Color Matching – I’m Lost…

C
Posted By
Cooknn
Dec 21, 2008
Views
257
Replies
6
Status
Closed
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

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MR
Mark_Reynolds
Dec 21, 2008
Unfortunately you are making some basic assumptions that are wrong. Colour in a photographs is affected enormously by these factors…

• the color of light, for example you will find that at different times of day colors will appear completely different.
• biases in film stock or digital processes.
• how much a surface is illuminated, colors change at different tonal densities, and this is a hugely complex area, also affected by the TYPE of light.

The best you can do for your client is to produce a realistic representation of the image, how the surfaces MAY appear when painted with the colors. Trying to match the color accurately to swatches is pointless. Getting a general impression is the best you can realistically do.

And doing it so that it looks like an attractive and realistic image will help your client to sell their product, better than accuracy.
C
Cooknn
Dec 21, 2008
Thanks for your reply, Mark. A realistic representation is all I’m after. I never assumed that the colors wouldn’t appear differently with the different variables that you mentioned. My goal is to eliminate as many variables as possible and get as close as I can to how the surfaces *may* appear. But first I need to be able to generate a printed color that is close to the painted standard. I had high hopes for the ColorMunki software/spectro solution from Pantone. Now I feel like I’m back to square one.
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Dec 22, 2008
But first I need to be able to generate a printed color that is close to the painted standard.

You have the problem that your printing inks and the house paint do not contain the same pigments — and your computer screen generates colors solely with light not pigments at all.

If you were printing Offset, you could consider using Pantone spot color inks for a touch plate.
RM
Rick McCleary
Dec 22, 2008
Tim –
Two thoughts:

re: ColorMunki
I have tested this device and found it to be very accurate in creating profiles (monitor and printer), and reading reflective color from objects. If you’re not getting a good monitor/print match, you may want to re-visit the process and make sure that nothing is dropping through the cracks.

re: coloring a photo
Your sample is cartoon-y because no detail from the original photo is coming through. Try to change the blending mode of your Fill Layer to Color. You may also need to apply a Curves layer to lighten/darken the area, depending upon the value of the paint being applied.
L
Lesh
Dec 22, 2008
Dave –

Don’t know if you are already familiar with this site, or if it will be any of help in the early part of your process:

Colorcharts.org – An Online Database of Manufacturers Standard Colors <http://www.colorcharts.org/ccorg/>

~Leslie
C
Cooknn
Dec 22, 2008
Don’t know if you are already familiar with this site, or if it will be any of help in the early part of your process:

Colorcharts.org – An Online Database of Manufacturers Standard Colors

I love that site 🙂 I was on the phone this afternoon with Swatchbox Technologies <http://company.swatchbox.com/>. They built the visualizers for most of your big paint manufacturers.

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