It has been my experience that of the 4 Steps to Proper Color Management (See my Blog post on this), the most overlooked is #4: Assure that you have the proper Lighting Conditions and Perception. I want to prove my point on Perception.

Have you ever walked inside a building after being outside in bright sunlight, and had to wait for your eyes to adjust to the inside lighting conditions? Our eyes adjust to the environment around us, which is why, when you are working on your images on your monitor, it is important to:

1) Change monitor screen theme colors to neutral gray

2) Reduce room lighting

3) Avoid "loud" wall colors

4) Be conscious of the color of your clothes - wear neutral grays and black, not a colorful Hawaiian shirt.

If you take care of these properly, it makes interpreting what you see on your monitor easier.

Our eyes are miracles that God created - but even God has a sense of humor! Do not underestimate how easily our eyes (and by extension, our brain) can be tricked.

Take a look at these websites for proof that "Perception is not always Reality":

www.michaelbach.de/ot

www.colorwiki.com/wiki/Image:Pink_green_dots.gif

Bottom Line: You may not be seeing what you think you are seeing! Give yourself an "edge" and eliminate as many variables as possible.

In the next newsletter, I'll talk about how to successfully outsource your images to a print lab, and get the results you want.