Colour Management

Colour management is the process that ensures the colours of your images remain accurate from the camera or scanner, to the screen and on to paper. With the release of the latest version of our software and website, we have gone to great lengths to ensure the colours in our books are as accurate as possible, however we are only half of the equation - a few basic steps by you when preparing your images will allow you to take advantage of the new improved service.

Colour management is a vast topic so this page only contains an overview of the subject, but should indicate to you whether you are doing enough to achieve predictable and accurate prints, or if you need to adjust your colour workflow.

In short, calibration is the process of adjusting your equipment to its intended best condition, while profiling is the measuring of your hardware's colour capabilities so that others can reproduce the same colours.

3 golden rules...

• calibrate your monitor regularly - if you don't, you could actually be doing more harm than good to the colours in your photos & you'll never be able to match what's on screen to what's on paper
• be aware of what colour space you work in & when saving your files always select the "embed profile" option so the software knows too
• preview your files via the printer profile so you are familiar with the effect of the printer on your images

Momento's colour workflow

As of version 2, the Momento software takes advantage of an ICC based colour managed workflow featuring the following:

• Input profile recognition: assuming your files have profiles embedded, the Momento software will recognise your working colour space & convert to its native work space of Adobe RGB (1998). If no profiles are detected, sRGB is assumed to be the files' colour space.
  
• Monitor profile recognition: if a monitor profile is available, the software will display your images accurately on screen (assuming this feature is enabled in Program Settings)
  
• Soft proofing: the equipment we use for the page prints has been profiled for the stock we print on. By viewing your images via this profile you can see the effect of the print process on your colours in a program such as Photoshop.
  
• Printer calibration: maintenance and calibration are conducted on the printer before each day's printing to ensure the best colours

Calibrating your monitor

To benefit from Momento's colour managed workflow, we suggest that you calibrate your monitor weekly in order to minimise the inevitable colour drift that is normal in most work environments.

Monitor calibration is something you can do yourself or by hiring a professional to calibrate your monitor onsite. Our research suggests that onsite calibration would start at $400 for an initial calibration, and a DIY calibration solution would cost $400 but can be used to re-calibrate regularly. See our Service Directory for professional DIY or onsite assistance.

Note:

• The Master Book File that you send for printing provides us with basic information about your colour workflow which helps us print your pages as accurately as possible. It lets us know if your images had profiles embedded and if you are working with a profiled monitor. In the event of a complaint about colour reproduction, we would use this information as part of the assessment of the validity of the complaint.

Colour space

A colour space defines the total range of colours that can be produced by a device. Nearly all digital photography or scanning is done in of the following colour spaces:

• sRGB: the most common colour space for consumer equipment as it doesn't have the greatest range of colours in its gamut but is therefore a good lowest-common-denominator for most devices.
• Adobe RGB (1998): the preferred working colour space for most professionals as it has a much wider range of colours in its gamut.

Programs such as Photoshop let you set the colour space in which you work (see Colour Settings in the edit menu). When you save image files, you should always have "embed profile" enabled in the "Save As" dialog so that the Momento software can interpret your images correctly.

Note:

• Always be aware of the colour space of an image - if the source colour space is known, then you can freely convert to another space.
• Never assign a colour profile to an image unless you are sure of its origin.

Photoshop Colour Settings

Below are the Colour Settings that we recommend using for Photoshop. To access these settings, go to Colour Settings in the Edit menu (this may be in different locations for different versions of Photoshop)

The main section to focus on is the top one, "Working Spaces". If for what ever reason you don't wish to work in Adobe RGB, then the RGB field should reflect your preferred profile, however we advise Adobe RGB as not only does it have a very wide range of colours, it is also the native colour space for the Momento software.

The settings in the Colour Management Policies section are set to be the most rigorous and will always warn you if your files are not in the preferred space. If you are conifident about your files, you could change this section to reflect your preferences.

Soft proofing

To see the effect of printing on your images, you can preview your images via the printer profile. Assuming you are working with a calibrated monitor, this will help you assess whether the edits on images are within the capabilities of the printer or whether you can adjust the colours to suit the printer. We have provided profiles for our Satin and Art stocks.

How to install and use the Momento soft-proof profiles:

1. Download the profiles
2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file
3. Install the ICC files:
   - Windows 2000, XP & Vista: Right click on the ICC file and select Install
   - Mac: copy the files to the folder: \Users\Library\ColorSync\Profiles
4. The profile will appear in your image editing software as "Momento Pages Satin" or "Momento Pages Art"

How to soft proof in Photoshop:

• Open the image to be checked
• In the View menu select Proof Setup > Custom..., and set the fields as shown below, and choose the profile for appropriate Momento stock: Satin or Art
• Use CTRL+Y switch the profile on and off
• Use CTRL+Shift+Y enable a the gamut warning - this highlights all the pixels in your image whose colours are outside the colour range of the printer

Notes:

• If you are unfamiliar with CMYK printing please be aware that your monitor is capable of producing much brighter and more saturated colours than printed paper, however the percieved printed image will still look correct if good colour management is adhered to.
• It is not advised to work with this output profile enabled while you edit the colours of your photos. Instead, use the profile after editing, to ensure that the colours are not effected too greatly by the printer.
• Never actually convert to the printer profile as this is handled by the printer

For comparison

To familiarise yourself with our print process, you can request a print sample page to be sent to you and than compare it with the original PDF file.

• Email your street address to sales@momento.com.au to have the print sample posted to you.
• Download the original PDF file and open it in Acrobat Pro. Important: make sure the working colour space for Acrobat in Colour Settings is set to "Adobe RGB (1998)" or this comparison will be meaningless.

To learn more about Colour Management

There is a great UK website called the Technical Advisory Service for Images that provides plenty of basic and advanced information, including:

• Colour Management For Beginners
• Colour Management in Practice
• Advanced Colour Theory
• There's also information at the International Colour Consortium website, home of the international body defining industry colour standards