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I do a lot of digital imaging for painting contractors. I know there must be an easier way to do what I do, though. I’m hoping if I share my workflow with the pro’s here I might get some helpful feedback.
In Photoshop CS3 the first thing I do is match the actual color sample (either a paint draw down or fan deck) with my printer. This can be a tedious process. I have a Pantone color chart that I printed, and I find the closest color for which I know the RGB values, then I print and tweak, print and tweak (repeat several more times) using the Ps Color Balance sliders. Next, using a picture of a house or condo I create selections around the various areas and do a color fill – usually at about 75% opacity. I cannot find a way to do this using a Fill Layer where the color comes even close to my swatch. Any help there would be greatly appreciated. Once I fill the selected area I use the eye dropper to find an area in the sunlight and grab the RGB values then I tweak away again using the Color Balance sliders to get my fill to match my swatch (since I was only at 75% opacity it won’t match).
When I’m done I end up with a picture that shows new colors but IMHO, without enough transparency. And sometimes I have problems with the shadows not retaining enough black. Take a look at the image below to see a crazy scheme I did last week for a home on Sanibel Island.
Printed, the colors on that image actually real close to the physical samples. On the screen, not even close. Aside from the wasted time in my work flow I wish there was a way for the colors on my screen to match the colors on my printer. I tried the Pantone ColorMunki and although it did a find job of getting the colors on my screen close, it failed miserably ( as well as their tech support) at getting the colors to match on my printer. Even after multiple attempts at calibration with their XRite spectrophotometer I could not get a printer to match a physical color. Tried it on my Mac and on a PC to no avail. I sent it back and now I’m writing this long winded post to you.
Any tips or references would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.
– Dave Cook
In Photoshop CS3 the first thing I do is match the actual color sample (either a paint draw down or fan deck) with my printer. This can be a tedious process. I have a Pantone color chart that I printed, and I find the closest color for which I know the RGB values, then I print and tweak, print and tweak (repeat several more times) using the Ps Color Balance sliders. Next, using a picture of a house or condo I create selections around the various areas and do a color fill – usually at about 75% opacity. I cannot find a way to do this using a Fill Layer where the color comes even close to my swatch. Any help there would be greatly appreciated. Once I fill the selected area I use the eye dropper to find an area in the sunlight and grab the RGB values then I tweak away again using the Color Balance sliders to get my fill to match my swatch (since I was only at 75% opacity it won’t match).
When I’m done I end up with a picture that shows new colors but IMHO, without enough transparency. And sometimes I have problems with the shadows not retaining enough black. Take a look at the image below to see a crazy scheme I did last week for a home on Sanibel Island.
Printed, the colors on that image actually real close to the physical samples. On the screen, not even close. Aside from the wasted time in my work flow I wish there was a way for the colors on my screen to match the colors on my printer. I tried the Pantone ColorMunki and although it did a find job of getting the colors on my screen close, it failed miserably ( as well as their tech support) at getting the colors to match on my printer. Even after multiple attempts at calibration with their XRite spectrophotometer I could not get a printer to match a physical color. Tried it on my Mac and on a PC to no avail. I sent it back and now I’m writing this long winded post to you.
Any tips or references would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.
– Dave Cook
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