Color Management | Watts Digital Imaging Blog

Photoshop Quick Tip: Color Correction & the Color Wheel

Posted on July 9, 2023June 4, 2024 by John Watts

NOTE 07/09/23: this is the fourth in a series of posts called “Photoshop Quick Tips” – In this and further “Quick Tip” posts, you’ll discover basic but fundamental aspects of Photoshop, presented in bite-sized pieces – – short, concise, succinct, and to-the-point – enjoy! The “Quick Tip” video below is a snippet from one of my free live & online “Photoshop 101” Meetups – the full recording (& notes) can be found here: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/video-photoshop-101-class-2-control-your-contrast-color-07-22-20/ _______________ “The color balance in my print doesn’t look right…” Color Correction is correcting an imbalance in the color cast of an

Color Management 101 for Photographers

Posted on June 22, 2021September 25, 2023 by John Watts

07/13/22 – BONUS VIDEO from my YouTube Channel: ______________________ What is it, and why do you need it? One of the critical elements in successfully bringing an image from camera to its printed form is Color Management. • Proper Color Management will allow you to print with a great degree of consistency and repeatability, whether it’s on your home inkjet photo printer or through a custom print lab. • It allows you to print what you see on your monitor with a large degree of accuracy. The old adage, “WYSIWYG” (What You

Video – Photoshop 101, Class 5: Color Management 101 PLUS Editing for Success

Posted on June 7, 2020August 28, 2021 by John Watts

Howdy to all, Class 5 is a “2-Fer”: 1) Color Management 101 (One Hour): • Proper Color Management allows you to accurately reproduce what you see on your monitor in printed form, whether it is to your photo inkjet printer or files you send to a custom lab. Being able to print with a great degree of consistency and accuracy saves you time, frustration, and money. • The old adage, “WYSIWYG” (What You See Is What You Get) readily applies when you are properly color-managed. John will show you the 3 steps to

Need to Calibrate and Profile your Monitor? Here’s how to do it correctly – WITH VIDEO

Posted on March 13, 2019January 11, 2024 by John Watts

Update 03/01/22: See even more on this subject in my post: Color Management 101 for Photographers”: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/?p=3858 There are 3 steps necessary to successful color management – Profiling your Monitor is “Step #1”. A properly calibrated & profiled monitor will closely match the output of your photo printer or favorite custom print lab. It’s crucial even if you don’t want to print your images, as it will allow you to see your image as accurately as possible – and in accordance with photo industry standards. Think of your monitor as your photographic “Window to the World”. But let’s face

Photoshop CC: Soft-Proofing, plus RGB Color Spaces

Posted on October 23, 2018April 8, 2023 by John Watts

Updated 08/26/21 Two questions from Patrick C in San Diego, CA: Should I be “soft proofing” my images before I send them to you? If so, do you provide any ICC profiles for your LightJet printer to view my images before uploading to you? Do you use ProPhoto RGB Color Space (or something else) as your working Color Space in Photoshop? The answers: Interesting questions – some real “In the weeds” stuff – let me put on my “propeller-head” hat, and we’ll look at these one at a time … _____________

Photoshop: A Trick of the Eye

Posted on October 3, 2018August 29, 2021 by John Watts

Updated 08/29/21 Rods and Cones are Nature’s Own, but our eyes will still deceive us … Our eyes are miracles that are created by God – but even God has a sense of humor! – Do not underestimate how easily our eyes (and by extension, our brain) can be tricked – Magicians make use of this fact! It has been my experience that of The Three Steps to Successful Color Management in Photoshop the most overlooked is #3: Assure that you have the proper Lighting Conditions and Perception. I want to prove my point on Perception (more

Photoshop: OMG I’ve Got my Ott! (Ott-Lite, that is …)

Posted on June 27, 2014August 29, 2021 by John Watts

Updated 08/29/21 “What?? That’s not what my print looks like – it’s way different in this lighting!” – How many of us have had that frustrating conversation, and want to know how to avoid it? When it comes to Digital Imaging, there are Three Steps to Successful Color Management. In my experience, the most overlooked is #3: Assure that you have the proper Lighting Conditions and Perception (more here on Perception). Before your eyes start to glaze over, let me start with a quick and simple definition: Color Management allows you to print what you see

Photoshop: Profiling your Monitor is easier and cheaper than you think

Posted on February 4, 2013July 7, 2021 by John Watts

03/21/19 – The information in this post has been updated, WITH VIDEO – Click here There are 3 steps necessary to successful color management – Profiling your Monitor is “Step #1”. But let’s face it: the main reasons most people avoid profiling their monitor are because they’ve got to buy something, and they think it’s too complicated. The truth is, it can be quite simple to get your monitor to match the output of your printer. All you need are the right tools, the main one being a Monitor Profiling package, which consists of a piece of hardware called a

Creating Custom Printer Profiles for Photoshop CS6 / CC

Posted on June 7, 2012August 29, 2021 by John Watts

8/27/21 – This post has been updated – – click here: https://wattsdigital.com/custom-printer-profiles • More on Color Management for Photographers: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/color-management-101-for-photographers/ _________________ Updated: 03/01/15 I’ll keep it simple: You cannot use Photoshop CS6 / CC to create your Custom Printer Profile – the “why” is too complicated to get into, but the “No Color Management” option no longer exists (CS4 and earlier), and there is not a “workaround” such as that used in CS5. So you have three choices: 1) The Best Choice: Use an older version of Photoshop to create your Profile – Yes, you can install more than one version

Gamut Warning in Photoshop

Posted on January 30, 2012September 25, 2023 by John Watts

08/29/21 – The answer to this post is still relevant, but has been further updated in a new post – Click here Question – from Ken Johnson: I have read some very confusing things regarding the effectiveness of the “Gamut Warning” when soft proofing in Photoshop. Is the Gamut Warning of any value when editing RGB images for photo-based ink jet printers and, if not, what is the best way to detect and deal with out of gamut colors? Answer: Thanks for an interesting but complex question – I’ll try to avoid being overly-technical … The answer applies

Monitor Calibration Packages for Photographers?

Posted on December 14, 2011March 21, 2019 by John Watts

A question from Maritie in San Diego: “What monitor calibration package would you recommend? Oh, and can you suggest a medium cost one that will do the job, and not a professional one that will cost an arm and a leg?” 03/21/19 – The answer to this post has been updated, WITH VIDEO – Click here Answer: I’m very partial to the X-Rite Eye One Display 2, and this is a perfect time to think about buying one, as the price is about half of what it used to be: Amazon B&H newegg.com It’s technically a “discontinued” item, which is

Here’s my Photoshop and Color Management Seminar Schedule at the 2011 San Diego County Fair

Posted on June 8, 2011 by John Watts

It’s time for the San Diego County Fair Exhibition of Photography, and this year I am again honored to be a judge. And again this year, I am going to be giving a number of Photoshop and Color Management seminars – – If you are in Southern California during the fair, come on by – – I’d love to see you there! Click Here to download a PDF of my schedule … Cheers, John 🙂

Free Photoshop “Color Wheel” Custom Panel …

Posted on July 13, 2010April 30, 2022 by John Watts

Updated 04-30-22: • Sorry, but this custom Panel is currently unavailable – but you can find a printable JPG (and more!) here: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/heres-a-jpg-of-the-color-wheel-for-color-correction-in-photoshop/ • You can find more free useful downloads related to post-processing here: https://wattsdigital.com/free-useful-downloads What is the “Color Wheel”, and why is it important in Photography? The “Color Wheel” will help you visualize how the Primary Colors – – Red, Green and Blue – – and their corresponding Complementary Colors – – Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow – – interact with each other. It will help you better understand your color photography, particularly while in Photoshop

Live Photoshop and Color Management Chat

Posted on July 1, 2009May 18, 2010 by John Watts

Got a burning question about Photoshop? Having challenges with a Color Management issue? Need to know more about my Products and Services? Need Live Photoshop or Color Management Technical Support? Help is here! When I am online (which is quite a bit!), you can talk to me via Live Chat … Just click on the red floating Chat Box at the bottom right of the website… Hope to hear from you soon, Cheers, John 🙂

How to Create and Use Custom Printer Profiles in Photoshop Elements …

Posted on June 18, 2009September 12, 2010 by John Watts

As many of you know, I have, for years, been able to show you how to create and use custom printer profiles in Adobe Photoshop. With the increasing popularity of Photoshop Elements, I can now show you how to create and use Custom Printer Profiles in this great program by using my Custom Printer Profiling Service… Simply Click Here, scroll down to near the bottom of the webpage, and download the appropriate PDF to learn how… Whether you use my profiling service, or someone else’s service (keep in mind my service is the best, of course!), you’ll find this information

Free Live and Interactive Webinars…

Posted on October 29, 2008January 4, 2021 by John Watts

01/04/21 – Updated – – see this link: https://www.wattsdigital.com/San_Diego_Meetups.html _______________ Hello there! By popular request, I am now offering Free Live and Interactive Webinars on subjects related to Photoshop, Digital Printing, and Color Management. These webinars will allow you to watch the desktop of my computer “real-time” and listen to me as I explain what I am doing. At the same time, if you have any questions, you can type your question, and I will answer it! I will be doing a minimum of 2 webinars per week. These webinars are “browser-based” on your computer, and are limited

Color Management 101, Part III: Soft-Proofing in Photoshop

Posted on June 26, 2008October 27, 2022 by John Watts

06/22/21 – Although the information is still accurate, this post has been updated for clarity: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/?p=3858 This is the 3rd of 3 posts on implementing proper Color Management into your Photoshop workflow. In the first post, I discussed the Three Steps to Successful Color Management as well as how to properly Profile your Monitor. In the second post, I talked about Printer Profiles. Now let’s talk about Soft-Proofing… Step 4 (Optional) – Soft-Proof Your Image in Photoshop (not available in Elements) The purpose of Soft Proofing is a previewing procedure that Photoshop uses to “see” the results of

Color Management 101, Part II: Printer Profiles in Photoshop

Posted on June 25, 2008November 28, 2022 by John Watts

08/01/22 – This subject has been updated in a new post – WITH VIDEO: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/color-management-101-for-photographers/ _____________ This is the 2nd of 3 posts on implementing proper Color Management into your Photoshop workflow. In the last post, we discussed the Three Steps to Successful Color Management as well as how to properly Profile your Monitor. Now let’s talk about Printer Profiles… Step 2) Use the Proper Printer Profile or Create a Custom Printer Profile A Printer Profile makes the most out of your printer’s capabilities by characterizing the behavior of your printer/ink/paper combination. With a Printer Profile, in combination

Color Management 101, Part 1: Monitor Profiles in Photoshop

Posted on June 24, 2008November 28, 2022 by John Watts

08/01/22 – This subject has been updated in a new post – WITH VIDEO: https://blog.main.wattsdigital.com/color-management-101-for-photographers/ By request, I am going to do a series of three posts over the next several days that should get you on the road to proper Color Management, allowing you to print with a great degree of consistency and repeatability, whether it is on your home inkjet printer or through a custom print lab. It allows you to print what you see on your monitor with a large degree of accuracy. The old adage, “WYSIWYG” (What You See Is What You Get) readily applies

We had a Blast “Talkin’ Photoshop” at the Fair…

Posted on June 17, 2008 by John Watts

WOW!! What a blast! Last Saturday, I gave two free seminars at the San Diego County Fair Exhibition of Photography. One was on Color Management in Photoshop and the other was on Photofinishing with Photoshop. Both were well-attended and productive, and we had a lot of fun. Not only did I meet someone that I made a print for about 15 years ago (she still loves it!), but I met someone whose work I admire, Tamandra Michaels, on the midway at the fair (I recognized her by her picture on her website). If you missed these seminars, here’s a schedule