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Author Topic: Recommendation for Color Management Books  (Read 2864 times)

denalilap

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Recommendation for Color Management Books
« on: May 27, 2018, 01:25:08 am »

I'm looking for a book to help me get a better understanding of color management, with the primary goal of improving my photo prints. I'm considering: "Real World Color Management" but noticed the copyright is 2005. Is there something more current that one would recommend? Given that authors are highly regarded, I was thinking it might provide worthwhile foundational information, even though it is 13 years old. That said, I also think a more current treatment might benefit me more.

Les
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BobDavid

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2018, 02:31:54 am »

In the book, Dan Margulis  talks a lot about color correcting scanned pictures and preparing them for press. He does a pretty good job of explaining the mechanics of color management. There's interesting stuff about bouncing around different color spaces for color correcting. He doesn't get into inkjet printing and wide gamut displays. You may want to look around for something more recent.



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Rhossydd

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2018, 03:29:49 am »

'Color management for photographers' by Andrew Rodney (digitaldog on Lula) is still the best book I've seen on the subject. It's got all the basics covered very well, but like most books on the subject details of software are outdated.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2018, 10:04:21 am »

In the book, Dan Margulis  talks a lot about color correcting scanned pictures and preparing them for press. He does a pretty good job of explaining the mechanics of color management. There's interesting stuff about bouncing around different color spaces for color correcting. He doesn't get into inkjet printing and wide gamut displays. You may want to look around for something more recent.

Dan Margulis writes mainly about colour correction using Photoshop - a different subject from color management.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2018, 10:11:09 am »

I'm looking for a book to help me get a better understanding of color management, with the primary goal of improving my photo prints. I'm considering: "Real World Color Management" but noticed the copyright is 2005. Is there something more current that one would recommend? Given that authors are highly regarded, I was thinking it might provide worthwhile foundational information, even though it is 13 years old. That said, I also think a more current treatment might benefit me more.

Les

Les - the fundamentals of colour management haven't changed since the publication of Real World Colour Management 2nd Edition. So the fact that it was published in 2005 doesn't matter. It's still the most in-depth comprehensive treatment of the fundamental principles available. I agree with Paul about Adnrew's book "Color Management for Photographers" - it's an excellent guide on detailed procedures and still provides very practical guidance despite the fact that the software environment has evolved since he wrote it. The most up-to-date published resource in book form that I'm aware of is Tom Ashe's "Color Management and Quality Output" (Focal Press 2014, Series Editor Katrin Eismann). This book is up-to-date on software and also provides very practical insight and guidance on setting up color managed workflows.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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BobDavid

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2018, 02:24:37 pm »

'Dan Margulis writes mainly about colour correction using Photoshop - a different subject from color management'.

True that. Not to split hairs, but if one isn't able to correct color correctly, color management is either pointless or unmanageable. Just an aside: 8% of the male population is color blind. Dan's book is a good starting place, especially if you are concerned about preparing files for SWOP. I don't know where the line for color correction ends and color management begins. From a layman's standpoint, they are not mutually exclusive.

Disclaimer: I am not a color scientist. As a former FX designer, analog cinema era, and a sole proprietor, now retired, of a successful business specializing in technical and creative photography, I think color correction is intertwined with color management. ...of course, that's just my opinion.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #6 on: May 27, 2018, 02:41:45 pm »

It's not. You can't colour correct properly if you don't colour manage properly. Colour management is about creating a technical environment that assures coherence of colour and tone between devices and between outputs and inputs and it covers all images fed into a colour-managed workflow. Colour correction is about editing the appearance of specific images in whole or in part. The processes involved in these two different things are themselves different. There is no line between them and there is no overlap; they are just different.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Doug Gray

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2018, 03:59:09 pm »

It's not. You can't colour correct properly if you don't colour manage properly. Colour management is about creating a technical environment that assures coherence of colour and tone between devices and between outputs and inputs and it covers all images fed into a colour-managed workflow. Colour correction is about editing the appearance of specific images in whole or in part. The processes involved in these two different things are themselves different. There is no line between them and there is no overlap; they are just different.
Yep, different animals and you can't do color correction in a repeatable, controlled way without good color management. I also agree with others that Andrew's book covers color management very well and is highly accessible.

One thing missing, or at least I haven't found anything on it, is a good book for photographers and printers that addresses color appearance. That is, how an image can appear different in different environments. Especially things like a borderless image displayed on walls of differing lightness or even background tint as well as illumination levels. Said other way, what techniques could be used to adjust an image so that it appears most similar when the environment it will be shown in is known?  There is a reasonably developed science, "Color appearance models," out there but translating the techie stuff into something more widely accessible could be useful.
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BobDavid

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2018, 07:23:01 pm »

"Colour management is about creating a technical environment that assures coherence of colour and tone between devices and between outputs and inputs and it covers all images fed into a colour-managed workflow.'

Okay. Sorry. I confused author Dan Margulis for Fraser et al.  "Real World Color Management" is a great book; it's the first book I read on color management. As for color correction, Magulis is worth checking out.
« Last Edit: May 27, 2018, 08:10:04 pm by BobDavid »
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2018, 08:28:45 pm »

Ah, OK, when you mentioned Margulis I was wondering in the back of my mind where that came from and whether you were mixing him up with another author. Thanks for clarifying.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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BobDavid

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #10 on: May 27, 2018, 10:40:21 pm »

Ah, OK, when you mentioned Margulis I was wondering in the back of my mind where that came from and whether you were mixing him up with another author. Thanks for clarifying.

Thanks for catching that.
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Kevin Raber

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #11 on: May 28, 2018, 06:43:02 am »

This site has some very good resources for color management.  Have you watched this VIDEO?  Also, go to the home page, click on the search icon and put the words color management in.  You'll find articles and all sorts of resources.  You get these resources as part of your membership.  Just search for them.
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Rand47

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #12 on: May 28, 2018, 11:57:59 am »

This site has some very good resources for color management.  Have you watched this VIDEO?  Also, go to the home page, click on the search icon and put the words color management in.  You'll find articles and all sorts of resources.  You get these resources as part of your membership.  Just search for them.


+1 . . .  I cut my teeth re color management with the LULA videos.  Then on to the books mentioned above.   While not a book “on color management” per se, Jeff Schewe’s book, “The Digital Print” is of real value to anyone looking to up their game in printing.

Rand
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denalilap

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #13 on: May 30, 2018, 09:28:05 pm »

Thanks, everyone, for the recommendations.
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joofa

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #14 on: May 31, 2018, 01:09:28 pm »

I think color correction is intertwined with color management. ...of course, that's just my opinion.

It's not.

Yes, I tend to agree that color correction and color management are related. Both, change the input color values to a desired output. If using profiles, then color management does the needful more automatically, where as color correction could be a relative more manual, labor-intensive process. IMHO, Mark Segal's view point is similar to that if I sit in a passenger seat of a car then it is not a car. But, if I drive the car then it is. Because, the former is being driven automatically (without one's involvement), and later is using manual effort.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Recommendation for Color Management Books
« Reply #15 on: May 31, 2018, 04:37:09 pm »



Yes, I tend to agree that color correction and color management are related. Both, change the input color values to a desired output. If using profiles, then color management does the needful more automatically, where as color correction could be a relative more manual, labor-intensive process. IMHO, Mark Segal's view point is similar to that if I sit in a passenger seat of a car then it is not a car. But, if I drive the car then it is. Because, the former is being driven automatically (without one's involvement), and later is using manual effort.

Nope, not a relevant analogy. To make sense of your analogy in this context it would be appropriate to view the passenger and the driver as performing different functions in the automobile. The former is being driven and the latter is driving. The person being driven can be reading a book or gazing at the passing scenery, while the latter needs to keep his/her eyes peeled on the road and the traffic. They both end up at the same destination but they are doing very different things on the way there. So it is between colour management and colour correction. I doubt I'll be saying any more about this distinction. You and perhaps some others may not agree, but that's OK :-) - vive la difference.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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