COLOR CORRECTING Monitor Calibration Test Page Digital Boutique Services

The Gray Bar (desaturated RGB):

Above, the 15–step gray bar is very useful in determining general monitor accuracy.

• All 15 steps should be unique and distinguishable from the other — a pure white to a pure black.

• The desaturated gray steps should be neutral with no color cast, including the gray, neutral pages in my site.

In other words, if the gray bar (and this page) are not neutral, or any of the 15 steps blend together, the monitor profile is bad and needs calibrating, profiling.

BASIC COLOR MANAGEMENT THEORY

The biggest peeve I have — buying color daily from commercial labs over the past 18 years — is receiving unbalanced, crappy color. In fact, I have researched, tested and written about professional digital color management to get it right in my own WorkFlow — so I never again have to deliver someone else's bad color to my clients.

To SEE ICC PROFILES IN ACTION and to TEST IF YOUR WEB BROWSER IS COLOR MANAGED — all JPEGS there have embedded profiles and will display AppleRGB, sRGB, AdobeRGB idenically if your browser is color managed, along with untagged versions of the same files.

If reading up or troubleshooting WHY color washes out desaturates on the internet, or when Save for Web or ImageReady, please see my sRGB is the correct color space for the internet Photoshop tutorial, and Mac computer monitors should calibrate to 2.2 gamma, 6500/D65.

The geniuses with Apple®, Adobe® Photoshop®, and the International Color Consortium (ICC) have made producing consistent color across devices and printers routine. There is no longer a good excuse for professionals not getting it right, or worse, the working pros who are destroying good files on a daily basis (out of ignorance) and then blaming our good files.

Color Correcting Digital Boutique Services — www.gballard.net

Hardware Monitor Calibration Getting correct digital color starts with an accurate viewing monitor. My monitors are hardware calibrated (with a puck that attaches to the screen). The color–management software will do the rest (if we don't break it)...and not breaking it is the trick;)	The Gray Bar (desaturated RGB): Above, the 15–step gray bar is very useful in determining general monitor accuracy. • All 15 steps should be unique and distinguishable from the other — a pure white to a pure black. • The desaturated gray steps should be neutral with no color cast, including the gray, neutral pages in my site. In other words, if the gray bar (and this page) are not neutral, or any of the 15 steps blend together, the monitor profile is bad and needs calibrating, profiling.
ICC–SAVVY WOFKFLOWS:
In a professional ICC–savvy (color–managed) 16-bit Adobe RGB WorkFlow, I balance color visually off my calibrated monitor screen and only "go by the numbers" in the black, neutral and white. This means my color will CONVERT faithfully to press CMYK, to the ink–jet print, to the internet, to the DVD movie, to the bill board, to your monitor.
BASIC COLOR MANAGEMENT THEORY The biggest peeve I have — buying color daily from commercial labs over the past 18 years — is receiving unbalanced, crappy color. In fact, I have researched, tested and written about professional digital color management to get it right in my own WorkFlow — so I never again have to deliver someone else's bad color to my clients. To SEE ICC PROFILES IN ACTION and to TEST IF YOUR WEB BROWSER IS COLOR MANAGED — all JPEGS there have embedded profiles and will display AppleRGB, sRGB, AdobeRGB idenically if your browser is color managed, along with untagged versions of the same files. If reading up or troubleshooting WHY color washes out desaturates on the internet, or when Save for Web or ImageReady, please see my sRGB is the correct color space for the internet Photoshop tutorial, and Mac computer monitors should calibrate to 2.2 gamma, 6500/D65. The geniuses with Apple®, Adobe® Photoshop®, and the International Color Consortium (ICC) have made producing consistent color across devices and printers routine. There is no longer a good excuse for professionals not getting it right, or worse, the working pros who are destroying good files on a daily basis (out of ignorance) and then blaming our good files.
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