Colour Management
Calibrating your monitor and printer is essential when viewing and printing your photos. Your monitor could be displaying inaccurate colours and density.
Here’s what we do to make sure what we see on our monitors matches the printers here at DesignerPrint.
Firstly, using a good monitor necessary. I’m currently using the Dell Ultrasharp 24-inch at work and home as it displays dark blacks, sharp images and brilliant colour saturation. After you have a nice monitor it’s important to calibrate it so that your prints will match what you see on screen.
Adobe Photoshop comes with something called Adobe Gamma which will most likely already be installed on your computer. You can use Adobe Gamma to create an ICC profile which uses calibration settings to change the way your monitor reproduces colours. Start Adobe Gamma, located in Control Panel and then select step by step and follow the instructions. Daylight can affect the accuracy of colours displayed on your monitor, this is why its best to carry out your monitor calibration in a darkened room.
Another alternative is to use a hardware calibrator from a manufacturer such as Pantone. Attach the calibrator to the front of your screen and plug it into a USB port and then follow the step by step instructions to calibrate your monitor.
We’re often asked what colour space is best. sRGB IEC61966-2.1 is the default setting for most digital cameras, and the results when printed are great. However, if you’re a professional photographer or digital artist our recommendation is to use Adobe RGB 1998, which is the largest of the colour working spaces and covers a wider colour gamut. To change the colour working space in Photoshop select Edit > Color Settings > Set working space to Adobe RGB 1998.
The printers at DesignerPrint print images saved using Adobe RGB 1998 beautifully.
We always make sure our monitors and printers are perfectly calibrated, so that the colours are a true representation of your image. Colour matching is sometimes absolutely critical and in these circumstances we can either work from a ‘match’ print from your own printer, or we’re happy to send you a proof for approval.
