Color Correction
- Started
- Last post
- 12 Responses
- Buckyball2
I recently sent a brochure to press. The proofs came back and a couple of images needed some slight color correcting. It was at that point that one of our account people told me "we've never had this problem before and now we will have to eat the cost of this." I asked another designer in house about the situation and she said that we have documents and color settings to color correct photos before they hit press. Ones that I was never made aware of. Even though we don't have a single color calibrated monitor in house. She then sent everyone this email.
"We have printed out documents that explain photo retouching and color/quality-correcting in detail, and are happy to share these methods with the group.
Had we been aware that some of us were not familiar with these methods or had their own methods, we would have shared them long ago. We apologize!
And as designers, we should know to never send pictures to press without color-correcting them first. Common sense."
At my previous agency I never color corrected anything due to the fact that I had no training to do so and my monitor was not color calibrated. We always had the pros do it at some cost of course.
So my question is this: Does anyone have any links to color correcting methods similar to the ones she spoke about? And how does that work when you don't have a tuned up monitor and an in house printer that is not even close to accurate?
thanks.
- rasko40
colour correcting is a science in itself, and if you haven't got professionally calibrated monitors in house then you are fucked.
There is no fool proof way of checking, thats what proofs are for, pissy xerox copiers and fiery rips are not going to be true, she is being a bitch with no real insight into what the fuck she is talking about.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, especially with dizzy fuckwit account handlers.
- rasko40
but for most images looking into your levels is good enough, channel by channel.
- madirish0
sorry to hear that, but rasko is right pretty much, IMO. it is a gnarly technical sciencce, but one that can definitly be done. basically, the bigest issue is having monitors all "seeing" the same, and having them calibrated VERY consistantly. i think it is generally agreed in this area, that monitors (lcd's or crt's) expire to produce accurate color rendering in somehting like 6 weeks. makes you think.
are you looking for hardware calibration, pre-press set up, or color matching/image correction teps/techniques/links? they are all very different, yet all inter-related.
- Buckyball20
Thanks all. My thoughts exactly. According to them they sent a designer to some course a long time ago and he came back with "number" and "methods" on paper that we could use on our non-calibrated monitors to print on our 7 year old craptastic printer.
I'm feeling better already.
So yes, if you have any online links to tips/pointers to color correcting obvious stuff using levels, curves, etc. that would be great.
thanks
- monkeyshine0
If they were so concerned about accuracy, why wasn't there a press check?
- Buckyball20
I'm going today for the press check. So that's not the problem if I can make moves on press.
One of our other designers just replied to her email with this. Nicely done:
Hmm...
Let me just say, as someone who’s done their due diligence in the printing industry, designers (and clients) by and large grossly underestimate, misunderstand and misuse terms like “color correction” and the like. While there are certainly some “tricks of the trade” as far as retouching and adjusting photography, please don’t make the mistake of assuming we have a controlled color management system in place, or even the means to do so.
Color accuracy is not about a technique or a trick, but rather it’s about having the tools needed to do the job. We have some of the best computer displays you can buy, but they shift and have variations that need to be calibrated to out put correctly. Plus they’re LCD displays which are not capable of displaying a full color spectrum like the high end CRT displays color correction and production professionals use.
And our printer...well I don’t think I need to go into that. ;-)
Bottom line: We’re ALL doing our best with what we have and we get pretty lucky most of the time, but let’s not act too shocked when minor adjustments are needed from time to time on some jobs. Let’s all be on the lookout and go out of our way to help share knowledge, constantly be learning new stuff and help (not criticize) our fellow team members. Remember, to a client a less than favorable outcome reflects badly on Adrenaline – not just one employee...
- gruntt0
nice.
- madirish0
that is one of the best replies to a department-wide bitch session i have ever read. she is spot-on on every point as well.
nice job for sure.
- rasko40
good.
- Buckyball20
I simply replied all and said "I believe the words common sense come to mind"
- rasko40
ooh that one wasn't so tactful
- Buckyball20
yeah wasn't meant to be. lol.