Make the best of your colour management options

21st Dec 2011

By Artur, theprintspace

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In order to produce prints accurately reflecting your original images, you should invest some time in colour management. It is a vital step in printing your artwork, which involves the calibration of your software and hardware in such a way that your prints will look as close to the original image as possible.

theprintspace is UK’s leading colour management experts, and we offer professional photo and fine art prints for photographers of all levels. My name is Artur and I work at theprintspace, thus I would like to advise you on how to get the best out of your colour management options.

Many people tend to think that colour management is hard to understand and very expensive. I’m happy to disagree! Colour management not only involves several simple steps that can be fully automated, but also it is relatively cheap.

First of all, ensure that the colour of your studio is neutral grey or dark. Any natural light in the room can affect the way you perceive the colours on your screen. Moreover, it is very important not to look at your monitor from an angle, as it influences the colour intensity. Finally, it is absolutely crucial to prevent any light from falling directly on your screen. Find out more on how to set up your studio here.

As soon as you create an appropriate printing environment, you should focus on the calibration of your screen. It is a very simple process, and all you need is a device called ’spectrophotometer’ as well as the software that comes with it. Within a couple of minutes, your screen will adjust to a known industry standard, recognised by your printer.

In general, computer screens are capable of displaying far more colours than a printer can reproduce. Through profile conversion process, you canobtain accurate prints by removing or replacing any colours that the printer may have problems reproducing. The result will be visible in the form of smoother gradients and sharper colours.

There is one last thing that can influence your print – the paper type. There are numerous types of papers, like glossy and matte, textured and plain, etc. The choice of paper should depend on the conditions in which you are looking to display your artwork as well as on the type of image you are printing. It is good practice to print small samples on different types of paper to see which one is the most suitable option for your images.

Please visit theprintspace’s blog to see the full guide to colour management. Should you require further information, please visit our website or drop us a line.