[scribus] Colour Profiles

[Peter Nermander]

> So are we saying that for every digital camera that ships, the
> manufacturer should provide a profile which we should select with
> Scribus ?  If so, what file extension are we looking for ?  I'm not
> aware of having one, but happy to look.  What if we use pictures from
> multiple cameras ?  Would we not then need to apply a profile per picture ?

The problem is that the profile for a camera would depend on the
ambient light when you take the photo.

But you don't need a profile for the camera, since the camera
manufacturer put the profile into the camera. The pictures from the
camera will be in a "standard" colorspace like sRGB or for better
cameras maybe AdobeRGB.

Of course the professionals only shoot RAW, and then apply corrections
to get what they want, but they will still save the resulting image
(usually a TIFF) using AdobeRGB. You could say that when you use RAW
you create the profile for each picture while you apply the
corrections.

> OK -  but again, the paper and ink issues alone make this implausible
> for those of us that aren't professional printers.

Not really. The profile is valid for each combinaton of paper and ink.
As long as you buy the same ink and use the same paper the colors will
not differ much. And there are companies that create a profile from a
printed testsheet you send them. You download a file from their
homepage, print it, send the print by mail to them and get a profile
back. Not sure of the cost though, but a lot less than buying your own
equipment to do the calibration.

If you want top quality you should make a new profile each time you
change ink and each time you open a new pack of paper. But you
probably don't need to make a new profile that often if you stick to
the same ink and paper.

> What I'd like is a means of colour management that may well sacrifice
> some accuracy, but is quick to use, and can be used with any printer,
> but gives acceptable results at a cost, and for an amount of effort,
> that is appropriate to the size and requirements of small jobs that
> don't need perfect colour, but would benefit from colour that isn't
> totally uncorrected.

You have an image, where the printout does not match what you see on
screen. May I ask why you don't go the easy route and adjust your
screen so it matches the printer output? Then you can adjust the image
on you screen until it looks as you want it, and it will print
correctly?

Becuase your result might be because your monitor is not correctly
adjusted. If it is a matter of dark/light pictures, an incorrectly set
gamma is the most likely cause. Creating a simple profile with gamma
adjustments is quite easy. Look at for example lprof.

/Peter