Mac vs. PC file appearance differences

[rjphil]

Hi - I've run across some difficulties with printing from Mac files. I'm set up on PC (calibrated system), and do printmaking for other photographers and artists in addition to my own work. There are Two of my customers use Macs, and their files almost always come up dark and very yellow on my screen. They claim that their monitors are calibrated, and are saving tiffs in Adobe 1998 profile. I now request that they bring a work print when submitting files. None of my other customers seem to have this issue, and my scans/files and other images that come in seem to be fine, and are printed with minimal "tweaks". Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Ken Lee]

Even when a monitor is calibrated, we can still work in a room whose color balance is off - and therefore make "bad decisions" with respect to color.

What is the lighting in their work areas ? If it's yellow (like we get with typical incandescent bulbs) then your customers will inadvertently adjust their images to look normal in a yellow room.

[brian mcweeney]

Are they at a different gamma, 1.8 or 2.2?

[jonathan_lipkin]

Brian -

That definitely sounds like a profile issue. Perhaps they are not really in aRGB. Have you tried assigning different profiles? If they are in aRGB and tag them incorrectly, the color and tone might shift.

[jim kitchen]

Dear RJ,

This issue, could be and is more than likely an issue with the gamma set by your Mac client's monitor, where their Mac gamma is set to and calibrated to 1.8, and your PC gamma is set to and calibrated to 2.2. If this is a true statement, then their TIFF files will always appear darker than expected on your PC monitor, no matter what profile is imbedded or assigned within their TIFF file. This can be rectified quickly and effectively by asking your clients to recalibrate their monitors to gamma 2.2. This is not a difficult task to do, as long as your clients have the calibration software that will allow them to make the modification properly, nor would the effect be detrimental to your client's visual output, because they will adjust their files to match what they see on their monitor, and you should see their resultant adjustments properly, and be able to print them properly.

As a side note, I would never let anyone touch any of my files, once I have set my calibrated equipment to produce a print that I expect from my master printer's calibrated equipment. That means if my master printer decided to tweak my image, for whatever reason without consultation, I would tweak him with immediate effect. Your clients surely need a solution, where I believe that you have the means, the experience, and the knowledge to assist them going forward...

A solution that works, especially if you are located close to your client, would be to offer a calibration service for a fee that allows you to calibrate their monitor with your calibration software and tools. Minimizing any incremental third party software or calibration equipment within the global calibration chain is prudent, because any minor inherent calibration errors within your calibration equipment would be consistent across the entire calibration chain, and invisible to both parties.

Just my two pennies...


jim k

[rjphil]

Thanks all. I will check with them re their workflow and settings again. Jim, please understand that the files that I "tweak" are from customers who have minimal PS experience and are coming to me for the same expertise that I have in the traditional color darkroom as to making better prints than they are able to. (At least that's the theory...) When I am working with a fine art client, they typically stay with me while I open the files and sometimes pull a check print for approval before proceeding. I would not adjust a file without their knowledge.

[jim kitchen]

I would not adjust a file without their knowledge...

Dear RJ,

I do not doubt that...

Your directives, and your focus to enrich the clients while they are present or not, happen to be an excellent and a welcome solution. Too many, self-proclaimed master printers that tend to want to justify the ownership of a large format printer, continually exhibit and produce pure unadulterated crap, and their result is nothing less than a get-by-product. Excellent master printers, complete with their passion, their technique, their attention to applied science, and the business of printing, surely apply those ordered characteristics flawlessly, but again too many newly hatched aggressive operators reverse those requirements naturally, and peak their reverse emphasis the moment their margins are breached. Your willingness and your attention to your client's requirements happen to be an excellent indicator that you are not part of the latter group. I am very empathetic to a master printer that must compete against the hoards of self proclaimed operators, especially when the client is totally unaware that excellence does exist, where that excellence must be found through trial, and error.

There are master printers within this group, and I believe that they can assist you with greater clarity than I, going forward.


jim k

[Ben Syverson]

Just a note that as of Mac OS X 10.6, Apple has changed the official Mac gamma from 1.8 to the PC standard 2.2.

However, that should not be relevant in this case, as Photoshop does its own color management internally, and it knows what the display gamma is. I've found that people have very different ways of "calibrating," with varying degrees of success...

[Lenny Eiger]

Thanks all. I will check with them re their workflow and settings again. Jim, please understand that the files that I "tweak" are from customers who have minimal PS experience and are coming to me for the same expertise that I have in the traditional color darkroom as to making better prints than they are able to. (At least that's the theory...) When I am working with a fine art client, they typically stay with me while I open the files and sometimes pull a check print for approval before proceeding. I would not adjust a file without their knowledge.

Color management only works in a very limited way. The only way to deliver an exceptional product is to work together with the photographer, whether its together, or by passing test prints back and forth. If one is experienced, with some time they can learn the style of the person they are printing for. However, you can't deliver a great print with anyone else's unmodified file, you shouldn't expect to.

Calibration and profiling get one in the ballpark, maybe you can hit the side of a barn, but that's about it... the system just isn't that good.

Lenny
EigerStudios