Color management - Rendering intent....help!

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Aaron D
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p.1 #1 · Color management - Rendering intent....help!

So I got my monitor calibrated with my new Spyder 4. Much better!

But now I'm a bit confused. What should I set all these settings to? I don't print much, if at all. I'm really confused!

I've read a bit about the differences between Perceptual Intent and Relative Colorimetric Intent, as well as Absolute Colorimetric when talking about "Default Rendering Intent". Which one should I go with? From what I've read, Relative Colorimetric Intent is the best to use

?

Also, In the choices for "Perceptual" and "Absolute Colorimetric", I read that these should be set to Proofing - simulate paper / media color. Now I'm really confused! What should this be set at as well?

My last question is this. In my "Devices" tab in the color management window, the Spyder 4 profile is selected. But in the advanced tab, where the above setting are located, the "Device Profile" is set to my monitor default profile. Should this be set to the Spyder 4 profile as well?

I've read quite a bit about this subject, and I just get more confused. I just want to know what settings I mentioned above are best for mostly web display with some printing here and there. I want to make sure things are displayed correctly in LR and on the web.

Save me!

Jan 05, 2013 at 07:31 PM

BobCollette
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p.1 #2 · Color management - Rendering intent....help!

Aaron, rendering intents are not clearly understood by a number of people. Usually, your choice should be between Relative Colorimetric and Perceptual. A short answer is the following. If most or all of your colors are within the printer's color gamut, use Relative Colorimetric intent. If some or many "critical" colors are out of your printer's gamut, use Perceptual intent (set to Document, not Proofing). A reasonably good explanation of rendering intents is covered in the article linked below.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/understanding-rendering-intents.html

Jan 05, 2013 at 07:50 PM

Aaron D
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p.1 #3 · Color management - Rendering intent....help!

Thanks Bob. I'm definitely one of "those" people. lol

That article is actually the last one I read before seeking advice here. IMO, it gives the clearest understanding of these two settings. I guess my question is this, do these two settings effect what I see on my screen? I'm most concerned about post processing at the moment. I can worry about printing when that time comes.

Still a bit confused about the last part of my question though concerning the monitor profile.Do I set this the same in the advanced tab as I do in the devices tab?

Jan 05, 2013 at 09:01 PM

BobCollette
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p.1 #4 · Color management - Rendering intent....help!

Aaron, the rendering intent only affects printing and shouldn't have any effect on the monitor image. Now, I'm assuming you're referring to the Rendering Intent setting in the Photoshop print dialog, when letting Photoshop manage colors.

However, the last part of your question (I believe) refers to the Color Management control panel applet in Windows 7. Here's how I have my Advanced tab settings:

Windows Color System Defaults:
Device Profile: System default (sRGB)
Viewing conditions profile:System default (WCS profile for sRGB viewing conditions)

ICC Rendering Intent to WCS Gamut Mapping
Default Rendering Intent: System default (Perceptual)
Perceptual (photo images): System default (Photography)
Relative Colorimetric (line art): System default (Proofing and line art)
Absolute Colorimetric (simulate paper): Proofing - simulate paper/media)
Business Graphics (charts and graphs): System default (Charts and graphs)

Jan 05, 2013 at 10:48 PM

Aaron D
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p.1 #5 · Color management - Rendering intent....help!

Thanks Bob. That answers a lot actually. The Rendering Intent option is from the Win7 CM control panel. But I will keep this in mind when working with LR and Corel PSP (Don't use Photoshop, don't care for it).

As for the Win7 CM settings, I'll give your settings a go. Some don't really effect me (such as business graphics), so I don't think they will play much of a role. But the others will.

The "Perceptual" setting I had read somewhere to set to "Proofing". Not sure why. But if you're calibrated and printing fine, it shouldn't be a problem. Curious as to the difference between that and default photography.

Thanks again. Now all I gotta do is figure out how to set up dispcal and see if it calibrates better than the Datacolor software.

Jan 06, 2013 at 12:26 AM

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