SilverFast differs from many of the free offerings from vendors
such as Canon,
Epson, et al in so far as colour management is at its core rather
than an after-thought that really does little more than squeezes
our images into the sRGB colour space. On the other hand
SilverFast incorporates two
important colour mangement functions:
-
Automatic colour matching with Photoshop to ensure that what
you see in SilverFast is what you get in Photoshop
-
An integrated IT-8 calibration module (optional extra) or
scope for assigning a third party custom scanner profile. Both
methods ensure that SilverFast has match the colour
rendering characteristics of the scanner.
The following is a short explanation of the various possibilities
for configuring the SilverFast Colour Management Settings
(CMS) dialog. The settings shown are compatible with SilverFast 36 to 24bit colour, 48 bit colour
or HDR colour modes.
The CMS window has four separate sections which are used to determine
the extent to which SilverFast will manage the colour of your
images. These are:
-
Colour Management - In this section we define whether
and/or how SilverFast will integrate with the PC operating
system and image editing applications such as Photoshop.
-
Profiles for ColorSync/Image Colour Matching - In this section we
select the various Input profiles (scanner/camera) and Output
profiles (e.g. Photoshop working space) .
-
Embedded ICC Profiles - In this section we decide whether
to enable profile embedding. Remember that embedding an ICC profile
is the means by which other applications can decode the colour
recipe used when previewing and editing our images in
SilverFast.
-
Plug&Play CMYK - This section is only relevant when the
user has chosen to export scanned images in CMYK.
Example 1
Using the above settings mean that SilverFast will NOT manage
the colour of your documents and NO profile will be embedded
within the document. Furthermore, the document previewed on your display is unlikely to
match that which finally appears in Photoshop.
Example 2
As with the previous example you are instructing
SilverFast to NOT colour manage our documents. However, in
this instance you're embedding an ICC profile that describes the
scanners colour rendering characteristics. So we could
describe these settings as providing a function "similar" to the Assign
Profile in Photoshop 6, 7 and CS. Again, the preview display
will NOT be a true colour representation of how the image
will appear in Photoshop.
For normal scanning the settings described in this example are NOT
normally recommended. However, by embedding the
scanner profile it does at least provide colour savvy applications
with some knowledge as to how the document should appear. It is also
one of two possible CMS configurations when scanning for archive
purposes. The other method is described as
Configuration for User Group 1 in the HDR High Bit
scanning tutorial to be found
here.
Example 3
As with the two previous examples we're still NOT
colour managing in our images. The absence of a scanner profile
means that we have no way of describing the source colour
characteristics of the image, and so these settings again correspond
to the Photoshop 6, 7 and CS Assign
Profile command. However, in this instance the embedded profile is the Photoshop working
space profile. The choice of Automatic for "Internal
-> Monitor" and your Photoshop working space profile for Internal
(Profiles for Image Colour Matching/ColorSync) means that we
get an
accurate preview. The settings shown example 3 are probably the
best choice for users without the luxury of the SilverFast
IT8 Calibration module or a custom scanner profile.
Example 4
The settings shown for example 4 indicate how SilverFast
should
be configured when we require a FULLY colour managed workflow.
The "Input
-> Internal" = ColorSync/Image Colour Matching instructs SilverFast to use the
IT8 calibration profile as the source with whatever profile we have selected
in the Internal (Profiles for ICM/ColorSync) as the
destination colour space.
Typically the Internal profile will be the same colour (or
working) space as we selected in Photoshop The choice of Automatic
for "Internal -> Monitor" ensures that the preview display
accurately reflects how the image will appear in Photoshop and with
the Calibration profile in place we are assured that the
colours being displayed are a close rendering of the original. The
"Internal
-> Monitor" should be set to Automatic so that an accurate
preview display is assured.
Note that with example 4 we embed the Internal
profile
or as it should more correctly be called our "working space
profile" into the image. To avoid any ambiguity the Internal
colour space profile is that associated with Photoshop and NOT
SilverFast. In the example shown above I selected Adobe RGB (1998)
since this is my preferred Photoshop working space. Given that we
have a source and destination profile we describe
these settings as being "similar" to the Profile to Profile
command in Photoshop 5.x or Convert to Profile command of
Photoshop 6/7 and CS.
Important!
The KEY point to
note between example 4 and that of the previous examples is the
impact of simply choosing something other than None in the
Input
-> Internal field. The Input -> Internal field is effectively
the switch by which we turn colour management ON or OFF.
None means colour management is OFF.
ColorSync/Image Colour Matching means
colour management is ON.
Example 5
A further enhancement introduced recently is that
SilverFast will ignore the Input profile selection
when the user chooses to scan negatives. The really neat thing
about this change is that unlike previous versions of SilverFast
the user need NOT make ANY changes to their default CMS
dialog configuration. Choosing the setting shown in example 4
above and having set SilverFast for scanning negatives results in
the Input profile being automatically disabled. However, in order that the
SilverFast preview and Photoshop display of the scanned image are
matched we should still ensure that our current Photoshop working space
profile is set in the Internal (Profiles for ICM/ColorSync)
field.
The above settings apply equally to 36 to 24 bit
colour mode, 48 bit colour or HDR colour mode.
