Color management:
Obtaining ICC profiles and building them with MonacoEZcolor
by Norman Koren

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Thanks to Dennis Wilkins and Jonathan Sachs for excellent suggestions and extensive proofreading.

Profiling options

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Manufacturer's profiles and free downloads. Manufacturers often supply ICC profiles with driver software CDs or on their websites. Opinions vary about their merits. They can be inaccurate or out of date, but I've had good luck with profiles for the Epson 2200. Some excellent profiles are available from independent photographers.

Epson's ICC profiles for the 2100/2200 are fairly accurate, particularly for color images. They need a bit of adjusting for B&W. They can be found on the Epson 2200 printer installation CD in TITLES\PIM\color. Epson did a great job of hiding them; they are not mentioned in "Printer Basics" manual. A friend found them by accident. Luminous-Landscape.com confirms their accuracy. The Archival Matte MK and Watercolor-RW MK profiles worked so well (No Color Adjustment, 1440 dpi) that I haven't bothered to make custom profiles with MonacoEZcolor.

Epson profiles (the 2100/2200,1280/1290, 890, 895, 810/820 and 1270) are available on Ian Lyons' site, apparently supplied by Epson. There were six for the 2200: Archival Matte MK and PK, Glossy-PW PK, Standard MK and PK, and Watercolor-RW MK. (MK is Matte Black ink; PK is Photo Black ink; I have no idea what "Standard" means.) Epson Australia also has profiles and a useful RGB Printing Guide. (Why not US, UK?) For the 2200 they have Archival Matte MK and PK, Watercolor-RW MK and PK, and Premium Seimgloss and Glossy-OW PK (a different set from Lyons).

Tim Grey (associated with George Lepp) had some excellent profiles for the Epson 2200, but removed them when he discovered restrictions in the MonacoPROOF license-- about as severe as Microsoft claiming ownership of anything you write using Word. Microsoft wouldn't dare go that far, but Monaco, on the other hand, is far enough under the regulatory radar to get away with it.

John Fellers, a friend who teaches photography part-time at the Art Institute of Colorado, has created two profiles for the Epson 2200. Here are his comments.

I'm enclosing two print profiles created on AIC's Gretag/Macbech EyeOne system. I really like the product except for two things: 1. It's pretty pricey, around $3,000. 2. It doesn't have much latitude for error. On certain paper types, like Epson Professional Glossy, it seems to be impossible to get a profile at all. Despite several attempts I (and others) always get a 'Delta E' error while trying to profile the Epson glossy paper. I also ran across this error while trying to read a test chart from a student's Hewlet Packard Inkjet. Minor surface imperfections in the test chart can also throw the system off.

Oh well, I don't like glossy anyway. My Luster profile was a definite improvement over Epson's, but my Radiant White Watercolor Profile gave only a slight improvement.

Bill Atkinson's excellent ICC profiles for the Epson 7600 and 9600 printers are now available from Epson North America. Here is Epson's announcement. It these links don't work, go to the Epson North America site and follow links to Support, Wide body printers, 7600 or 9600 Ultrachrome. Read more about the profiles on the West Coast Imaging site.

Red River, a manufacturer of fine art inkjet papers, supplies profiles for the Epson 2200 Profiles for other printers are on the way.

Color management equipment/supplies: Sources for profiling equment

ColorHQ.com  |  ColorManaged.com

Create your own. The chief advantage is that the profile matches your own equipment: digital cameras, scanners, monitors and printers suffer from manufacturing variations; all change as they age. Then there are inks and papers... A profile you purchase may not match your individual device. If you experiment with a variety of art papers and inks, you'll need a profile for each combination. You'll save money by making your own; they may be hard to find for unusual combinations of materials. The disadvantage of making your own profile is that, unless you have the budget for a colorimeter or spectrophotometer, you'll make them on a flatbed scanner, whose spectral response is not a good match to the human eye. Also, flatbed light sources can emit significant ultraviolet light, which can cause some inks to flouresce (emit visible light in response to UV). How serious a disadvantage is controversial and depends on the scanner model and inks (no, I don't have the answer). My view is that you can make excellent profiles with a good quality scanner (I use the Epson 2450) if you have a profile editor to correct for the inevitable small errors. Your eye is the ultimate judge of profile quality.

• Monaco Systems provides profiling software and hardware at three levels. MonacoEZcolor ($299-499)for desktop applications, MonacoPROOF ($1495) for professionals (requires a colorimeter or spectrophotometer), and MonacoPROFILER ($4250) for high-end users such as printers. I chose MonacoEZcolor because it is highly regarded and has a profile editor. Epson America includes discount codes for EZcolor with several scanners and printers.

• ColorVision Spyder Photo Suite, etc. "Spyder" is their name for the colorimeter that attaches to monitor screens. DPReview.com offers promotional discounts. Search their site if  the previous link doesn't work. The OptiCal program has more features than PhotoCal: It seems worthwhile. See the Dpreview.com review. Here is a report from Daniel Staver of Norway.

 
Got my Colorvision Spyder yesterday - What a difference! The colors are much more accurate, and images I was having trouble with before now match my printer very well. I even calibrated my cheap $250 monitor that I have on the other computer, and now it matches my Trinitron completely. I'd given up on that one, even on max brightness all shadows below 30% were black, and grays had a strong purple cast.
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• Digital Domain Inc. Profile Prism is their intriguing low cost profiling solution.

• Free color management-- links  Well, almost free, from Karl Heinz Kremer. You'll need an IT8 target. Wolf Faust (Germany) supplies them very reasonably and has a nice set of links. If you're on a tight budget or just like bargains, you may find a gold mine. But be prepared to do some extra work.

• SCARSE  Scanner CAlibration ReaSonably Easy, for Linux geeks. "Scarse is a free color calibration and management software package. It lets you build and use ICC profiles. Custom profiles can be generated from variety of calibration targets. Scarse is intended for (and developed on) Unix machines and is distributed under the terms of GNU Public License." Has a library of ICC profiles. The Adobe RGB 1998 profile failed the ICC Profile Inspector validation. Oh well...

• Bruce Fraser compared several scanner-based profiling programs. Monaco came out on top, but the results are somewhat out-of-date. He doesn't recommend scanner-based profiling in his book, Real World Color Management.

• Ian Lyons reviews several color management/profiling products, including MonacoEZcolor 2, ColorVision PhotoCal and Spyder, ColorVision Profiler RGB and Doctor and more.

Profilecity.com  Their knowledge base has some excellent, detailed articles.
Inkjetmall.com  Jon Cone also sells art papers and Piezography archival inks for both B&W and color.
Chromix.com
Cathy's Profiles  Norwalk, California. Reasonable-- $40 per profile. Recommended by Bernard Leverd.
Paul Holman  United Kigdom. Has an interesting page explaining profile quality using my test charts.

View image galleries How to purchase prints . . . An excellent opportunity to collect high quality photographic prints and support this website .

IT8 targets, which conform to ANSI standard IT8.7 (ISO 12641), are widely used in color management. When an IT8 traget is calibrated-- accompanied by a reference file that describes its precise colors-- it becomes a powerful tool for building profiles. The Kodak Q60  is perhaps the best known of the IT8 targets; Kodak's detailed description is worth reading. IT8 targets come in 35mm and 4x5 transparencies and in 5x7 reflective prints. IT8 targets contain a 12 row (A-L) by 22 column pattern of color patches along with a 22 step neutral scale on the bottom. Columns 1-12 contain a uniform distribution of hue angles at three lightness levels and four saturation levels. Column 13-19 contain C, M, Y, K, R, G, and B in uniform lightness steps. Columns 20-22 are not defined by the standard. Manufacturers use them for their own purposes, frequently for flesh tones. Kodak's is the only one with a portrait. IphotoMinusICC has a FAQ that compares several.

Building profiles with MonacoEZcolor 2

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• Build monitor profile using the MonacoSensor. Make sure monitor viewing conditions are correct. Connect the sensor to your computer. Launch MonacoEZcolor and select Create Monitor Profile. Set desired viewing condition to 6500K, inform MonacoEZcolor of your monitor's color temperature setting, then follow the instructions. The target gamma is 2.2. You will need to attach the colorimeter to the screen, then wait while is flashes a sequence of colors. Name and save the profile. MonacoEZcolor installs the profile as the Windows Default monitor profile, which is used by MonacoGamma to calibrate the monitor whenever the computer is booted.

• Build input profile (flatbed scanner). You have the option of creating a scanner profile each time you create a printer profile, so if you are creating a printer profile, you may want to combine the operations. Here is my procedure for the Epson 2450. Turn on the scanner. Monaco recommends waiting 1/2 hour for the scanner to warm up. (This may be unnecessary: the lamp turns on and warms prior to scanning; it turns off after a few minutes of inactivity.) Automatic settings must be turned off. On the Epson 2450 TWAIN interface I click on Configuration..., Color, No color correction. Note that the Epson TWAIN software allows you to select the ICM scanner profile and target color space. When you scan using your new profile, you'll want to set it either here or in the PW Pro Color Management Settings box, but not both. Following instructions, place the Monaco IT8 target in the scanner, scan it with appropriate cropping, identify the crop marks and set them. Name and save the profile.

Build printer profile. Turn on the flatbed scanner and let it warm up for 1/2 hour. Print the target (shown on the right), making certain the printer settings are appropriate. Record them carefully. Automatic settings should be off. You'll want to save the settings sooner or later. Attach the IT8 target to the printed target, then scan with the appropriate settings (auto color correction off, 200 dpi, etc.). Identify the crop marks and crop the IT8 and printer targets (bottom and top of the scan). Name and save the printer profile. You may optionally name and save the scanner profile, which is calculated in this procedure.

• Edit printer profile. You can edit profiles made with MonacoEZcolor using Monaco's standard image or a user-selected image. I prefer my own; I used the image below, created with PW Pro's Layout transformation from the Digital Dog test file, a B&W image, and a two uniformly varying B&W patterns (0 to 100%, linearly) created by the Gradient transformation. The B&W image is important because subtle color shifts are most apparent on neutral tones; they are hard to see on saturated colors. The gradients tell a lot about printer quality.

Launch MonacoEZcolor and select Edit Printer Profile. Select the printer profile to edit, then load and print the image. Make sure the printer driver settings (Media Type, Print Quality (dpi), Halftoning, etc.) are identical to those used to generate the profile. Give the print time to dry (I recommend at least an hour for ColorLife). To improve screen to print matching, click "Method 1." Compare the preview image on the monitor to your print and use the editing tools, shown on the right, to obtain a good match. I recommend recording the setting of the editing tools. Original image file for making test prints.

Now here's where it gets tricky. Both of the papers I use with the Epson 1270, Matte Heavyweight and ColorLife, suffer from a degree of viewing illumanant sensitivity, also known as metamerism. Neutral tones change their appearance under different light sources. If they look distinctly reddish under halogen lights, they are nearly neutral in daylight. You must therefore carefully choose the light source for viewing prints. A compromise between halogen and daylight is reasonable. The 4700^oK Solux. Desk Task Lamp is very promising.

By all accounts, metamerism is much more severe in the Epson 2000P pigment-based printer. Epson's new line of 7-color UltraChrome pigment-based printers, the 2100/2200, 7600, and 9600, have relatively little metamerism-- less than the 1270/1280/1290. This is good news because of their excellent print longevity, estimated at 75-100 years.

Scanned prints (Epson 1270 printer, Matte Heavyweight paper): Left: original MonacoEZcolor profile; Right: edited profile.

The results of editing are illustrated in the side-by-side images above, both scanned from prints made on the Epson 1270 on Matte Heavyweight paper. The left image was printed using the original profile calculated by MonacoEZcolor. The right image was printed on the edited profile, based on the appearance of the print under halogen light.

The surprise here is that the scanned image on the left, made with the unedited profile, looks better. It matches the original file extremely well-- particularly impressive since it was made on a matte paper (albeit the best matte surface I've ever seen), which can never have the brilliance of glossy. The scanned image on the right, printed with the edited profile, looks a little too cyan. The original looks better, particularly under halogen light-- better than the image on the left.

Why the discrepancy? Two reasons. 1. The scanner light source has a high color temperature-- closer to daylight than to halogen. Metamerism makes the images appear bluer. 2. The Epson scanner profile is biased towards green. This has little effect on the calculation of printer profiles since they are based on a comparison of the IT8 and printer targets, but it's a problem nonetheless. MonacoEZcolor has no editor for scanner profiles.

The two images below were scanned with two different scanner profiles from the same print, made on the 1270 on ColorLife paper with an edited printer profile. The MonacoEZcolor-generated profile is on the left; the Epson default profile is on the right. The MonacoEZcolor profile results in a greenish cast. The Epson standard profile results in a slightly bluish cast. I find it to be slightly more accurate. The visual match between the original image and the print is outstanding for this printer profile.

A small disappointment:  I tried to build profiles with Color Management set to Color Controlsinstead of No Color Adjustment. Gamma(D) was set to 2.2; Mode to Automatic, and the remaining controls (Brightness, Contrast, etc.) to +0. With this approach I hoped to use the Color Controls settings to make fine adjustments on the print; it would have been simpler than using the profile editor. But the prints came out strange for both 1270 paper types. Deep gray tones (zones 2-3) printed as deep, rich blues-- beyond the gamut of most monitors. Lovely, but not appropriate for neutral grays. I had to give it up.

I may have found the cause of the problem. Epson uses special profiles when Color Management is set to Color Controls or (apparently) any setting other than No Color adjustment. These profiles seem to conflict with other ICC printer profiles. Typical names are EE089__1.ICM and EE089__3.ICM (for the1270), and EE177__1.ICM (2100/2200). In the Print dialog box, they  appear in the Custom Profile box as "Epson Stylus Photo 1270" and "Stylus Photo 2100/2200." These profiles should never be used here-- they are a source of considerable confusion.

Another disappointment: The profile editor only works with profiles created with MonacoEZcolor.

Do you need the MonacoSensor colorimeter? They are nice to have but not absolutely necessary for making fine prints. The gamma chart provides extremely accurate gamma and black level indications for calibrating your monitor. But it doesn't help with color temperature, which may not be extremely critical since the eye adapts rapidly when moving between the monitor screen and illuminated prints. On my system the Monaco profile, set for 6500K, makes the screen considerably warmer (lower color temperature) than when I set the monitor to 6500K. Thanks, perhaps, to the gamma chart, the sensor makes less of a difference to print quality than Monaco would like you to believe. But it doesn't hurt. Get one if you can comfortably afford it or if you are working professionally.

Film scanner profiles:  Your approach to building a scanner profile depends on which of two possible scanning intents you choose.

• Recover scene color.  Use this approach for photographing objects where precise color reproduction is critical, such as artwork or the hypothetical lipstick ad. Photograph the reflective IT8 target, scan the film, resize it to Monaco's specifications (200 dpi or 1000x1400 pixels for the entire 5x7 inch target), then use it to build the profile. The profile is only valid for images taken with the same lighting conditions, film, and metering technique. This technique works for slides or negatives, but is almost invariably used for slides.

• Recover photographic (film) color.  Use this approach if you want the properties of the film to be visible in the scanned image, for example, if you want images made on Velvia to have the "look and feel" of <<<VELVIA>>>, which isn't quite reality. You must purchase one of Monaco's calibrated IT8 transparency targets, 35mm or 4x5. Scan the target, resize it to Monaco's specifications, then build the profile. The profiled scanner will produce the correct output for a given film color. Within the accuracy of the profile and the limits of the scanner's color gamut, it should faithfully reproduce the characteristics of individual film types.

The bottom line:  MonacoEZcolor 2 is an excellent product. The flatbed scanner profile isn't perfect-- scans come out a little greenish, not as good as the Epson standard profile. But the printer profiles are outstanding, especially after a bit of editing. The match between the monitor image and the print is about as good as I can imagine; distinctly better than I can achieve using Color Controls.

Parting words

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• To take full advantage of color management, you will want to build your own ICC proflies using one of the programs from Monaco, ColorVision, or other (lower cost) vendors.
• Medium-gamut color spaces such as Adobe RGB 1998 (SMPTE-240M) or BruceRGB are good choices for Working Color Space.
• TIFF is the best, most versatile, format for saving image files with embedded ICC profiles
• Whenever you scan or print using profiles, you must be certain that the device settings are identical to the settings used to build the profile.
• Do not expect a perfect match between your monitor and printer or between prints made on different devices; gamuts are different. But you should expect an excellent subjective match between high quality devices, even though there may be subtle differences in details, particularly near the edges of the gamuts.

Images and text copyright © 2000-2013 by Norman Koren. Norman Koren lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he worked in developing magnetic recording technology for high capacity data storage systems until 2001. Since 2003 most of his time has been devoted to the development of Imatest. He has been involved with photography since 1964.