| Good color management
is the essence of a succesful digital workflow. But where does this
workflow occur? Is correcting color an art for a professional lab
or should you as photographer now have to assume this added time
consuming task?
Because at CBOP Professional all workflow is completely color calibrated (our
monitors and prints look the same) you can leave all color management
to us and not color correct your files before uploading to CBOP Professional
for printing. Just as with film, CBOP Professional will look at every file
and correct color and density to a professional standard. The
most important thing you must do is to set your white balance
to match the light source. This is done at the time of shooting
or when converting files from RAW format. Read the instruction
of your digital camera to see how to perform this on a specific
model. If this is the extent of what you need please make sure
not to apply unintended corrections to your files.
You should only worry about color management if you are editing
and correcting files to a specific look and expect CBOP Professional to match
on print what you see on your monitor. If this is the case please
start by having your monitor calibrated professionally or by purchasing
a colorimeter and software to do so yourself. A calibrated monitor
is a must step towards standardizing color between you and the
lab. The next step is to work in the right color space which for
CBOP Professional is srgb. This is the color space most digital cameras use
as well as our laser printing devices. While working in adobe
rgb is great for graphics it is not recemended for photography.
We have included a great article prints by persmission for you
to enjoy.
READ ARTICLE BY WILL CROCKET
»
Conclusion
Color management is a new issue for photographers but for good
photo labs managing color has always been standard operating procedure
and a daily routine. Before digital the roles labs and photographers
played were clearly defined and accepted- photographers made money
by shooting while labs earned a living by adjusting color and
density. Our focus as a lab has not changed and we encourage you
to be equally vigillant about your time and where its spent, hopefully
out shooting. Unless there is a very strong reason to color correct
on your own let CBOP Professional do it for you.
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