Solving color inconsistency with color management
Color management lets you produce consistent colors with a system that reconciles differences between the color spaces of each device.
For the color management system to successfully convert color values between the different color spaces so colors remain the same or very similar, three things must happen:
§ The color management system must know the color space of the image so it can decipher the meaning of the color values in the image. When assigning a profile to an image, the image will be in the color space described by the particular profile. A document's profile can be assigned by a source device, like a digital camera or a scanner, or assigned in Photoshop.
§ Then, the color management system uses a color reference to identify the absolute colors represented by the color values in the image. Currently, color management systems use either CIE L*a*b* (Lab) or CIE XYZ for color reference. Both color spaces describe all the colors that a person can see; the color values referred to in this space are not limited to or tied to the colors produced by any device.
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And finally, the color management system must know the color space of
the destination device so it can send properly translated RGB or CMYK
color values to the device. The color management system uses profiles to
understand what RGB and CMYK values mean to each device. Device profiles
can be supplied by the manufacturer or created using third-party
software and hardware.
Color management A. Source devices create documents containing raw color values. B. Source profiles describe the devices' color spaces and document profiles describe the documents' color spaces. C. Taking the raw color values with the profile data, the color management system identifies the actual colors in the document using a color reference (Lab). D. Device profiles describe the color spaces of each device. E. The color management system converts the raw color values to the color space of each device.
(from Adobe Photoshop CS Tutorial: Producing Consistent Color)
Department of Communication, Seton Hall University