Introduction: Color Profiles and Calibration

In this tutorial we will learn about Color Profiles and how to Calibrate your monitor. Understanding color profiles and operating on a calibrated monitor are the best way to ensure color fidelity and consistency across mediums.

Keep in mind that calibrating your monitor using 3rd party tools and hardware is not often necessary for digital work, but it is most common in print.

To begin let's Start Learning about color profiles:

1. About Color Profiles

A Color Profile is a multi-filter that goes from our computer to our printer or from the printer to the screen. A color profile can be used by many programs not only Photoshop but color profiles can only be created in 2 Color Modes - RGB and CMYK.

RGB
When creating custom color profiles with RGB color mode we can specify our white points, gamma and phosphor settings of our RGB device.

CMYK
When creating custom color profiles with CMYK color mode we can specify our ink colors, dot grain, separation type and black generation of our CMYK output device.

Let's create an RGB Color Profile - Once you have Photoshop open let's go to Edit > Color Settings or you can press Shift + Control + K.

You are likely to find a host of settings of which you know nothing about, therefore if you are not aware of what changing any of these settings causes it is recommended that you leave them as is. Adjusting anything in this window will affect how you see things in your workspace from that moment on.

Select the RGB section and choose "Custom RGB" from the menu list this will pop up the following window:

The Red Boxes contain the information you need to change in order to create a custom RGB Color Profile. Remember to name your New Profile. Here is some information that will help you create a successful custom profile.

Gamma: It's the brightness of the mid tones.

Phosphor: Is the substance that a monitor uses to emit light.

White Point: The values or coordinates are where Red, Green, and Blue Phosphor create white.

Those are the 2 simple steps into creating custom RGB color profiles - I would recommend you using the "Web Graphic Defaults" settings.

Moving onto creating a Custom CMYK Profile.

Editing those values will create a Custom CMYK profile - I recommend using the default name that photoshop gives you. Here is some information about CMYK's options.

Ink Colors: There's really just a slight difference between the different values - It all comes down to the paper you are using in your printer, the quality and his power of absorption. The custom option let's you customize the on-screen display of ink colors to match printed output by entering different values obtained from a color proof.

Dot Gain: Synonym of Loss, this can occur when the specified printer's halftone dots change as the ink spreads and is absorbed by our paper.

Once you are satisfied with your outcome you may save the RGB and CMYK in its corresponding working places, like shown below.

Here's CMYK.

Here are the settings for my monitor.

You may also create custom grayscale and spot color profiles If you so desire.

2. Calibrating Your Monitor

The following steps have been written for computers running Windows. Let's move onto Calibrating our Monitor. Go to your control panel and select "Adobe Gamma Loader"

Press Next and Follow the simple instructions, Press Next on this and the Second window after this. Then comes the fun Part.

Read very carefully the instructions and follow the step(s) and Press Next.

In this Drop down you need to choose what type of RGB Phosphor your computer uses.

If you do not know what your phosphors are, use the default values and move onto the next step:

Move the Bar until you see the center box fade into the patterned frame then press Next.

Here is where you adjust the values for your White Point - If you choose to measure you will get a screen with 3 squares of which you will be instructed to select the coolest white. This will allow the system to calculate the proper white point and attach it to your profile.

You can also adjust your white point using a different source.

Here the wizard is done and asks you if you're going to keep the old discarded color or the new color or calibration you just did.

That's it! I hope you learned something new and interesting from this tutorial.