Color Management Made Simple

Codogg

I think I have about fried my brain trying to figure out color management:huh
Is there any books you suggest or SIMPLE tutorials to set up my pc and printer? How do I find the monitor and printer profiles and what do I do with them when I find them? I have an HPw2207 monitor and a Canon Pro9000 printer. I capture images in RAW format, when I transfer them to the PC they come out as an CR2 file. Photoshop CS2 doesn't recognize this file so I do my RAW editing in Digital Photo Professional. After I edit the photo, should I print it from DPP or should I convert it and print it from Photoshop? If I do convert them, should I convert them to JPEG or TIF? I've read about soft proofing in PS but I'm not sure how to set it up. Can someone please point me in the right direction. How to set it up and which program should I print from?:D

claudermilk

You have more than one question in there.

The foundation for color management is getting your monitor calibrated. Start with that, which requires buying some hardware such as eyeOne, Huey, Spyder, etc. The software included will step you through generating your default ICC profile, which your editing software sould be able to recognize automatically.

The other question regarding RAW, first what camera? Your CR2 files is indeed the Canon RAW file. If your camera is old enough, you should be able to go to Adobe's site & download the last version of Adobe Camera Raw for PS CS2. If your camera is newer than CS2, you're out of luck there & have to stick with DPP, upgrade to CS3, or look at another converter. I normally convert to TIFF (from BibblePro) and do final edits & print from CS. TIFF allows 16-bit color, while JPEG forces you to 8-bit color; I prefer to retain as much color data as long as possible.

ziggy53

claudermilk wrote:

... If your camera is newer than CS2, you're out of luck there & have to stick with DPP, upgrade to CS3, or look at another converter. ...

You can also get the RAW to DNG converter, process the CR2 files, or whatever as long as it's supported by the converter, and then use CS2/ACR to open the DNG files.

I do that with Canon 40D RAW files and it works pretty well.

Raw Therapee is able to open the 40D CR2 files natively, or DNG files, and save them as 16 bit TIFFs.

Diff

I'm a total novice when it comes to using CS3 powerfully just with jpg. When I look at the details involved with "Color Management" my head begins to spin and my eyes roll back in my eyes. When I throw in ACR, it’s (almost) a total blackout.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p>
[FONT=&quot]What’s my point? Side back, breath deeply, and take your time. There are some valuable resources here. Understanding color management is a L O N G road. [/FONT]

Codogg

claudermilk wrote:

You have more than one question in there.

The foundation for color management is getting your monitor calibrated. Start with that, which requires buying some hardware such as eyeOne, Huey, Spyder, etc. The software included will step you through generating your default ICC profile, which your editing software sould be able to recognize automatically.

The other question regarding RAW, first what camera? Your CR2 files is indeed the Canon RAW file. If your camera is old enough, you should be able to go to Adobe's site & download the last version of Adobe Camera Raw for PS CS2. If your camera is newer than CS2, you're out of luck there & have to stick with DPP, upgrade to CS3, or look at another converter. I normally convert to TIFF (from BibblePro) and do final edits & print from CS. TIFF allows 16-bit color, while JPEG forces you to 8-bit color; I prefer to retain as much color data as long as possible.

Thank you! You're correct, I have many more questions!! I have software ordered to calibrate my monitor, hopefully this will solve some of my mystery.

My camera is a 40D and I'll try converting to a TIFF and see how it works.

Codogg

ziggy53 wrote:

You can also get the RAW to DNG converter, process the CR2 files, or whatever as long as it's supported by the converter, and then use CS2/ACR to open the DNG files.

I do that with Canon 40D RAW files and it works pretty well.

Raw Therapee is able to open the 40D CR2 files natively, or DNG files, and save them as 16 bit TIFFs.

Thanks Ziggy,
Where do I get the RAW to DNG converter?

Codogg

Diff wrote:

I'm a total novice when it comes to using CS3 powerfully just with jpg. When I look at the details involved with "Color Management" my head begins to spin and my eyes roll back in my eyes. When I throw in ACR, it’s (almost) a total blackout.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p>
[FONT=&quot]What’s my point? Side back, breath deeply, and take your time. There are some valuable resources here. Understanding color management is a L O N G road. [/FONT]

Thanks Diff,
Do you know of any books or tutorials to help the process?

ziggy53

Codogg wrote:

Thanks Ziggy,
Where do I get the RAW to DNG converter?

Google for 'RAW DNG converter', without the single quotes.

Codogg

ziggy53 wrote:

Google for 'RAW DNG converter', without the single quotes.

Thanks Ziggy!
Where can I find Google?
Just Kidding....Just Kidding

Do you have any suggestions on books or tutorials?

claudermilk

Codogg wrote:

Thanks Diff,
Do you know of any books or tutorials to help the process?

I'd suggest Real World Color Management: http://www.colorremedies.com/realworldcolor/

I haven't gotten this one myself (I'll have to remedy that), but the other books in the series I've found supremely helpful. Bruce Fraser does an extremely good job of making some of these complex subjects understandable (Real World Camera RAW I found to be invaluable). Andrew ought to pipe up eventually with his book; I don't always agree with him, but he knows his stuff.

Art Scott

Codogg wrote:

Thanks Ziggy,
Where do I get the RAW to DNG converter?

If you haven't already found it ....go to Adobe.com and search for DNG converter.........