Getting Started

We have already covered two of the most important calibration methods: backward calibration for the mid-tones (see Chapter 3) and grayscale calibration for the highlights and shadows (see Chapter 4).

When faced with trying to calibrate a color image, you may be tempted to let someone else take care of it. Do not be put off. If you can calibrate grayscale, you can definitely calibrate color, especially if you have a reasonably good monitor and a tint book. If you need a tint book, talk to a few print shops. If they get the idea that you are a busy graphic designer looking for a reliable printer, they will try to be very helpful. Good print shops update their Pantone references every so often and might have one or two slightly older ones lying around. They will probably not have faded very much and the new ones are quite expensive (see Chapter 10).

The main thing you need for good color calibration is confidence. I know graphic designers who, after years of saying how much they would like to do their own color work, are still getting it all done by their repro house or printer because they don’t feel confident doing it themselves.

Remember, it is unlikely that you will have to jump straight in at the deep end. Assuming right now that you do not know how to calibrate anything and that you want to end up calibrating everything, let us take it one step at a time. Start small—let your first attempt be a manageable image that is not fraught with problems to begin with. Nobody will notice if you end up doing a reasonable job. This may sound odd, since you would normally want somebody to notice if you did a reasonable job, but not in this case. If someone notices what you did, it will either be because it is just wonderful, or just awful. If you are only going to start with a small image on a page that also contains larger, more important images, it is unlikely anyone is going to appreciate the quality of calibration on the postage-stamp-sized image you worked on. If nobody notices anything, you have won—you will have been convincing. Eventually, you may want people to notice, but for now, be content with anonymity.

Also, do not imagine that your repro house/print shop is populated by beings with godlike calibration capabilities. The chances are they are using similar equipment to yours and doing similar things with it. Also, the chances are that they are much less concerned with doing a good job on your images than you are, so once you get the hang of things, you will make a better job of your work than they will.