Lessons
Lesson Info
Color Management
Okay, so let's talk about what you're going to do before you get to the software, and this is going to start with color management. Color management is one of those things that is mysterious to a lot of people. I think a lot of times people think color management is far more complicated than it actually is. It is not a super complex process, but it's something that you have to keep in mind. If you want your books to print correctly, There's two things to primary things that I'm going to focus on today. The first is monitor calibration. So a lot of times when I teach workshops around the world, I'll ask people in the audience who in here calibrates their monitor and surprisingly very few hands will actually creep up. And I'm always amazed by that because I'll just put it this way. If you're not calibrating your monitor, then you don't know exactly what you're looking at on your monitor. So the odds of that printing exactly like what you want are very rare. So the first step is to calibr...
ate that monitor. There's a lot of companies who make devices, spiders, color spiders that will attach to your monitor and within literally a 5 to 10 minute process of this spider running, you're gonna have a calibrated monitor. This is basically the starting point for me when it comes to getting good color. If you don't do it, it's like flying blind. You're not exactly sure what you're going to see. And again, the odds of getting a good print are very, very low. So think about you've got a calibrate your monitor first. The second part of the process is converting your images to the blur of I C. C. Profile or color space. And this is again a relatively simple process of a lot of times. People make this into a big deal. These are things that you're going to do again long before you get to the book. Write software these air what you're going to do to all of your images so you can find the Blur by Sisi Profile on the blurb website and it's under the Color Management Resource Center. And as I scrolled down here, you'll see the downloadable, icy sea profile right here, and what the profile does is allow you to convert your images and photo shop from whatever color space you created. Those images, whether it was S RGB or adobe RGB, you can convert those images in the color to the blurb color profile, and you do that by downloading on this icy sea button right here. What that allows you to do is actually soft proof your images in the software before you go to print. So when you hit the soft proof, you'll actually see how the images air changing and you can make adjustments to them before you go to print. It's a very slick system. It's not super complicated, and I want to also bring your attention here on the right next to the I C C profile, you're going to see two short films. The 1st 1 is literally 45 seconds, and it's about installing the blurred profile. Now in a second, I'm gonna walk you through how you do that on the Mac. But even if you're on a Mac or a PC, it doesn't matter. You can watch this, and it will remind you how to do this. It's a pretty relatively simple process. Below this is a second film called Get Great Color in blurb books, and this is what I would call a general film. If you're looking to get information about generally improving your color and your workflow, it is worth time doing. And I'm going to remind you what we talked about earlier, which is patients practice, revision and having fun in this process and again learning color learning the very nut basic nuts and bolts shouldn't be anything to worry about. Once these things are downloaded and installed, you're gonna be a happy camper. So I'm gonna hide this for a second and I'm gonna show you on my desktop here. I've already downloaded the I. C C profile just to save a little bit of time here, and I've already got it installed on my system. But I just want to show you the workflow of how you would do that. So when a macintosh you're gonna open your hard drive, you're gonna go to your library to your color sync folder to your profile folder and then to the recommended folder, and you're just gonna drag that profile in there. And what that's going to dio is actually allow you when you're in a program like photo shop you're going to see that profile when you convert your images to the color space and you are ready to go in terms of color management. So again, there's a lot Maurin a lot deeper things you can dive into with color. But if you do these two basic things, you're gonna be well on your way to creating a really nice color managed workflow, and you're just frankly, not gonna have to worry about it anymore. All you're gonna have to do is concentrate on making the best possible books you can make. That's the goal. And making great books is way more fun than dealing with color management. So there's a little secret I just shared with you. Okay, so we had our introduction. We talked a little bit about color, and now I want to move on to the next component, which is talking about organizing your content or your work before you get to the software
Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
This is one of the most interesting, informative, and accessible Creative Live classes I have yet seen in the five or six years I have been watching. Dan emphasizes the fun of the process and the importance of just getting started and being patient with one's progress. The aspect of this class that differs from so many "how to" courses is a clear way through production and distribution. I think many creators become stalled at the "how to begin" stage of real-world creativity, and Dan and Blurb provide an avenue through that sometimes hazy terrain.
Tessa Lauren
Thank you Dan and Creative Live! What a brilliant guide. I feel capable of jumping straight back into inDesign and can't wait to start self-publishing zines! - tessalauren.com (Photographer)
user-9eeff8
Clear and concise. Good course! Doesn't hurt that the instructor looks like Rob Lowe. ;) Worthwhile for anybody interested in an easy way to self-publish a magazine. I've used Blurb before for other projects (books) and it is indeed an easy-to-use platform.