Tips from Nicholas Hellmuth on where to start out in color management for scanning and inkjet printing: book review of Color and Its Reproduction, 2nd edition by Gary Field, GATF Press

Color and its Reproduction : Tips by Nicholas Hellmuth on how to get started learning color management

Readers deluge us with questions about color management. Frequent complaint is not being able to get adequate color gamut on a Roland printer with their traditional pigmented inks.

We even had two Roland dealers tell us they could not get cyan or fire engine red on a Roland with pigmented inks.

But hopefully there is a new generation of inks, or use after-market inks, or, learn how to manage your color so you get the colors you need.It may not be the fault of the printer or its ink! It could be the RIP or the media. But no matter whether you have a ColorSpan, HP, Encad, Mutoh, Mimaki, Oce, or solvent ink printer, you eventually have to learn color management.

We recommend the following sequence:

1st, do lots of background reading.
2nd, once you have done your homework, take a course.
3rd, after more practice, bring a color management consultant to your facility for hands-on training specifically with your workflow.

If you are doing textile printing and/or dye sublimation commercially, contact iris@itnh.com for assistance on color management in production of textile prints. They handle Iris, Ixia, Mutoh, Mimaki,and naturally know Roland printers too.If you are an individual, using Epson's for a hobby to print photos or fine art, or need help with a Creo () scanner, then we recommend Parrot Digigraphic to guide you on color management tools and software. Contact is John Lorusso (president) or Dan Hunt, imaging@parrotcolor.com.

Step 1 for learning color management is to get the proper books. GATF Press leads the way into the next millennium with several outstanding books on color. Color and its Reproduction, 2nd edition, Gary G. Field, GATF Press, 482 pp, hardcover, $65, GATF Press (Graphic Arts Technical Foundation) gatf.org, telephone 800 662-3916The actual book review of this monograph is at dye-sub-printer-review.org. Chapters include Color Theory, Color Systems, Color Perception Fundamentals, Color Measurement and Specification, Paper and Ink, Color Printing, Color Originals, Color Reproduction, Color Separation, Color Proofing, Color Quality Strategy, among others. Plus, five appendices, glossary, index, and references.

Other books from GATF Press that you will want:

Guide to Desktop Publishing, James Cavuoto and Steven Beale,
The GATF Guide to Desktop Publishing, 3rd edition, Hal Hinderliter
Binding, Finishing, and Mailing, GATF Press
Digital Photography: New Turf for Printers, David L.Milburn and John L. Carroll
Color Scanning and Imaging Systems, Gary G. Field, GATF Press
Understanding Digital Color, 2nd edition, Phil Green, GATF Press
GATF Practical Guide to Color Management, Rich Adams and Joshua Weisberg, GATF Press

The fact that so many useful books come from a single press suggests a dynamic management, in this case probably due to Peter Oresick, Director, GATF Press and his colleagues.