Independent colour management advice for photographers and businesses where colour really matters.
Based in Leicestershire, we work in the UK East Midlands and throughout the UK.
Reviews and articles
We have a large collection of reviews, articles and tutorials on this site, designed to help improve your understanding of the subject. There are links to Keith Cooper’s colour management related articles further down this page.
Our expertise originally stems from our own need to produce the highest quality fine art prints and accurate digital capture of images.
Fully Independent
We do not directly sell hardware or software, so our independent advice is usually aimed at helping fellow photographers get the best results.
We can demonstrate any of the many colour management devices and systems shown on this site.
If you are not sure of why you should be getting into colour management, call on us for a short chat?
We’re happy to offer direct advice as part of our commercial services.
Client advice
Colour management is not rocket science – you -can- do a lot of it yourself.
We’re happy to provide our commercial photography clients with help and advice relating to colour management issues, both where where it relates to our work, and more general matters such as monitor calibration.
Training/Seminars
We are happy to include elements of colour management in our commercial photography training.
Keith also gives lectures and more general talks about the importance and use of colour management principles and techniques.
Other index pages
- Blog – news and articles
- Keith’s photography videos
- Printing and paper
- Digital Black and White
- Photography book reviews
- Camera and printer rumours
- The business side of photography
- Tutorial and ‘How to’ articles
- Gallery of some of Keith’s prints
For even more detail, check the category listings and search box at the right of the page
Industry recognition
Keith Cooper is an
X-Rite ‘Coloratti Master’
“X-Rite’s Coloratti includes the world’s top professional photographers, a group whose vision, passion, leadership, and partnership are recognized and valued by X-Rite. Coloratti photographers are highly respected by their peers and are admired by up-and-coming professionals, enthusiasts, and students alike.”
Keith regularly tests new equipment and software before release under NDA. Where permitted, this is always mentioned in our reviews and articles.
Articles
- How should I go about Colour ManagementAn introduction and overview of colour management. Why it matters if you want to improve the editing and printing of your photographs
- Viewing images – Monitor CalibrationViewing images on a screen. Why monitor calibration matters, with some simple ways of improving what your monitor shows.
- CMYK – beyond the inkjet printAs a photographer with work in books and magazines, it helps to know the basics of large CMYK printing and how it affects the reproduction of your images. A guide for photographers
- CMYK for photographersThere is usually no good reason for photographers to work with CMYK images. Article looks at some of the things you need to consider if you need to use CMYK.
- Black and white photo printingKeith Cooper is interviewed about his approach to printing his black and white photography. Extended version with additional notes and information from a printed magazine article.
- A visit to IPEX 2010Looking at some large printers from HP, Canon and others at the IPEX show - Keith visits IPEX 2010... what's new?
- Media settings – Printer Test ImagesTest images for optimising media settings when printing. Essential to check before profiling papers to know if too much (or too little) ink is being used for the particular paper chosen
Videos by Keith Cooper
- Video: Time to get a new printer?Video: Is it time to get a new printer? - Is your old one good still enough, and will your photo and art prints be improved in their quality with a new printer?
- Video: Prints not matching screenVideo - That old problem: Prints not matching screen - does it really matter? Is soft proofing the cure-all many think it is? Why you need to actually look at prints
- Video: is there a best printer for artwork?Videos: Is there a best printer for artwork? What's the best approach for making prints of your scanned, photographed or digital artwork. How much difference does your printer choice make? (19mins)
- Video: Big prints from old imagesVideo: Creating big prints from old images - sharpening and resizing low megapixel images for making much larger prints. An A2 sized print from just a few megapixels (30mins)
- Video: Do not use CMYK for printingVideos: Why for normal inkjet printers you should never use CMYK for printing. Do not convert from RGB to CMYK before printing. CMYK has its uses, but not for printing your photos
- Video: Art reproduction and printingVideo: Art reproduction and printing your artwork. Scanning, photographing and printing to create inkjet or 'Giclee' fine art prints (19m 17s)
- Video: The best ET-8550 printsVideo: Keith looks how the get the very best Epson ET-8550 prints from your printer. What media works well and what settings do you need (16m 23s)
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There are over 1300 free articles, videos and reviews on the site - thanks to everyone who helps support it. We appreciate any purchases you make through our partners such as B&H which help us sustain the site.
Reviews
- Review i1iSis optical brightener compensationReview of i1iSis optical brightener compensation for creating ICC printer profiles for paper with optical brightening agents (OBAs) that allow for the brightener.
- GrafiLite – print viewing lighting reviewReview of using a Grafilite (Ottlite) lamp for evaluating print quality and consistency. the 13W TruColor lamp is the equivalent of a 60W tungsten lamp
- Colormunki printer profiling reviewPrinter profiling with the X-Rite ColorMunki. Review of making ICC printer profiles with the ColorMunki spectrophotometer.
- basICCaliCube and basICColor Gray card reviewReview of the photographic neutral grey card from BasiCColor and the BasICCaliCube lighting cube, with specular reflection and black reference sections
- i1 Beamer Projector profiling – ReviewReview of Projector profiling with the i1Pro spectrophotometer using the i1 Beamer mount device for the GMB/ X-Rite measuring device an i1Match software
- Spyder 3 Pro – ReviewReview of the Datacolor Spyder 3 Pro colorimeter for monitor profiling and calibration of monitors and laptop screens
- Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite – ReviewDetailed review of the Spyder 3 Elite monitor and projector display profiling and calibration device and software
News
- New monitor calibration option – ColorMunki SmileX-rite annouce a new device to calibrate your monitor, the ColorMunki Smile
- X-Rite and the all new i1 Pro 2The all new version of the i1 Pro 2 spectrophotometer from X-Rite. A range of profiling solutions for colour management.
- Colour management and your TVThe Spyder4 TV offers a way of calibrating TVs and reference video monitors
- Three new SpydersThe new Spyder4 devices: the Spyder4 Express, the Spyder4 Pro, and the Spyder4 Elite are designed to offer improved color accuracy and low luminance performance compared to the Spyder3 devices.
- X-rite updates i1 Profileri1profiler updated.New features include the option to balance red, green and blue during monitor calibration, improved automatic monitor adjustment (ADC) during the calibration process, and support for Eizo ColorEdge displays.
- i1 Display 2 and i1 Display LT to be supported for Mac OS 10.7 Lioni1 Display 2 and i1 Display LT to be supported for Mac OS 10.7 Lion by special Mac only update
- X-rite updates i1Profiler LicensePerhaps not something I'd normally report, but given all the kerfuffle over the i1Profiler EULA (license) when it came out, it's worth noting that they have retrospectively altered the license.
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Other areas of our site that may be of interest...
All the latest articles/reviews and photo news items appear on Keith's Photo blog
Keith explains tilt and shift lenses
Keith has written a book that looks at the many ways that tilt/shift lenses can benefit your photography from a technical and creative point of view. If not in the UK check for import issues and maybe try an on-line bookshop. Keith has no connection with sales of the book.
ISBN 9781785007712
There is also a specific index page on the site with links to all Keith's articles, reviews and videos about using tilt and shift.
We've a whole section of the site devoted to Digital Black and White photography and printing. It covers all of Keith's specialist articles and reviews. Other sections include Colour management and Keith's camera hacks - there are over 1200 articles/reviews here...
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...Get our Newsletter for new articles/reviews and please subscribe to Keith's YouTube Channel
...Keith's book about how to use tilt/shift lenses is now available.
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