Color Management Tips

This page is a collection of small tips and tricks related to color management. These are mostly things that I found out the hard way, and that may be of use to someone else encountering a similar situation.

DIY Solux fixtures

One aspect of monitor to print matching is often overlooked: good lighting. Among the better choices (short of professional viewing booths) are the Solux halogen bulbs, which produce a very smooth spectrum. However, you need to mount them properly to (1) dispose of the heat they produce and (2) make sure that the yellow light coming out the back does not leak out. In this article I describe how I created my own fixtures.

Multiple monitor calibration on Windows XP

Contrary to popular belief, Windows XP can calibrate two monitors these days. Unfortunately, calibration is not the same as profiling and fully managing colors (in Adobe applications) on two monitors is still either impossible or very tricky. If you are running a dual screen setup (like a laptop with an external monitor!) you need to take care that your display profile gets used in the proper way.

Got gamma for your display?

When people start calibrating the display, the question that pops up all the time is "Which gamma: 1.8 or 2.2?" In this article we discuss even more esoteric tone curve options, such as L* and sRGB and why you may or may not want to use them.