Reading through the different photography forums there seems to be one topic leading the way: HELP! I am getting unexpected results from my pro lab. Although this is a common issue we have all encountered, in many ways, it is impossible to solve with a generic answer. Your entire workflow starting with the image capturing device, to the imaging editing software, to the final output device, would need to be looked at to help specifically answer this question.
With this blog, what I'd like to do is give you helpful, generic, tips and tools that you can use to gain an understanding of your workflow, especially once you upload it to your pro lab. This can even help you if are having similar problems with your home printer.
First, I'd like to give credit to the book Real World Color Management, 2nd Edition, by Bruce Fraser, Chris Murphy and Fred Bunting. This would be my initial tip to you, BUY THIS BOOK! It's a little out dated, as it was published in 2004, but still a top notch reference book on color theory and color management. For reference, I found out about the Granger Rainbow on page 238.
To download my Granger Rainbow, developed by Dr. Ed Granger, right-click on the Granger Rainbow image in Figure 1 and select "Download Linked File". The book also tells you how to build one in Photoshop which is what I did. Depending on your browser, browser settings, monitor, etc. you may or may not see exactly what I will be describing. If you were to download all of these images and open them up in Photoshop, keeping their embedded profile, you'd see what I will be describing.
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Figure 1 | The Granger Rainbow with the sRGB profile embedded
Figure 1 represents the Granger Rainbow embedded with the standard sRGB IEC61966-2.1.icc profile found in the Adobe Creative Suite. To the right is a 2-D Lab view of the sRGB color gamut showing the outer most points at L*50. For this Blog, my working colorspace will be sRGB.
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Figure 2 shows the Granger Rainbow converted using a Durst Lambda profile. A Durst Lambda is an RGB laser output device that uses light sensitive photographic paper through an RA-4 wet processor. Devices such as these also include printers from Fuji, Mitsubishi and Agfa and are used in almost every pro lab. To the right is a 2-D Lab view of the Durst Lambda profile (red) imposed on top of the sRGB profile at L*50. For a complete comparison between the two profiles we would need to look at them in 3-D. This is more to help show the expected results on a typical RA-4 wet process device.
First you will notice the overall dynamic range (contrast) has diminished. The photographic wet process cannot produce a very deep black. Secondly, the overall colors are muted (not as vivid) due to most of the output device's gamut being smaller than our working colorspace.
Have you ever wondered why your reds never come out as bright as you remembered? Not only does the 2-D diagram show the smaller gamut in the red area, the Granger Rainbow quickly shows you the clipping (desaturation) that occurs in the reds.
Something else you may have noticed with your pro lab prints; are your yellows as pure as you remembered? Perceptually the yellow may appear yellow in an image, but as seen in the Granger Rainbow and in the 2-D diagram your yellows are printing on the orange side. See how the red line of the lambda diagram falls short of the yellow in sRGB colorspace? Yellow through this process actually creates more of an orangish-yellow then a pure yellow. You'd know right away way your sunflowers did not print as expected if you had applied your pro lab's ICC profile to the Granger Rainbow.
Have you ever wondered why your reds never come out as bright as you remembered? Not only does the 2-D diagram show the smaller gamut in the red area, the Granger Rainbow quickly shows you the clipping (desaturation) that occurs in the reds.
Something else you may have noticed with your pro lab prints; are your yellows as pure as you remembered? Perceptually the yellow may appear yellow in an image, but as seen in the Granger Rainbow and in the 2-D diagram your yellows are printing on the orange side. See how the red line of the lambda diagram falls short of the yellow in sRGB colorspace? Yellow through this process actually creates more of an orangish-yellow then a pure yellow. You'd know right away way your sunflowers did not print as expected if you had applied your pro lab's ICC profile to the Granger Rainbow.
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Figure 3 | sRGB converted using an Epson x900 Luster ICC profile from the Epson DVD
Figure 3 shows the Granger Rainbow converted using the Epson 9900 Luster 260 ICC profile that comes on the Epson Driver disk. The first thing you will notice is how vivid this profile is over the RGB laser device, no muted red here. The Epson is not removing color like a laser device, it is adding color making for a larger gamut throughout all levels of L*. You can also see the higher d-max capability of an inkjet printer. Blacks can be made up of multiple colors to add depth/richness to the black. Where as an RGB laser device removes color to achieve d-max limiting the overall depth. And look at yellow, your sunflowers be more like you remember because this printer is capable of achieving a more pure yellow--look at the difference between Figure 2 and Figure 3 at yellow's peak.
These are just two examples of using a Granger Rainbow to help evaluate the output device you are sending your files to. Not all pro labs will have an ICC profile for you, but you can typically find just about anything on-line. It's more important you know the process in which you are sending your files to so you can at least find they same type of profile on-line. In my research, I compared a Fuji Frontier profile, multiple Durst Lambda profiles, and an Agfa profile in ColorThink (a different blog) and they were all very similar in nature. In some cases they looked like the same profile. Generically speaking, a well profiled HP, Cannon and Epson printer will look very similar when it comes to photographic images based on perception.
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Next... I am going to "Test" my pro lab's workflow and then tell you how you can do the same.
