIZO, NEC, BenQ and ExpoImaging amongst many others, together with our own-brand range of calibration and colourmanagement essentials for photographers, designers and anyone with an interest in colour. If photographers never print but only post pictures on socialmediawebsites do they really need to engage with colour management? If you spend any time visually adjusting the colour or contrast of a digital image, regardless of its final use, that decision needs to be made on a colour calibrated monitor. Although it’s unlikely that even 1% of viewers on a social media site would have a calibratedmonitor, there are at least two factors to consider. If your monitor is too warm, and you adjust your images based on the assumption that what you see on the screen is correct, anyone with an uncalibrated ‘cool’ monitor viewing the images will see a massive difference to your intended colour balance. Whereas if your monitor is calibrated, you limit the range of colour difference across the range of uncalibrated monitors. Your original image may have been perfect, but if you view it on an uncalibrated monitor, you could end up wasting your time editing unnecessarily whilst also destroying your image. Where should a reader start if they want to colour manage their workflow? Is it, for example, necessary to start with the camera and work through to the output device? The most practical point to start from is monitor calibration. A calibrated monitor enables you to determine deficiencies in your camera, printer or viewing conditions. There seem to be a great many colour management devices on the market. With a limited budget, what is the first item to buy? To back up my previous answer, it would have to be a monitor calibrator. A properly calibrated monitor is essential for colour critical work such as photography. A profiled screen gives you a trusted source for viewing your images so that you can be confident in the results. If budget allows, I would recommend the X-Rite i1Display Pro at £207, which offers the highest standard of on-screen colour accuracy for displays and projectors. Alternatively, I would recommend the X-Rite ColorMunki Display at £139.20, which has slightly fewer features but is still sufficient for achieving consistent colour accuracy. If you can justify a new monitor, high- end monitors are frequently offered with the benefit of a discount off a calibrator, if purchased at the same time. The monitor is clearly important, but many readers stick with what came with their PC bundle. Is that okay or should they consider an upgrade? They should definitely consider an upgrade. There is a considerable difference between a £100

as this will indicate if the printer will be easily colour managed, and if you want to use third- party paper such as Tecco, use colour profiles or create your own. Printers range from having just four colour cartridges (CMYK) to 12. A minimum of seven or eight colours that include light cyan, light magenta and light black/grey provides higher- quality prints without visually apparent dots in the light tones. Whereas the addition of orange and green expands the colour range with increased colour saturation. Many readers complain of the final print not looking anything like the image they saw on- screen. What advice do you have to get colour- correct prints? I would recommend they purchase an X-Rite ColorMunki Photo at £414, an all-in-one entry- level calibration process that delivers fast, accurate matching from capture to display and print. However, even with that, such complaints can arise because people overlook the viewing light. If the illumination of your monitor isn’t matched to the illumination of your print, one will look lighter or darker than the other. If you can’t justify allocating a viewing booth for standardised viewing conditions, a GrafiLite at £61.27 will give you a daylight-balanced consistent temperature and brightness level to be matched against your monitor. Most people will have their computer and printer in a domestic environment. Have you got any tips to help them achieve the best possible set-up? Yes, ideally they should use a monitor hood and a viewing light or GrafiLite. Most professional monitors come with an option of a hood included, if not, then the PChOOD Pro at £71.44 is an adaptable hood, which will fit anything from a 15in to a 26in monitor. If you had to give just one piece of colour management advice to our readers, what would that be? Ensure that you regularly calibrate your monitor. Your monitor will be gradually changing with time so without monthly calibration, it’s a constantly moving target.

monitor bundled with a PC and a £500-£900 professional monitor, and it’s not just the price point. Any editing or decision on how accurate a photo is depends on what you see on your monitor. That is why it is important to pick the right quality of monitor to suit your needs. Is there such a thing as an ideal monitor?What should a reader look for when looking to buy one and what sort of budget will they need? The NEC SpectraView, EIZO CG and BenQ PG colour critical range of monitors include all the key qualities of an ideal monitor. These are available in a number of sizes and resolutions to suit an individual’s requirements. A quality monitor will have an In-Plane Switching (IPS) panel type. IPS panels offer a much larger colour gamut than Twisted Nematic (TN) panels, which are frequently used in laptops. A further benefit of IPS panels over both TN and Vertical Alignment (VA) panels, used on standard-grade monitors, is the colour consistency and viewing angle. Viewing such panels from even a slight angle causes a shift in the display, whereas IPS panel technology provides you with consistency from increased viewing angles. Professional monitors will also be validated for uniformity across the display. Such monitors generally include hardware calibration software. This communicates directly with the monitor for optimised colour accuracy. Budget constraints are often a factor, and although quality to achieve good colour accuracy over size is a good generalisation, there are some instances when some of the quality features need to be trimmed back when a larger panel size is crucial. The Monitor Showroom on our website has a star rating against all monitors that are suitable for colour accurate work. If you can’t justify both quality and the required size, it is worth considering retaining your old monitor for general use and using a secondmonitor for colour critical work. With many people buying 4K televisions, is it feasible for someone to use one of these as their editing monitor? Although the latest 4K televisions offer a much higher resolution than standard HDTVs, and look a tempting option as a computer screen, they are not suitable as an image-editing monitor. The 4K TVs are designed to give high-contrast, punchy images for primarily displaying TV, films and video, so will display images with increased contrast and saturation even when profiled. We recommend using an accurate colour manageable monitor, and with 4K monitors recently introduced, they should be considered for editing 4K whereas 4K televisions should be avoided. The final link in the chain is output. What advice do you have for readers looking for a high-quality photo printer? Stick to the main photo market manufacturers, Epson and Canon, and check that the model is categorised as a photo printer. I’d avoid all-in-one devices as they generally don’t have the colour quality required for photo printing. When researching a printer, download the manual and look at the key features, especially the print driver colour management options,

Biography

Years in the photo industry? 30 years Current location Birmingham Last picture taken I can’t remember that far back! I ammore concerned with offering colour management solutions to help support photographers. When youwere younger, what did youwant to bewhen you grewup? A creative professional Dogs or cats? Neither, but if I had to choose – cats Toast or cereal? On a weekday or on the weekend? Email or phone call? Email

Any editing or decision on how accurate a photo is depends on what you see on your monitor

colorconfidence.com

Above A correctly calibrated monitor is one of the most important aspects of colour management in post-processing. Using a monitor calibrator like the X-Rite ColorMunki Display will allow you to achieve consistent colour accuracy throughout your workflow.