What is colour management ?

Colour management is a system built into your computer's operating system that defines the real world colours represented in a digital image file. The system ensures that the colours are correctly defined to compensate for the characteristics of the camera or scanner and are then correctly displayed on monitors and printed out as accurately as possible.
It does this by defining the range of colours possible in the file by tagging the file with a definition called its colourspace. The system then uses a system of files, called profiles, to compensate for the characteristics of the camera, scanner, display system or printing system and ensure that the image file is displayed as accurately as possible.

Why do I need colour management ?

Anyone wanting accurate colour reproduction will need to somehow establish a workflow that can deliver consistent and predictable results. With an unmanaged system, print outs can have unexpected colour shifts or casts; which can sometimes occur just in a specific small tonal range. Such problems can cause wastage of time and materials, as prints have to be repeated by trial and error until a satisfactory result is obtained, in some cases it's just not possible at all. A well managed system should give consistent and predictable results every time.

How do I start using colour management ?

Go to our how to How to set up colour management page .