Soft proof calibration is used in graphic arts, where the display is used to provide a reasonably accurate simulation of the appearance of an image when printed. Work is under way to extend this concept to colour images. This allows medical practitioners to consistently interpret detail in radiological images. This is particularly important in medical imaging, where the Grey Scale Display Function is used to define the luminance differences which will produce equal perceived brightnesses. In some situations it is desired that equal intervals of RGB produce equal perceived differences on the display. A listing of standard colour encodings is available in the ICC three component encoding registry. Any small difference between the target calibration and the actual display is then handled by the display profile. This makes it possible for the calibration and working space to match. It is preferable to select a working space (or colour encoding) that is close to the native display colour gamut. For details of profiles which perform this rendering from sRGB, see the sRGB Preference Profile. In ICC v4 profiles, the Perceptual rendering intent renders between each individual device and a large intermediate gamut, ensuring maximum use of the gamut available to each device.
Many users prefer to use a larger-gamut working space, and accept that a small proportion of colours may not display correctly - one benefit is that it is possible to make use of the full gamut available on other devices even if the display itself has a smaller gamut. If the main use of the display is to view or create images for the web, sRGB may be a suitable choice. (Other colour encodings such as DCI P3 or ITU Rec2020 primaries are also available.) Images are then displayed and edited in this colour space, and a profile for the working space can be embedded in the image. In cases where colour management cannot be used, it is essential that the display be precisely calibrated to match the desired behaviour, such as the characteristics of the working space, if colour accuracy is important.įor most purposes, calibrating a display to a colorimetric working space such as the widely-used sRGB and Adobe RGB (1998) is the preferred approach.
Depending on the intended use of the display, there are a number of different approaches that can be used: First the display is calibrated to the desired behaviour, then a profile is used to communicate colour between the display and other devices. This page summarises methods of calibrating displays for different purposes.Ĭalibration and profiling are used in combination to achieve colour consistency. They can ensure that the colours you see on the screen accurately represent the colours within an image, and can communicate the colours you see or create in a way that they can be matched in subsequent processes such as viewing on a different display, a print or a projector. Display calibration and profiling are used in combination to achieve consistent colour on your display.