Scott MacQuarrie CPP, ASMP General Member
As I was starting down the path of professional photography, I decided to join some of the professional organizations and learn more about both photography itself and the business of photography. A common piece of advice was to make sure my color management was under control.
The reason, as I was informed, was that my eyes, my camera, my monitor, and my printer all perceive color differently. What is displayed correctly on one may not be displayed correctly on the other without using color management. Since my monitor is used for EVERY photograph I produce, it is critical that it is calibrated and profiled properly. I purchased the EZcolor Suite by X-Rite and started color profiling my monitor. The improvement was obvious, particularly with my delivered product to clients and in the quality of the published work.
When I started printing my work, I upgraded to an Epson 3800 printer. My first attempts at prints were disasters and I thought my printer was defective. Following some excellent advice from fine art printers, I upgraded to the professional X-Rite i1Pro using i1Match software. The difference was like night and day, with properly profiled printer/paper leading to prints that match my screen.
I’ve since upgraded to i1Publish Pro 2 featuring iProfiler software and the i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer. I profile my monitors, my printers and papers, and my projectors. I also use the Colorchecker Passport to profile my camera in the field for different lighting conditions. My color workflow is carefully managed from capture to view to print.
Color management is absolutely critical to creating my best work. Leaving out color management is not a shortcut it’s a wrong turn. High quality professional work is impossible without the foundation of good color management.