Color Management

First things first, what you see on the computer screen is not necessarily what you are going to get on your print, but there are some ways that you have a better chance of getting closer to what you want.

Why is the screen and print not a perfect match?

Well, if you are really interested go out and buy one of the many, many books available on color management. But in a nutshell there are so many variables in the difference between the screen and a print that it's impossible to get it perfect.

There are many factors that contribute to how we see color both on the monitor and in a print. If you wanted to get everything perfect you would buy a expensive monitor with a hood, leave it on all the time (a monitor can take an hour or more to "warm up" to it's operating temperature) work in a room with no windows, have constant lighting with color correct bulbs and paint the room neutral gray. Oh yes, I forgot, then buy a color temperature¹ correct viewing station (about $4,000). Then make sure when you display the print make sure that it is displayed under the same conditions!

Unless you specifically tell us otherwise our prints are designed for display under Tungsten lights, the most common lights used in galleries. Tungsten lights tend to be much warmer than fluorescent lights which tend to be much cooler (blue) which has a much lower color temperature than the graphic design / commercial print industry which is usually 5000 K.

Quick Tips

First, if you are working in Photoshop, find the color settings menu and check what the "working space" is set to. Most professionals agree that it should be set to Adobe RGB (1998). For some reason, best known to Adobe, the default setting is sRGB IEC61996-2.1 which is a much narrower working space or gamut. If you are using a digital camera your camera may have the same setting option.

If you want to try and get your monitor showing better color you should invest in a monitor calibration tool. There are many available, we use Colorvision Spyder 2 Pro which costs around $300 but Pantone also makes a product call Huey which has got great reviews and sells for less than $100. Both of these will calibrate both your LCD and CRT monitor.

Color Temperature

Color temperature is generally measured in degrees Kelvin. The chart below indicates some standard temperatures and what they correspond to. If you want to see the difference take any color picture and view it under different lighting conditions.

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Editions
What is an edition and how many should you print

Color Management
Some tips on getting good results

Giclee
What is a Giclée
Everything you wanted to know and more!