"Idahoe" <tdardas@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:5e796b7b-d4cd-4145-96ee-d39b4e98d0a3@28g2000hsw.googlegroups.com...
> Is color management necessary?
>
> I am a casual photographer and like to have quality prints. I
> normally get very good color from Ofoto. However, I did have the
> experience of having a photo returned from Ofoto developing that
> printed white snow on my monitor as purple on the print.

Open the image, and look at the numbers. We all make many subjective
judgements when adjusting color. The question of whether something is gray
or not is a quantative, not a subjective, question. In normal working
spaces (sRGB, Adobe RGB, etc) if something is gray, the RGB values will be
equal. Use Photoshop's info palette to determine whether this is the case
or not. It will be a more reliable indicator than your eyes, and is a
better first reference, even if your monitor is carefully calibrated.

> I mainly want to avoid these large errors in developing. Is color
> management necessary for this? I have read:
>
> Yes: http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/m...alibration.htm
> http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...proofing.shtml
> http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...-profile.shtml

These are all good folks, well worth listening to.

> No: http://kenrockwell.com/tech/color-ma...-for-wimps.htm
Entertaining reading, indeed. I would treat it as such. Unfortunately, I
have to wince at the bombastic way that he presents things that are
basically true. It makes me want to keep my distance, if you know what I
mean.

> I am uncertain about how profiling works in my setting. I have no
> printer and want to use a profile for my monitor from a developing
> company (calypso for example)? I think I need to download a profile
> from Calypso into my computer for the type of monitor/type of
> developing I want.
> Is this the correct approach?

No - calibrate your monitor independently of your printer, perhaps using
Photoshop's soft proofing feature to preview the image, and look for out of
gamut colors. I say "perhaps" because I think the benefits of using
profiles, say, for a specific Fuji Frontier, are very limited. If you
would like to experiment with this, send them images that you have "soft
previewed" in Photoshop, using the profile for that printer, and convert the
images to the printer's profile. Be sure to get in touch with the printer
first to make sure they print the images "flat" - any slip in the pipeline
and you will be worse off than just sending sRGB. Drycreekphoto has very
good instructions for how to do this, and what you should say to the
printer.

> Is any of this necessary really?

No. It is not. If you are using a CRT, calibrate your monitor carefully
with Adobe Gamma. If you are using an LCD monitor, which is the norm these
days, you may still be able to calibrate by eye, but it is more difficult
because Adobe Gamma does not work with an LCD. Consider getting a monitor
calibration device such as the i1 display 2, or the Spyder pro. I recommend
that you use sRGB as your working space, and send the sRGB images directly
the printer.
--
Mike Russell - www.curvemeister.com