Colour profiling may sound tricky - but it's actually very simple. For each device that uses colour - your printer, monitor, scanner or camera, the actual way the colour is seen or represented on the device may differ from how the manufacturer intended, and may differ again from our devices used in your workflow.

We can solve this problem by using a colour profiling system. A colour profile is simply a file that your computer uses in association with a particular device. The file tells the computer how to translate what the device inputs or outputs in order to give the best colour match.

Profiles work as follows:

1. Your input device supplies a file to the computer representing the colours that it believes it has
   correctly scanned.
   
   
2. Your computer uses a colour profile that you have previously set up to alter this file. The colour profile will reflect how your camera or scanner shows colour and will correct it accordingly. So, for example, if your scanner always shows reds too bright and blues too dark, the profile contains instructions telling the computer to alter the values in the scanned or photographed file so that it shows normal reds and blues.
   
   
3. Your computer then passes the amended input file to the application you are using for processing as normal.

The process is similar, but in reverse:

1. Your application software presents a file that it wishes to display or print.
   
   
2. Your computer takes this file and uses the colour profile for your monitor or printer to alter the file reflecting the way your monitor or printer displays things and corrects them accordingly. (In the case of printers, you will have set up a different output profile for each type of paper you use - recognising the fact that different paper types absorb and reflect ink in different ways.)
   
   
3. Your computer then passes the amended output file to the output device for printing or display.

>> Doing it