ASMP best practices document

[johnastovall]

A very intesting read on ASMP's statement of best practices.

http://www.asmp.org/publications/updig/index.php

Thought these were spot on.

"1. Manage the color. ICC profile-based color management is the standard.

2. Calibrate the monitor. Monitors should be calibrated and profiled with a hardware device.

3. Choose a wide gamut. Use a wide-gamut RGB color space (show footnote) for capturing and editing RGB master files. We recommend Adobe RGB (1998) or ProPhoto RGB.

Professional digital cameras have selectable color spaces. Photographs intended for print should be captured in a wide-gamut space, such as Adobe RGB (1998). Photographs intended only for the web can be captured in the narrower-gamut sRGB color space. It is possible, but not strictly necessary, to create custom camera profiles. When such profiles work, they can speed workflow and yield more accurate colors. Adobe’s Camera Raw program allows for calibration of a digital camera, creating in effect a custom profile.

It’s essential that a photographer choose the correct color profile when capturing JPEGs or TIFFs, because the camera will process images into these formats using the specified profile.

4. Capture the raw data. For best quality, digital cameras should be set to record RAW files.

5. Embed the profiles. All digital files should have embedded profiles (should be “tagged”), unless otherwise noted. Photoshop’s Color Management should be set to “always preserve embedded profiles,” and the “ask when opening” boxes should be checked to alert you to profile mismatches and missing profiles. When profile mismatches occur, you should elect to preserve the embedded profile."