Color Management

This has to be the hardest Photoshop feature for new users to understand. However, sooner or later you should make the effort to learn the underlying concepts so you will know how to properly use the settings.
      If you are willing to learn, but would like to know what settings might be recommended in the meantime, below is an illustration of a typical setup. Find the settings by choosing Edit > Color Settings. Once you have learned more, you can change settings to match your needs.        

Recommended reading, in this order:

1. Out of Gamut: Color-Correct Vocabulary - Bruce Fraser's glossary of color management terms from creativepro.com. It will save you a lot of headaches if you learn the terminology before you get started. Well illustrated, and has a printer friendly version.
2. Out of Gamut: Photoshop 6 Gets Smart With Color - The clearest online explanation I've found of Photoshop Color Management. Should be understandable if you print it out and read it several times. By Bruce Fraser.
3. Photoshop 6 and Colour Management - From Ian Lyons at his Computer Darkroom site. Offers a very clear, step by step explanation of the Color Settings dialog box options. Also describes soft proofing and printing with an Epson inkjet printer.
4. Out of Gamut: Soft Proofing in Photoshop 6.0 - Soft proofing is a secondary feature of color management, but is of such great value that I include it as one of the areas you should especially try to learn about. By Bruce Fraser.

Other resources which offer excellent information are listed below in no particular order. These sites offer as much content as those listed above, but in my opinion, did not explain things quite as clearly for beginners.

• DigitalDog.com - Andrew Rodney has articles, listed below, that should be of interest. All are available as pdf files, only.
  Color Management Primer
  PS 5 Color Management
  PS 5 Management from PEI
  Color Management Actions [that you can download and use]
  Black Point Compensation
  PS 5.0 Profile Dialogs
  Calibrating Digital Cameras
  Printer Test File [that you can download and use]
  Photoshop 6 Color Management
  Monitors 2000 [reviews]
  WiziWYG & Epson Profile Usage
  ColorSync 3.0 and Photoshop Updated
  A Gamut of Solutions [reviews of color management software]
  Gamut Maps [shows various RGB working spaces]
  Low Cost Monitor Calibration
  Understanding RGB to CMYK Conversions
  Color Management Round-Up
• Color Remedies - Chris Murphy's site offering several pdf (only) files on basic color management in Photoshop. Titles are as follows:
  Managing Color in Photoshop 6
  Top 10 Color Management Pros & Cons
  The Intro Series
• Bruce Fraser at CreativePro.com - For a full list of his many excellent articles, go to this page and scroll to the Features section.
• Computer Darkroom - Ian Lyons' site, already referenced above, also has quite a few other essays relevant to color management. They are:
  Colour Management in Photoshop 5
  Using Nikon Scan 2.5 with Photoshop 5 and 6
  Using Praxisoft WiziWYG with Photoshop 5
  Using the Epson 750/1200 with Photoshop 5
  Photoshop Printing Update & Windows 98SE
  Using Custom ICM Profiles with Photoshop 5
  RGB Soft-proof for Epson Printers
  Creating Custom Printer Profiles
  Transfer Function usage in Photoshop 5
  Color Gamut and Epson Photo Printers
• Adobe.com's Color Management forum - This is a user to user forum for discussion of color management issues related to any of the Adobe products. Can be a helpful resource if you are using Photoshop along with Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, and/or Pagemaker.
  

I hope these articles and tutorials help you get a mental grip on the color management concepts. Once you understand them, you'll wonder why you ever found it so confusing.

Copyright © 2000 by Jay Arraich.
All rights reserved.
All photographs copyright ©2000 by Jay Arraich
jay@arraich.com