Elliott Images - Digital Formats and colour profiles.

Still a mystery ?

To the uninitiated digital colour profiles and digital formats are a real and daunting mystery, and I know many creative types who still haven't got their head around this issue. But it is important if the full vitality of colour photography is to be delivered in the final medium.

Rgb (Red,Green,Blue) for computers, TV sets, video projectors and inkjet printers.
Cmyk (Cyan,Magenta,Yellow,Black) for printing presses (newspapers, magazines, posters, brochures etc.) but that's just the beginning of the story. There are so many more flavours to be considered. This is my production routine, that I hope will simplify the muddle, and save me hours of explaining on the phone.

Camera - Nikon Raw The Nikon is set to record the images to a CompactFlash card in the Nikon NEF Raw format. The images are then transferred to the computer hardrive through the Adobe DNG converter program to give me universal formatted RAW files, AdobeRaw DNG . These are then loaded into Photoshop and have global lens correction, colour and density settings applied. The .DNG Raw files are archived, and then converted to ProphotoRgb(16bit)300dpi tif files, a format with the widest colour gamut (range), and smoothest gradations available today. The ProphotoRgb tif files are then reopened in Photoshop for global and local, shape, colour, density and sharpness corrections, and the images retouched to remove dust spots and other blemishes. If needed, clipping paths are drawn, and the finished tif file archived, ready to be converted to a format and size more suitable for the client's immediate purpose.

Images for a non-specified general purpose can be supplied in the universally accepted AdobeRgb(8bit)300dpi Tif format, used and understood by most graphic designers today.

If the images are to be printed on colour presses in the U.K. and Europe then the files are converted to the Coated FOGRA39 (ISO12647-2:2004) Cmyk (8bit)Tif 300dpi format, or similar if specified by the client, graphic designer or printer. Images destined to be printed in other parts of the world, such as the USA or Japan will need a different CMYK conversion, as do images that will be printed on uncoated, or a different, media.

Images to be used on amateur digital equipment, such as found in local camera shops, or on computers for presentation, e-mail or web usage, need to be formatted in the Srgb(8bit)Tif format, and if the final use has not been determined, I can supply 300dpi full size image files in this format.

To retain maximum quality, the images above are uncompressed and at sixty megabytes and more are too large to be delivered via e-mail, the usual delivery method being via CDrom or DVD disk, and courier/postal services. If the images are to be used for e-mail, web pages and computer display, then they may be compressed to much smaller file sizes using the Jpeg algorithm, that has various quality levels chosen when the images are converted.

For images to be attached to e-mails, or printed out to postcard size at the local camera shop, I resize the images to 100x150mm at 72dpi, convert them to 8bit Srgb Jpegs, and deliver via e-mails or CDRom disk.

For images to be used in web pages, I prefer to be told the exact size needed in pixels width x height at 72dpi, so I can retain as much sharpness as possible by converting directly from the original files. There is a special algorithm available in Photoshop for converting images for web usage, where extranious data is jettisoned to keep the file sizes small.

Best conversion supplied.

Rest assured, if you tell me what you are going to use it for, I'll do the conversions and supply the image in the best format and colour profile for your purpose.