Managing Color with Apple s New Colorspace

Transcription

1 #Color2018 Managing Color with Apple s New Colorspace Kevin O Connor

2 Plan for this Session Fundamentals Review Details of Apple s New Color Space Opportunities Challenges Strategies + Best Practices Questions

3 Why Do We Care about Managing Color in General? Consistent color saves time, money and landfills. Consistent color delivers better quality if used correctly. Consistent color is better for creative artists health and blood pressure! Legal requirements for good color in certain workflows must be honored.

4 Why Do We Care about Managing Apple s Color specifically? Apple devices are used around the world every day to capture, create, edit, view and output color. A change in the color on these devices ripples through all sorts of workflows. The question is this; will those ripples be good ripples, or workflow-disrupting tsunamis?

5 Foundation What the eye can see What the devices can capture/display/output Best practices for their intersection

6 Mapping Gamuts to Compare Measuring the actual performance of a display Defining minimum standards Apple displays have kept up with panel technology as it s improved over time. ipad Pro + iphone(8,8+,x), imacs (27 & Pro) + MacBook Pro now all can show Apple s new color space, named Wide Color

7 A New Color Space for MacOS + ios Apple previously standardized on srgb color space. Once displays could support it, Apple moved to a wider space, closely matching DCI-P3, which they call Wide Color. (Demo) This space(dci-p3) matches the specification for color for digital projectors in theaters. On January 4, 2016, the UHD Alliance announced their specifications for Ultra HD Premium which requires devices to display at least 90% of the DCI P3 color space. [7][8] This presentation discusses best practices to both use Wide Color best and avoid potential disasters

8 Reviewing Fundamentals of Workflow I N P U T D I S P L A Y E D I T O U T P U T

9 Reviewing Fundamentals of Workflow S O U R C E D I S P L A Y E D I T D E S T I N A T I O N (S)

10 Source Profiles; their care and feeding; (Demo) Where do they come from? What happens if they re not honored correctly? What happens if they re not present when you need them?

11 The srgb Standard Source Profile Ubiquitous srgb Devices that did or did not record in the gamut of srgb Badly used srgb Properly used srgb When to avoid like the plague When to default to srgb

12 The srgb Standard Source Profile

13 Apple s New Color Space Wide Color Where does it come from? Apple focus on video DCI-P3 explained New imacs, iphones*, and the latest MacBook Pro laptops * iphone 8 and 8Plus support P3; iphone X = 103% of P3 color.

14 The DCI-P3 Profile

15 The DCI-P3 & srgb Profiles compared (demo)

16 The DCI-P3 & srgb Profiles compared in 3-D

17 The DCI-P3 & srgb Profiles compared in 3-D, top view

18 The DCI-P3 & srgb Profiles compared in 3-D

19 DCI-P3, srgb & Adobe RGB (1998)Profiles compared in 3-D

20 P3 srgb DCI-P3, srgb, Adobe RGB (1998), and Rec Profiles compared in 3-D Adobe Rec. 2020

21 Coverage Percentages Rec. 709 (srgb) covers 35.9% Adobe RGB = 52.1% the DCI-P3 = 53.6%; note differences in gamut colors Rec = 75.8%

22 Seeing Wide Color How to see; Demo in Photoshop Source for test images: What happens if it s not honored correctly, as happens at the link above? What happens if it s not honored when you need it?

23 Wide Color RGB in the workflow What happens in standard workflows? Input Display(s) Editing Output(s) How to use it in mixed workflows What happens if it s not present/embedded when you need it?

24 Assigning vs. Assuming; demo Configuring applications settings for best color Photoshop as an example; demo Preferences to Configure What happens if a profile is not present/embedded when you need it? Demo: how to assign in Photoshop and test for best color

25 Assigning vs. Assuming;Photoshop Application Settings Configuring applications settings for best color handling is essential. For a free, detailed white paper that shows Adobe Creative Suite and other software application settings, written by the presenter, go to: and scroll down to the download link for Comprehensive Guide to Color Management Mastering the Challenges of Digital Color

26 Is Greed Good Here? The best possible workflow is the one that preserves all the color you can preserve. Least common denominator workflow is dangerous. When is good enough truly good enough? Voltaire on Perfection vs. Efficiency; striking a balance; Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien. (Better is the enemy of the good.)

27 Two Approaches to Wide Color workflows Approach 1:Greed is Good (in this instance) Be greedy for color. Establish the highest possible standard for preserving color; Preserve as much color as long as you can. You can always (and easily) toss it away later. Make all color-critical work stations match; train all color critical personnel to avoid clipping color or throwing it away.

28 Two Approaches to Wide Color workflows Approach 2: Setting a Common Denominator The standard is established for everyone s color. If the budget allows, everyone gets a matching display and matching settings. If budget can t raise everyone up, take everyone down. Do NOT set the bar too far down. (Yes, this can be as bad as it sounds; be very cautious about throwing away color too early in the workflow.)

29 8-bit vs. 16-bit color; when to edit in each? Cases can be made for both; here s the background 8-bit color = 2 8 = 56 steps in each channel 16-bit color = 2 16 = 65,536 steps in each channel 8-bit color = 256 (Red) x 256(Green) x 256 (Blue) = 16,777,216 shades of color 16-bit color = 65,536 x 65,536 x 65,536 = 281,474,976,710,656 shades of color This is 2 quadrillion, 814 trillion, 744 billion, 976 million, 710 thousand, 656 colors!

30 Wide Color RGB in editing;8-bit vs. 16-bit color; when to use each? 3 gamuts; srgb vs. P3 vs. ProPhoto RGB srgb is the smallest Wide Color P3 is the middle ProPhoto RGB is bigger than Texas

31 Editing in Wide Gamuts; the Danger of Posterization A 1 point editing move in 8-bit color is 1 of 256 steps. Across a narrow color space such as srgb, even large moves don t risk too much. By contrast, ProPhotoRGB images should always be edited in 16-bit color, and then converted for final destinations 16-bit color offers 65,536 steps, though most 16-bit moves are not as small as 1 point.

32 Editing in Wide Gamuts Wide Color P3 gamut is in the middle of two extremes of gamut size. It can be argued that either 8- or 16-bit editing could work. Practical testing by some renowned experts has demonstrated that in most cases, editing most images in 8-bit is sufficient but 16-bit is more reassuring! If editing in 8-bit causes posterization, reopen the file in 16-bit depth and re-edit, which usually solves the problem.

33 Wide Color in Proofing and Printing Soft Proofing vs Hard Proofing Soft Proofing is on display screens; a digital simulation of the final print. Hard Proofing requires a print. Both can be used for contract proofing when done correctly.

34 Wide Color in Proofing and Printing Which displays can do Soft Proofing correctly? The bigger the gamut the display can produce, the better for soft proofing, esp. when proofing wide gamut color Critical color management is required. One of the vendors at the show is demonstrating an excellent system for soft proofing. Check it out!

35 Wide Color in Proofing and Printing What print devices can output wider color? As with all color questions, the correct answer is? It depends! When shopping for printers, you must know your target output substrates, ink sets and devices. If you are printing to standards, you can check specifications. If not, ask for profiles to test.

36 Designing Your Best Workflow Define the goals; what color do you need to hit? Work backward from the desired final results. Identify critical dependencies. Make sure hardware and software can meet desired goals, by updating & replacing as necessary. Test carefully before deadlines.

37 Workflow Best Practices Every image has an input(source) profile. If an image arrives without a source profile, color-critical testing and assigning the best profile is recommended. Note: This can be scripted for side-by-side evaluations. Displays are calibrated regularly. Displays are retired when they can t meet the gamut requirements of the workflow.

38 Questions

39 #Color2018 Thank you for your attention. Kevin O Connor Kevin@MakeColorBehave.com