Les Walkling - Colour Management
15-16 November 2008
This advanced weekend course presents a logical and comprehensive approach to accurately colour managing all aspects of digital imaging, from capture to editing and output in digital workflows. Colour management is at the heart of every contemporary digital imaging process. Its successful integration and regulation will increase production efficiency while reducing costs and significantly improving image quality and colour accuracy. It will also help you to understand the suitability of different colour management systems, strategies, software and hardware for your own needs. Topics covered include:
The Principles and Practice of Colour Management
• Understanding colour reproduction in digital workflows
• The relationship between an image and its colour space
• How to work with camera, scanner, monitor and printer profiles
• The difference between calibration, linearization, and profiling
• ICC compliant colour managed workflows
Setting up a Colour Managed Workflow
• Choosing the right Greyscale, RGB and CMYK working spaces
• Photoshop™/Camera RAW™/Lightroom™ errors and limitations
• Profile to profile conversions - scanning/capturing and printing images
• Working with commercial labs and prepress services
• Print viewing environments and softproofing strategies
Device Profiling
• Creating custom camera, scanner, monitor, and printer profiles
• Profile editing software - editing profiles for visual compensation
• Critical comparisons of available profiling software and hardware
• Sourcing and evaluating commercially available profiles
• Spectral analysis of devices, environments and colour appearance
Alternative Colour Management Strategies
• Analysing profiles for accuracy, reliability and device stability
• Managing the scanning of colour negatives
• Implementing and automating colour managed production workflows
• Separating into CMYK colour spaces and device link profiles
• The limits of ICC based colour management
The course is based around a series of practical demonstrations that demystify colour management and integrate the critical function it plays in contemporary digital imaging workflows. Real world examples are used to illustrate how to accurately implement colour management in everyday production, including collaborating with service providers and working with non colour managed equipment and facilities. Detailed course notes and calibration guides are provided.
