Color management is a system of standards, procedures, techniques, hardware and software used to carry out controlled representation, reproduction and conversion of color on various devices, such as scanners, digital cameras, displays, ink-jet printers and offset presses. Color management helps match the appearance of colors on all these devices, as much as possible. Using color management, a photograph looks the same on the screen of a digital camera, on a computer display, as an ink-jet print and in a printed magazine.
Unfortunately, current web browsers do not support color management. Therefore, you will most likely see my photographs differently compared to what I see on my color-managed display in Photoshop.
However, several steps on your end can improve color fidelity.
Avoid brightly lit environments. Direct sunlight or strong artificial lighting on your computer display will make everything on your screen look dark and desaturated.
Brightness is usually adjusted using on-screen dials and buttons.
I optimize the design and images of my site for a default display color temperature of 6500 K, an approximate color temperature of flat LCD displays of modern desktop and notebook computers.
Most current displays and graphic cards default to this setting. Please refer to the documentation available with your operating system in order to learn how to check for and change the color depth of your display. A possible start is to open Help and type in the search box “number of colors”, “color depth” or “display / monitor settings”.
Your viewing environment and display should now yield the best color attainable with your hardware and color-blind browsers.
If things do not work as expected or you need help, please contact me.
I have been using color management since 1999. I view and color correct all images on a display calibrated every week with an X-Rite (ex-Gretag Macbeth) EyeOne spectrophotometer. I work in 16-bit AdobeRGB space most of the time. I make custom Epson ink-jet printer ICC profiles in order to print color reference prints, fine-art prints or proofs for offset printing runs.
All high-resolution files I deliver to my clients for final use include embedded ICC profiles for color management. I usually ask the client if they use color management. If the answer is yes, I supply files in AdobeRGB. If the answer is no, I try to find out the exact final use of the file and most often convert it to Euroscale CMYK Coated, or other standard CMYK color space.
If time permits and I deliver files by FedEx or UPS on CD-ROM instead of over the internet, I include color reference prints with the files as well.
TIP: To print images, enable “Print backgrounds” in your browser preferences.