Book Review – Color Management In Digital Photography by Brad Hinkel

One of the hardest parts of digital imaging for most people to understand is the relationship between the color that they see on the screen and the color that they see on their prints. To create high quality prints, this relationship is one of the most important and essential to understand. Yet it is a major stumbling block for many, especially for those new to digital photography.

In Color Management In Digital Photography: Ten Easy Steps To True Colors In Photoshop Brad Hinkel shows us, in easy progressions, how to understand and use available color spaces to move from digital image, to screen image, to print image.  When I first looked at this book, my initial thought was, how can a book this small be useful? As I read the book however, I saw how simple progressions from one point to the next really make the understanding of color management easy.

The book is laid out in ten chapters and an introduction. In the introduction, Hinkel makes it clear that you should not run out and buy equipment until you have worked through the ten steps and you are better equipped to make the best decision on equipment. If you have a camera, computer, monitor and printer, start by working with those until you see how they all interact. Then you will be in a better position to make the correct decision on what really need and how much you should expect to pay.

The chapters cover color space, monitors, work environment, profiling the monitor, printers, basic printing, testing the color system, advanced printing techniques, obtaining profiles and adjusting color for your printer. By following the outlines listed in each chapter, you will see dramatic improvements in matching the image you see on the screen to the one on the print.

What I like best about Color Management In Digital Photography is that Hinkel breaks down the basics into easy to understand parts. In the chapter entitled “Select a Color Space”, he defines what a color space is. He then shows how it relates between the digital image; the one your camera made, the image as it appears on the screen and the image as it appears on the printer. He shows why you should start with sRGB and when you may want to move to the more advanced AdobeRGB or one of the other color spaces available. He also documents how to configure your colors space in Photoshop.

In another chapter, “Testing Your Color System”, the author describes the use of color test images for evaluation of your set up. He shows how to compare the image to the one on your monitor as well as to the print that you make.

This book can take you to that next level, especially if every time you time you try to understand the technical jargon of color space, sRGB and profiling you find yourself confused. If you are new to printing in a digital world or you are always having problems making your screen image and your print image match, then Color Management In Digital Photography is the perfect book for you