Digital BW, The Print

That's interesting.  A number has no meaning without a colour space.  128
grey is different in GG2.2 and GG1.8.  You certainly have no idea what
colour is produced by your printer if you send it 128 grey unless you can
measure it or have an unbelievable memory for colour. Looking at the numbers
alone doesn't get you anywhere.

Unfortunately colour management is only as good as your weakest link.  It
also isn't perfect.  But with a good measurement device such as the Gretag
Macbeth Eye One you can most anything you'll likely need (display, colour
printer, greyscale ICCs, RIP linearization etc).  They still aren't cheap
(even though they are dramatically cheaper than they used to be) but they
are incredibly useful.


> From: Mark McCombs <lockwood_mccombs@...>
> Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 13:52:00 -0000
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: "color" management without instruments
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Ben Rosengart
> <yahoo.com@n...> wrote:
>> Dear all,
>>   I'd like to get some more rigor in my printing process, and I just
>> don't know where to start.
>> 
>> Which is more important -- to calibrate the monitor, or profile the
>> printer?  Or are both necessary?
>> 
>> Is it possible/useful to go to a "color-managed" (really
>> luminance-managed, I suppose) workflow without a densitometer
>> or monitor calibrating device?
> 
> Yes, it is possible, and for some of us, preferable.
> 
> This is only my opinion, and that of Dan Margulis, author of
> Professional Photoshop, but I don't think much of monitor calibration,
> etc.  It's more important to rely on the numbers in the Info Palette
> in PS.  In fact, he's a proponent of being able to color correct using
> a grayscale monitor, though I'm not sure where you'd find one of those
> these days.
> 
> Personally, no matter how much time and money I spent on monitor
> calibration, etc., I'd still trust the numbers more.
> 
> I highly recommend his book(s).
> 
> My .02..........
> 
> Mark