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Digital Printing

Colour Management and the Importance of Quality Paper

Posted by Nina 7 years ago

Here at Cottontail Press, we use a fully colour-managed process to ensure the most accurate colour reproduction for your digital prints. Our ICC profiles characterize the colour gamut for the printer, ink and paper.

A profile is generated by printing a series of colour test patches of known value through our printer and measuring the results. These particles of data are analyzed by our profiling software in order to create an ICC colour profile which can be used to develop previews and output of your images on programs such as Photoshop, Lightroom or any other colour managed application. Based on the information in the profile, the colours of your image would be processed so that they print flawlessly on our particular printer and paper.

Colour Tests on Two Different Paper Types
© Cottontail Press
A pro tip: Be sure that your photograph or scanned image is of the utmost quality. What you want is a raw file, shot on a low ISO so that it is sharp and clear when translated into a print. The ICC profile will help with this translation as far as the colour management is concerned but if the original file is not in the best quality possible, then you will see flaws.
“The only way to know color management works is to compare input and output, and your lighting environment impacts that comparison. At some point, you need controlled lighting to keep the comparison stable and non-variable. If you don’t have a fixed point to judge against, you have nothing.”

~ROBERT MCCURDY

Selecting the correct paper for your print is another very important component to getting the best outcome. Some photographs and art prints would look great on a matte paper while others may need a satin or gloss finish. There are also optical brightening agents to consider depending on how long you want your print to last. We have a variety of papers to choose from and will be able to help you with your choices along the way.

When it comes getting beautiful prints of your artwork, you can always count on us to give you the full colour management service and can rest assured that you are getting the best quality possible! If you have any questions about colour management or our printing process, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly. We are always happy to help!

More about Nina

Co-owner/ Designer / Printer Extraordinaire