Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 1
Color Management and
Why We Need It
Why This Topic Was Written
Other than the promise of fame and fortune? Truth be told, I had to be
convinced by some very persuasive friends and colleagues to undertake
such a project. In the end, I decided to write a topic for those people who
felt that color management was too difficult—in other words, a very large
audience. There are a number of excellent topics on the subject of color
management; some written by good friends! I wanted to write a topic,
with a number of self-paced tutorials, to help readers not only under-
stand how a process works but what buttons to press.
My analogy (I am big on analogies, as you will see) was that of
someone who has to learn how to become a good driver. Although it is
not necessary to understand how an internal combustion engine works,
let alone how to rebuild one in order to drive an automobile, having
some familiarity with the mechanics of an automobile can beneficial.
When the battery in your car dies, it is helpful to know where the battery
is located and how to jump-start the vehicle. Mechanics, whether in auto-
motives or in color management, can't be totally ignored. There is a fine
line between understanding color theory and simply using the color
management tools available to get acceptable results. This fine balance
became my quest for the Holy Grail of color management in topic form,
geared toward those who need to spend the majority of their time getting
actual work accomplished.
My goal in this topic is to distill the complexities of color manage-
ment as much as possible so that you can get on with creating and print-
ing images. If you happen to be the kind of person that just has to know
precisely how everything works, you will find a list of excellent resources
on both color management and color theory in the Web Sites listing in
the back of the topic. There are many web sites where you'll find “color
geeks,” as I affectionately like to call them, in endless discussions of how
many
ICC profiles
can dance on the head of a pin. These discussions do
Definition
ICC profile:
A standard,
cross-platform file format
used to describe the
behavior of a device such
as a scanner, digital
camera, display, or output
device. ICC profiles
conform to standards set
by the ICC (International
Color Consortium). ICC
profiles are used in most if
not all modern color
management systems.
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