Colour Calibrated Monitor: The First Hurdle

[James Billett]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums but have been using the luminous landscape as a resource for two years, hopefully I can give something back as a forum member.

Anyway, the formalities aside, I am the proud owner of an EIZO SX2262Wand and an X-rite Eye1 - which in terms of colour calibration is great (the first hurdle).

However, I sent away a book to be printed by Blurb for a client recently and this is where the slightly more sinister element of colour calibration has caught me. I spent countless hours editing all 110 images in LR, ported them to PS to soft proof with correct profile and with emulate paper box checked. I found the images were very flat in the soft-proof so I bumped up the contrast and had a play with the levels (another good 5 hours of PS) until they looked as though they were slightly more inclined to jump off the page. Still far from perfect but much better than their original pitiful state. I sent the book off to Blurb and selected matte paper.

The book arrived and was given to the client, who was more than happy with the results, but I felt for me personally that the images could have jumped of the page a little more. The front cover of the book, printed on a shiny gloss looked very good - better contrast and saturation.

So what I'd like to pick your brains about really is:

Matte paper - can it display contrast and saturation better or do you think the paper was of poor quality?
In terms of calibration - my monitor was set at 6500k 2.2 Gamma and luminance of 120 cd/m2 - is this still to bright? (I do most of my editing in the evening with very little ambient light.)
My workflow - would I be better off changing my workflow and just use PS with soft proofing to edit from converted RAW file?
When I process a file I aim to keep the highlights from clipping (in LR) and tend to allow the blacks to clip as little as possible - would you recommend anything different?

Regards,

James

[Schewe]

When I process a file I aim to keep the highlights from clipping (in LR) and tend to allow the blacks to clip as little as possible - would you recommend anything different?

In the grand scheme of things, some things are meant to clip. Eliminating any clipping in blacks and highlights will tend to flatten an image out. Black should be black and sometimes you need to force the issue. Same basic deal with highlights although there it can be trickier because you need to determine the point at which texture in the highlights cease to be important.

Matte paper will always be a flatter repro than glossy stock. To a certain extent, you'll just have to live with the fact that some images will not repro as well on matte vs glossy. Matte can't provide the same contrast range and you need to select images that can respond well to the matte paper's reduced dynamic range. A lot of times you need to punch the blacks more for matte and increase the midtone contrast.

Bottom line is you need more experience in predicting how images will reproduce when the ink hits the paper. Soft proofing is a good first step but you still needs some books under the belt to get the feel for it.

[James Billett]

Great answer, thank you.

What books would you recommend as a starting point?

[wolfnowl]

James:  I belief Jeff meant you need to print some books before you get the hang of it.

I'm assuming you were using a supplied printer driver for the proofing?

Mike.

[James Billett]

James:  I belief Jeff meant you need to print some books before you get the hang of it.

I'm assuming you were using a supplied printer driver for the proofing?

Mike.

Hi Mike,

Yeah I used the ICC profile from the Blurb resource site.

Haha I see what he means. Do you know of any on-line, book, or any resource that has information about how to print properly - from the google searches I've performed it seems the workflow strategies aren't shared openly. Everything I have learnt has been from snippets of web pages, video's and probing my lecturers at Uni, all of them uneasy around giving out workflow technique. Or perhaps I am looking at this wrong way... Perhaps it's more a case of spend money and get on with it and experiment. As much as I would like to go with the latter option, commercial printers are not cheap.

Any suggestions? 

[ComputerDork]

I'm totally new at this so might not know what I'm talking about, but I've found this book to be really helpful:

http://www.amazon.com/Real-World-Color-Management-2nd/dp/0321267222/

It seems to be "the" definitive book on all things color management. The only problem with it that I've noticed is that it's something like 5 years old and in some places certain information seems to be a little outdated (like the section on monitors mentioning that LCDs are relatively "new" or something). They could use a 3rd edition to keep up with some technological changes. Their web site might have some update notes though (haven't looked yet).

I think I'm about 1/3rd to 1/2 way through the book. This is one of the only technical books that I'm finding useful enough to read straight through.

[digitaldog]

Yeah I used the ICC profile from the Blurb resource site.

But did they let you convert the original RGB documents using this profile? If not, there are a few possible holes in this workflow (like do they actually use that profile for the printing, with what rendering intent, etc). Just your comment about the front cover and the rest of the book make me wonder. Different paper stock, but one profile?

[James Billett]

ComputerDork - Thank you. Book has been purchased and I can't wait to get stuck in.

digitaldog - This is taken from the Blurb website: The Blurb ICC Profile is based on the GRACoL2009 reference used in high-end commercial printing. Our entire print network adheres to this standard on all of their print devices for the most consistent results possible with print on demand.

Blurb did not allow me to convert to their ICC profile locally.

The book can be printed in matte, lustre or their 'proline' paper and there is only one ICC profile available. As I mentioned before the cover is printed with gloss. Now you're the expert but does this mean that Blurb must receive the images and then convert them at their end based on the selection of paper I have chosen? How much room for error in terms of proofing does this leave?

[digitaldog]

digitaldog - This is taken from the Blurb website: The Blurb ICC Profile is based on the GRACoL2009 reference used in high-end commercial printing. Our entire print network adheres to this standard on all of their print devices for the most consistent results possible with print on demand.
Blurb did not allow me to convert to their ICC profile locally.

Well other than they appear to be dumbing down the process (emulating GRACol) instead of the full gamut of the device... Its NOT good they do not let you convert, you can‘t control the rendering intent., CMM, BPC etc. So it looks like the same kind of dumbed down color management workflow of RGB labs.

[Schewe]

The book can be printed in matte, lustre or their 'proline' paper and there is only one ICC profile available.

And that is a severe limitation cause the contrast range of matte vs luster (glossy) is gonna be different–guaranteed! So it's kinda a built in inaccuracy...matte = reduced contrast range...

[James Billett]

Thanks for the comments guys.

So if I wanted more control over the images that I am printing I need to find a new printer. Does anyone have any recommendations for book making, predominantly for wedding albums.