Color Confidence: The Digital Photographer's Guide to Color Management (Paperback)

by Tim Grey (Author) "Although this is a very practical book, you must have some understanding of the foundations of light and color, as they relate to photography, in..." (more)
Key Phrases: specific output conditions, gamut warning display, digital camera profile, Camera Raw, Proof Colors, Unsharp Mask (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...a must-have for the successful imageer..." (Advanced Photoshop, July 2006) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description
Setting up a successful color management workflow is difficult, and attaining predictable results can be frustrating. "Color Confidence: The Digital Photographer's Guide to Color Management" is the only practical, results-oriented book that teaches you how to manage color effectively across devices (cameras & scanners, computers & monitors, and printers & other output devices) so that you can produce accurate, desirable color, every time. Highly respected digital imaging expert Tim Grey designed this accessible, striking book for busy photographers who want to get results quickly. He focuses on the essential concepts and practical information you need to make the best color decisions. Bottom line: this is a book no photographer should be without!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Sybex (March 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782143164
• ISBN-13: 978-0782143164
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #617,661 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great book, if you don't know what you're doing, April 21, 2004

By	M. Denis Hill "whidbeypix" (Whidbey Island, Washington USA) - See all my reviews

I know a lot of people who are totally lost when it comes to producing prints they like. A watercolor artist friend struggles with her Minolta 7i and Epson 2200, jumping through hoops and tweaking images in Photoshop and/or the printer driver. This book (along with monitor calibration) would solve her problems. The advice is comprehensible and comprehensive.
I have been there and done that; owned two Epson 1200s using profiles and inks from a well-known source but never achieved success. If you have felt that pain, read this book.
I subscribe to the author's free mailing list, and find that the accuracy of information in this book is actually better than that he provides online. Tim Grey knows his stuff, though (OT) he seems to be confused about imager size and depth of field.
If you already calibrate your monitor, use accurate profiles for your paper/printer/ink, and such, the incremental knowledge you'll gain from this book will be modest. The workflow I use with my Epson 7600, Bill Atkinson profiles and Eye One Display are very similar to the author's recommendations. If you have gotten that far, you don't need Color Confidence.
If what I just wrote is Greek to you, Color Confidence has the info to get you on the right track. Just be forewarned that you're going to have to fork over for monitor calibration tools or the books's suggestions won't do you much good. That will set you back 3-5 times the cost of the book. You may also have to invest in printer profiling, for $50-1,500 depending on how you approach it.
I also own Real World Digital Photography, Second Edition, which was co-authored by Grey. I'd say that both of these are quite informative if you are a novice, but less so if you are reasonably advanced in digital imaging.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best yet for digital photographers, March 29, 2004

By	John Feld "Writer on graphics" (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I write reviews of books on Photoshop as part of my work, so I read a lot of them. This has to be the best I have come upon for the aspiring digital photographer. It is not for someone who just wants to take photos of their family at Disneyland, or at a wedding, but for photographers who want to get the best from their digital camera; this is a "must read." Mr. Grey describes what to do, why and what to expect, he carefully explains alternatives and warns about the pitfalls. The good illustrations reflect the attention to detail of the writing. It is clear, not too technical and very informative. You will need Photoshop to get the most from this book. If you care about your images, read this book.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Title Tells It All, June 15, 2004

By	Conrad J. Obregon (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Some people shoot pictures with digital cameras, download them, print them up and are happy with whatever they get. Others complain if there is the least deviation in color between what they remember seeing and what gets printed up. It is at this latter group that "Color Confidence" is aimed.

Tim Grey, the author, is a respected teacher of Photoshop techniques and is known to many for the Digital Darkroom Questions mailing list, which many digital photographers read on a daily basis.

This book is aimed at a single issue in digital photography: how to make the output of the digital photography process, be it individual print, world-wide web, or printing press, match the color that the photographer visualized when he took a picture. Several years ago, when photographers were less sophisticated and happy with the ease of getting digital output, this was scarcely a question, but as digital photographers became more experienced (and as affordable techniques became available) more and more photographers began to ask why the output of their printers didn't look like their monitors. The field of color management was born.

With a minimum of technical jargon, the author explains the nature of color. He then tells you how to establish color profiles for input devices, like cameras and scanners, processing devices like computers, and output devices like ink-jet printers, so that all of the devices in the digital darkroom pass on information about the digital photograph that will insure consistency. For computer software, Grey assumes the use of the industry standard, Photoshop. If you use some other image processing software, you will have to interpolate from Photoshop, or find some other source of color management information.

If you read every word in this book, Grey might appear pedantic, because when he discusses using several different devices for a particular purpose, he will repeat many of the same instructions, word for word. But if you later pick up the book, while you are sitting at your computer, you know that what you are reading will be the whole story for the operation and tool that you are using, and that some important hint is not hidden elsewhere.

I?ve long considered myself to be relatively savvy when it comes to color management. However, I picked up a few tips about along the way that clearly made the book worthwhile for me. For example, I understood the function of "soft-proofing" but never really developed a regular work process dealing with this technique. Then I read Grey's discussion and a light bulb went on.

This is not exciting reading, but the author is clear and direct and moves the subject along quickly. If you need to learn about color management for digital photography, this is the book for you.