CPPA Monitor and printer calibration images

Certified Professional Photographer's of Australia.
An organization for Australian working photographers.

Colour balance images:

We all know the importance of having a calibrated monitor but... Do we all have $2000 spyders to do it with? No!

CPPA does not advocate "colour by eye"* calibration. Nor do we advocate balancing colour for the output of a specific printer** but oddly enough, there are times when these methods suit your situation.

We have here, a few images collected from various sources which are "correct colour" images provided for the express purpose of checking the colour of your output devise.

Feel free to help yourself!

4800test.jpg Supposedly a test of Epson 4800, wide format printers to check monochrome and colour output but it works just as well testing any printer. The original was a Kodak image to do with "photoCD" colour balance but the required open source blurb was missing from this one.

frontier_color57s-rgb.jpg A "Fuji" test image to identify problems in Frontier printers but again, works equally well on any sRGB devise, including your monitor!

grascale.jpg A "contrast wedge" to verify the "D-max" or contrast range of your monitor and printer. Handy to include on a web site so people will not judge your images as being "blown" in the highlights or shadows if they can't see all the steps themselves.

* Colour-by-eye calibration is fiddling the screen colours until they "look right". Probably the absolutely worst way to achieve anywhere near correct colour.

** Balancing the screen colours by making them look like a print you made. The method is a fall back when you have no other options and simply have to get a bunch of prints out.

It works by printing one of the "colour correct" images listed above, letting your printer decide the calibration for a given paper/ink combo and then matching your screen colours to the print you made.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with creating a closed loop colour management system like the "match to printer output" method except it ties your editing workflow and colour management to the printer you have dedicated colour for.

To set up for colour correctness right from the start, you need to create a monitor "profile" using a spyder or similar devise to get the monitor displaying a correct picture.

Then you need an ICC or ICM profile for every type of paper and ink combination you use in your studio. Taking colour management this far, requires substantial investment in profiling equipment.

On of the goal of CPPA for 2009 is to get a top flight monitor and printer calibration system that members can hire or have low cost profiles made by other members. Photo of Professional calibration system

Just one more reason to join CPPA now!