Hit the Books

Hit the Books with Dan Milnor & X-Rite: Color Management – Webinar Recap

Hit the Books with Dan Milnor is a monthly webinar about all things book-making and self-publishing. This month we’re talking about how to navigate the variables between screen and print using X-Rite’s color management tools. If you missed our latest live webinar, don’t worry! We’ve got the entire thing recorded below.

June: Color Management From Screen to Print

The importance of color management
About X-Rite and how they help Blurb customers
X-Rite products and services that might help Blurb users
How to prep your files for print
Color profiles and outputs
The importance of testing
Common mistakes in print files and their effects

Watch the Webinar

Top 10 Questions from the Audience

1. What is the least expensive option for calibrating with X-rite?

The least expensive but very capable option is the ColorMunki Display. Calibrating your monitor is a great first step toward being color managed and this device is excellent.

2. How frequently do I need to calibrate?

I would start with once a month, but the goal is to not see a huge color shift between calibrations, so if you are seeing a huge shift it means your monitor is “drifting” and you might need to calibrate more frequently.

3. I’m a bit scared. How long does it take to calibrate and is it complicated?

Good news: don’t be afraid. Once you have the software installed and are familiar with the hardware, calibration takes about five minutes. (If I can do it, you can too.)

4. Does Blurb offer any calibration help or support?

We have a color management section of the site which covers both BookWright and InDesign/PDF files: https://www.blurb.com/color-management.

5. What color space is best for making a Blurb book?

If you are using BookWright, then you should look to use sRGB as the color space.

6. If I’m shooting in another color space, like Adobe RGB, how do I change profiles?

Let’s answer this based on software. If you are using Lightroom, you can simply export your chosen files to the color space you need. If you are using Photoshop, you can “convert to profile” and choose the required color space. Photoshop also allows you to check the color gamut to see if you are out of gamut.

7. Does Blurb offer an ICC Profile?

Yes, and it can be found on the color management page. The page also contains instructions on how to download and install, including a short film on how to proceed.

8. What about luminance setting?

Most LCD users find 120 is bright enough to judge color and detail in highlights and shadows, but if you’re having a hard time seeing the details, try selecting a lower value.