Profiles
------A profile is simply an evaluation report. There are several kinds of profiles: input, monitor, and output. Each is a color performance evaluation of a unique machine’s capability to capture/ display/ print a great array of color hues and intensities. A profile assesses the capabilities of a single machine so that color pictures sent to that machine, consider those capabilities, and portray color images as close to the original color as possible.
The Case for Profiles
-----Clearly, there is a need for a method of insuring that a single image file can be portrayed on a number of different devices, with reasonable similarity.
-----There are literally hundreds of varieties of devices that possess very significant display (in the broadest sense of the word) differences. Users need (and deserve) the assurance that files will retain their essential integrity when sent to another location or device.
-----There is nothing scarier than releasing a file to another user, service bureau, printer, or whoever… wondering if the file’s visual integrity will be compromised.
-----The ultimate hope is that “what I see is what you’ll see” (wisiwys?). ICC Profiles offer this and more. When all parties play by the same (ICC) rules, any file produced on my computer will look very similar (absolute perfect matching is probably never going to be possible) on your monitor. Further, if what produce on my computer is going to be printed on your printer (or proofer), I can see in advance what the printed piece will look like by viewing the file on my monitor, “filtered through” the profile for your printer.
-----If all this sounds a bit confusing… that’s because it is! But when color management is carefully orchestrated and press control systems are accurately maintained, it really works.
The Case against Profiles
-----If you have ever gone to a tailor, or seamstress, to have a garment fitted to
your measurements, then you know how good custom-fitted clothes can look. By the same token, you also know how bad that garment looks when you have gained or lost significant weight.
-----Precision profiles only work with precision when none of the characteristics of the profiled device change. Any variations from the conditions existing when the profile was generated (ink formulations, paper types, lamp/phosphor age, etc.) will produce varied results.
It’s easy to hit a stationary target, but difficult to hit a moving one. In one sense, a profile is like a passport photo. It is only accurate if taken recently.
-----Generic profiles, are no more useful than the height/weight charts in a Doctor’s office. Keep in mind that the “average man/woman” doesn’t really exist, and an average profile will not address the particular behavior of any specific device.
Close only counts in horseshoes. Color reproduction ain’t horseshoes.
On a related issue go to Input Profiles
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