Color Management for Digital Photographers For Dummies

339 Pages·2007·24.68 MB·english

by  Ted Padova

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Color Management for
Digital Photographers
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Ted Padova and Don Mason
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Color Management for
Digital Photographers
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Ted Padova and Don Mason
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Color Management for Digital Photographers For Dummies®
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Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
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About the Authors
Ted Padovafirst began his interest in amateur photography as a Peace Corps
volunteer in Venezuela. He toured five Latin American countries, collecting
shoeboxes of slides he hopefully will one day sort out. Upon completion of
his two-year Peace Corps tour, he attended the New York Institute of
Photography in Manhattan when it was a resident school, earning a diploma
in Commercial Photography.
In 2004, he retired from his Digital Imaging Service Bureau and Custom Photo
Finishing Lab after 15 years of owning and operating three facilities. He has
authored over 25 computer books on Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop,
Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Illustrator. Today, he spends his time
writing and speaking nationally and internationally on Acrobat PDF and digi-
tal imaging.
Don Masonis a graduate of Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara,
California. He has been a professional photographer for more than three
decades and works in virtually every aspect of commercial photography. Don
first started using a computer in 1999, when he didn’t believe that digital
imaging would ever replace his wing lynch system used for processing all his
E-6 film and his darkroom where he made his own C-prints. After 4 years of
intensive work in Adobe Photoshop, he abandoned his analog film lab and
went completely digital. Today, he divides his time shooting professional
commercial photography and printing art prints for a wide range of clients on
his two, oversized Epson inkjet printers.
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Dedication
Ted Padova:For Arnie
Don Mason: For Jim, Joe, and Wes
Authors’ Acknowledgments
Our sincere thanks to the following people who graciously allowed us to use
photos of their delightful children: Claire Lahorgue and her children, Michael
and Sarah; and Jennifer Randle and her children, Cody, Calico, and Becky.
We’d also like to thank Courtney Creasy, Joel Berkovitz, Karen Krulikowsky,
Lisle Gates, Carole Murray, Dan Mancini, Mark Young, Cheri Zadarski, Nicole
Saint-John, and Kortney Penrose.
To the AOL Photo Chat gang — your input helped keep it real.
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction.................................................................1
Part I: The Basics of Color Editing..................................5
Chapter 1: Understanding Color.......................................................................................7
Chapter 2: Controlling Lighting......................................................................................21
Chapter 3: Calibrating Your Monitor..............................................................................29
Chapter 4: Color Profiles and File Formats...................................................................55
Part II: Image Brightness and Contrast Corrections.......77
Chapter 5: Making Tonal and Brightness Corrections.................................................79
Chapter 6: Correcting Contrast....................................................................................111
Chapter 7: Using Adjustment Layers...........................................................................133
Part III: Color Corrections..........................................149
Chapter 8: Identifying Color Problems........................................................................151
Chapter 9: Color Correcting Skin Tones......................................................................157
Chapter 10: Using Levels and Color Variations to Make Color Corrections...........179
Chapter 11: Advanced Color-Correction Methods.....................................................195
Chapter 12: Camera Raw Color Correction.................................................................227
Part IV: Finishing Work.............................................241
Chapter 13: Printing.......................................................................................................243
Chapter 14: Soft Proofing Color....................................................................................273
Part V: The Part of Tens ............................................283
Chapter 15: Ten Tips for Better Tone and Color........................................................285
Chapter 16: Ten Reasons to Upgrade to Photoshop..................................................293
Index.......................................................................309