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How to get true colors using Windows XP

Bill Rice, Psychology

Introduction

Working with visual digital media such as photography, video and graphics requires consistent and ideally, portable, color models. Otherwise, what you see will not match what you get when it is printed out or viewed on the screen.

Smoothing out the color differences is made difficult by the fact that disparate devices use varying methods of reproducing colors. For instance, monitors use the Red Green Blue (RGB) method, corresponding to the colored phosphor triplets in CRT (cathode ray tube) screens. Printers use a different method to describe color space, however: Cyan Magenta Yellow (CMY, sometimes CMYK with the last letter derived from the added Black).

Conversion between the different color space models can be tricky, especially since the RGB one cannot display some visible colors (such as pure yellow) that CMY can, and vice versa.

Users may want to look at Microsoft's Control Panel interface for managing ICC color profiles and ICM 2.0 color settings across the system.

Standard profiles

Converting between models has been known to give the strongest people nervous breakdowns, so a standard method to describe color spaces for conversion between different devices was needed.

Windows XP Professional uses International Color Consortium (ICC) device profiles. These are binary files located in %windir%\system32\spool\drivers\color and carry information about the color space for devices such as monitors, cameras, scanners and printers. ICC device profiles are an international standard, and can be embedded into files to provide information about how the device that created the image reproduces color. Microsoft has licensed its colour management module from prepress specialists Linotype-Hell (called LinoColorCMM) as the transformation engine for use with ICC files.

However, not all applications are ICC-savvy, and embedding the profiles is usually not done automatically, so its worth checking each time.

Check the profile

Usually, an ICC profile is provided by the manufacturer of the device. To check if your monitor is using the manufacturers ICC device profile, right-click on the desktop, select Properties, and click on the Settings tab and the Advanced button there.

Under the Color Management tab, you can see which color profile is used for the monitor. If one is lacking, or its the wrong one, use the Add and Remove buttons to ensure the right profile is active.

Similarly, look in the Properties for your color printer. There should be a Color Management tab there as well, pointing to an ICC device profile suitable for your printer.

You can usually find device profile files for downloading at the Web site of the manufacturer of your device. Adobe also provides device profile ICM files as a free download, to be used with its software. Check that the files in question are for the color temperature you use (e.g., 6500 Kelvin) and, of course, that theyre for Windows.

Correct calibration

Note, however, that manufacturer ICC profiles are what is termed "generic", which in simple terms means its an approximate fit for the model of device you have, and not calibrated specifically for your particular device.

In other words, if youre serious about graphics and video, you need to calibrate each device in the processing chain the scanner and digital camera, the monitor and the printer. This is something that has to be done on a regular basis, to compensate for equipment wear and tear as well as changes in the output media, such as different film, paper, inks, and toner.

You can calibrate manually, using software and your eyes, but thats a hit-and-miss method. Instead, it makes sense to use a colorimeter or spectrophotometer to accurately measure the RGB values, and software to automatically calibrate the screen and create an ICC device profile for it.

To install a color profile

  1. In My Computer, usually in the %windir%\System32\Spool\Drivers\Color folder, locate the color profile you want to install.
  2. Right-click the profile, and then click Install Profile. The file icon will change from a gray color to a white color.
    Notes
    • Color profiles communicate the color characteristics of a device to the color management system. Associating the correct color profile with all of your publishing tools helps to ensure consistent color application throughout the publishing process.
    • Installing a profile modifies the registry and makes it available to the color management system.

Rendering Intents

Rendering Intent determines how colours are remapped when moving image data from one color space to another.It is described in terms of Colorimetric Intent which in turn is desribed in terms of Media-Relative Colorimetric Intent, ICC-Absolute Colorimetric Intent, Saturation Intent, and Perceptual Intent. See the Introduction to the ICC profile format for more.

Windows provides four rendering intents:

  • Pictures is best for photographic images. All the colors of one color gamut are scaled to fit within another gamut. The relationship between colors is maintained.
  • Graphics is best for graphs and pie charts, in which vividness is more important than actual color. The relative saturation of colors is maintained from gamut to gamut. Colors outside the gamut are changed to colors of the same saturation, but different degrees of brightness, at the edge of the gamut.
  • Proof is best for logo images, in which a few colors must be matched exactly. The colors that fall within the gamuts of both devices are left unchanged. Other colors may map to a single color, however, resulting in tone compression.
  • Match is used for mapping to a device-independent color space. The result is an idealized print viewed on a perfect paper with a large dynamic range and color gamut. You can set rendering intents by clicking Color Management on the File menu of most graphics programs

Synchronizing Color Between Monitor and Printer

  1. In the graphics program in which you are creating your page or image, on the File menu, click Color Management.
  2. Select the Enable Color Management check box, and then click Basic color management.
  3. In Monitor Profile, click the color profile you want to use for your monitor.
  4. In Printer Profile, click the color profile you want to use for your printer.
  5. In Rendering Intent, click the rendering intent you want to use.
    Notes
    • Your graphics program must support Image Color Management 2.0 in order to implement color management options.
    • Color profiles communicate the color characteristics of a device to the color management system. Associating the correct color profile with all of your publishing tools helps to ensure consistent color application throughout the publishing process.

Adding a Color Profile

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete these procedures. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.

To add a color profile to a monitor.

  1. Open Display in Control Panel.
  2. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.
  3. On the Color Management tab, click Add to open the Add Profile Association dialog box.
  4. Locate the new color profile you want to associate with the monitor.
  5. Click the new profile, and then click Add.
    Notes
    • To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display.
    • Color profiles communicate the color characteristics of a device to the color management system. Associating the correct color profile with all of your publishing tools helps to ensure consistent color application throughout the publishing process.
    • For more information about a profile in the Add Profile Association dialog box, right-click the profile, and then click Properties.
    • Color profiles are usually installed in the systemroot\System32\Spool\Drivers\Color folder.
    • Windows provides a color profile named sRGB Color Space Profile.icm, which you can use with any device that supports Image Color Management 2.0.

To add a color profile to a printer

  1. Open Printers and Faxes
  2. Right-click the printer that you want to associate with a color profile, click Properties, and then click the Color Management tab.
  3. Click Add to open the Add Profile Association dialog box.
  4. Locate the new color profile you want to associate with the printer.
  5. Click the new profile, and then click Add.
    Notes
    • To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display.
    • Color profiles communicate the color characteristics of a device to the color management system. Associating the correct color profile with all of your publishing tools helps to ensure consistent color application throughout the publishing process.
    • The Color Management tab is only visible for color printers that support color management.
    • For more information about a profile in the Add Profile Association dialog box, right-click the profile, and then click Properties.
    • Color profiles are usually installed in the systemroot\System32\Spool\Drivers\Color folder.
    • Windows provides a color profile named sRGB Color Space Profile.icm, which you can use with any device that supports Image Color Management 2.0.

Changing a Color Profile

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete these procedures. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.

To change the active color profile for a monitor

  • Open Display in Control Panel.
  • On the Settings tab, click Advanced.
  • On the Color Management tab, click the color profile you want to make active, and then click Set As Default.
  • Click Apply or OK.
    Notes
    • To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display.
    • If you don't have any profiles associated with the monitor, click Add to open the Add Profile Association dialog box.
    • Color profiles communicate the color characteristics of a device to the color management system. Associating the correct color profile with all of your publishing tools helps to ensure consistent color application throughout the publishing process.
    • If you want more information about a particular color profile, click Add to open the Add Profile Association dialog box, right-click a profile, and then click Properties.
    • Windows provides a color profile named sRGB Color Space Profile.icm, which you can use with any device that supports Image Color Management 2.0.

To change the active color profile for a printer

  1. Open Printers and Faxes
  2. Right-click the color printer you are using, click Properties, and then click the Color Management tab.
  3. Under Profiles currently associated with this printer, click the color profile you want to use as the active profile, and then click Apply.
    Notes
    • To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display.
    • If you don't have any profiles associated with the printer, click Add to open the Add Profile Association dialog box.
    • For more information about a profile in the Add Profile Association dialog box, right-click the profile, and then click Properties.
    • Color profiles communicate the color characteristics of a device to the color management system. Associating the correct color profile with all of your publishing tools helps to ensure consistent color application throughout the publishing process.
    • Color profiles are usually installed in the systemroot\System32\Spool\Drivers\Color folder.
    • Windows provides a color profile named sRGB Color Space Profile.icm, which you can use with any device that supports Image Color Management 2.0.

To change the rendering intent for viewing or printing an image or page

  1. In the graphics program in which you are creating your image or page, on the File menu, click Color Management.
  2. Select the Enable Color Management check box, and then click Basic color management.
  3. In Rendering Intent, click the rendering intent you want to use.
    Notes
    • Your graphics program must support Image Color Management 2.0 in order to implement color management options.

Proofing Color Reproduction

To proof the color reproduction of another output device

  1. In the graphics program in which you are creating your page or image, on the File menu, click Color Management.
  2. Click to select the Enable Color Management check box, and then click Proofing.
  3. In Emulated device profile, click the color profile you want to use to represent another output device.
  4. In Rendering Intent, click the rendering intent you want to use.
    Notes
    • Your graphics program must support Image Color Management 2.0 in order to implement color management options.
    • Targeted devices could include printers, monitors, a printing press, or other output devices.

Removing Color Profiles

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete these procedures. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing these procedures.

To remove a color profile from a monitor

  1. Open Display in Control Panel.
  2. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.
  3. On the Color Management tab, click the color profile you want to remove, and then click Remove.
    Notes
    • To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display.
    • Color profiles communicate the color characteristics of a device to the color management system. Associating the correct color profile with all of your publishing tools helps to ensure consistent color application throughout the publishing process.

To remove a color profile from a printer

  1. Open Printers and Faxes
  2. Right-click the printer you want to adjust, click Properties, and then click the Color Management tab.
  3. Click the color profile you want to remove, and then click Remove.
    Notes
    • To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Themes, and then click Display.
    • Color profiles communicate the color characteristics of a device to the color management system. Associating the correct color profile with all of your publishing tools helps to ensure consistent color application throughout the publishing process.