Color Management and Why We Need It - Color Management for Photographers - page 7

Traditional forms of image creation, those I like to call analog tech-
nologies, do not require much color management because all we have to
do is look at the image or artwork and decide if we like what we have
created. A traditional artist can mix a palette of colors until they produce
acceptable color appearance. In traditional photography, a form of color
management of transparency film began by purchasing film of the same
emulsion in bulk and conducting film tests. A target like a Macbeth color
checker would be photographed with this film. After processing the film
we could visually decide what color filter pack to place over the lens to
compensate for any variables in film and processing. Naturally, we
needed to ensure the color lab processed the film to specifications. At this
stage we could view the film on a daylight balanced light box and judge
the color characteristics of the film. Viewing the film under the ideal and
controlled conditions is necessary! A transparency that is underexposed
and too blue may produce acceptable color appearance when viewed
with a light source that's too bright and too yellow. This transparency
was usually the initial part of a very long process required to reproduce
the final image. Most photographers needed nothing more than to deliver
a well-exposed transparency that was free of any unintentional colorcast
(see Fig. 1-1).
If we take this analog color management a step further, and look at
working with color negative film or photographic printing of trans-
parency film, the color management process was simple; view a series of
Fig. 1-1 In the old days,
we needed to be
concerned only with the
color of our original
transparencies when
properly viewed on a
daylight balanced light
box. Today getting film,
prints, and our displays to
match using a digital
process is vastly more
complicated!