10 Essential Colour Management Tips For You To Use Today

We list ten steps that'll help you perfect your colour management system (CMS) so prints look as good as the images you see on screen. 
 

1. Use A Monitor That's Suited To A CMS

When looking for a monitor that'll you'll be using in a CMS to view digital images on there's various things you need to check the monitor has / can do before you make your purchase. For further guidance on what to look for, have a read of these tutorials: 

• Tips On Choosing A Monitor Ideal For CMS
• What Monitors Are Ideal For A CMS?
• 4 Things A Monitor Needs To Display Images Right 

2. Know How To Calibrate Your Monitor

Calibrating monitors is an important task all photographers should learn how to do. When you calibrate your monitor you are making adjustments to achieve an accurate display and there are various methods for doing this, some of which are even automated on certain monitor types. For more tips on calibrating EIZO monitors, have a read of these tutorials: 

• How To Use ColorNavigator Elements
• How To Use ColorNavigator 6
• How Do I Calibrate My Monitor In Windows?

3. Calibrate Your Monitor Regularly

Maintaining a stable image display is important and making regular calibration adjustments is key to this. EIZO recommend re-calibrating after 200 hours of use and the built-in correction sensor available on certain EIZO monitors  automatically re-adjusts the monitor at intervals of 200 hours because of this. If you're not using an EIZO monitor which has a built-in correction sensor it's worth making a note of when you next need to calibrate your screen. If you own an EIZO CG, CX or CS series monitor you have the added benefit of setting a schedule so your monitor calibrates itself. For more tips on how to set this up, have a read of these tutorials: 

How To Set-Up EIZO Monitors To Self-Calibrate & How To Set Up Automate Calibration On CG, CX And CS EIZO Monitors

4. Keep Your Monitor Screen Clean

Screen cleaning is an important part of display maintenance but there are certain steps you need to take and particular products you'll need to use to remove the dust and fingerprints from your display successfully. For this reason, we've put a quick guide together on cleaning monitors safely: How To Clean Your Monitor Screen

5. Understand Colour Spaces & Gamuts

By learning what colour spaces are and educating yourself about colour gamuts, you'll be able to improve your understanding on why they're important factors for the devices included in your CMS. 

Have a read of these tutorials for more information on this subject: 

• Understanding Colour Gamut
• sRGB, Adobe sRGB, NTSC
• Advantages Of The Adobe RGB Colour Space
• Keep Colour Consistent Through Workflow 

6. Minimise Effects Of Outside Light

Position your monitor away from direct window and if possible, fix blinds or curtains to windows in the room you'll be working in to minimise the effects outside light has on the colour of the photos you're working on / checking via your screen. You can also use a monitor hood to block out light and prevent reflections appearing on screen. 

7. Use A Grey Desktop Background

Our eyes are easily influenced by colour so by having a photo or colourful desktop wallpaper you could be unintentionally influencing what  they're seeing. As a result, you could be making adjustments to images unnecessarily but switching desktops to neutral grey can prevent this from happening. 

8. Check Prints Under The Right Light

If you are working in a room where light fixtures can't be changed, switch them off and invest in a desk lamp when working with prints. The desklamp needs to be Fluorescent with a high colour rendering index (they have a colour temperature near 5000 K, the standard in the printing industry).  Learn more about colour temperature and why 5000 K is important here: Colour Temperature On An LCD Monitor

9. Ensure Your Photo Editing Software Is Set Up Correctly

So, your monitor is calibrated and your environment is spot-on but have you set your editing software up correctly? Have a read of this for more tips on how to do this when working with a CMS: Colour Matching Monitors & Prints

10. Use A High Quality Printer That Supports Colour Management

After going to the effort of setting everything else up in the CMS chain correctly you'll have wasted your time if you don't output with the right print settings. For more advice on choosing a printer for colour matching, take a look at these tutorials: Printer Choices For Colour Matching & Setting Printer Adjustments For Colour Matching

For more information on the EIZO monitor range, visit the EIZO UK website.