The Differences Between Color Calibration and Color Correction in Printing

At Novatech, we can get a lot of questions about our color copiers. Questions may range from the following:

• Which copier is the best?
• How can I get the color to be a specific blue?
• Why doesn’t the printer look like my old printer’s colors?
• Can I get the grass to be greener in this printout?
• Why doesn’t my print job look like my monitor?
• And more

As we have answered these questions, we realized many pertain to color correction, and others to color calibration.

We work with companies to help them get the best copiers for the best price possible. Part of this job is to help our clients get the colors they want out of their new copiers.

Color calibration is the process of adjusting a printer’s color output to match a known standard, like a color space or an ICC profile. This is done by measuring the color gamut of the printer and adjusting the color output to make sure it is accurate and consistent. Color calibration is usually done with spectrophotometers or calibration software, which are both hardware and software tools.

On the other hand, color correction is the process of changing the colors in an image or design to get the result you want. This could mean changing the brightness, contrast, saturation, or hue of certain colors, or it could mean making more complicated changes to an image’s overall color balance. Most of the time, software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom is used to fix colors.

 

Benefits of Calibration:

Color calibration’s benefits include accurate and consistent color reproduction, which is important for keeping a brand’s identity and making sure that printed materials look the way they were meant to. Color calibration can also help keep color differences between print runs or printers to a minimum, which is especially important for large print jobs.

 

Benefits of Correction:

One of the benefits of color correction is that you can tweak the colors in an image or design to make it look or feel a certain way. This is especially important for creative or artistic projects where the color palette may be a key part of the design. Color correction can also be used to fix problems with colors that happen during the printing process, like color shifts or differences.

Overall, both color calibration and color correction are important tools for making printed materials that look good. Even though they have different goals and ways of working, both are important for making sure that printed materials look their best.

 

Let Us Find You the Right Color Copier or Printer!

With Novatech, we have engineers trained in both color calibration and color correction. Our team understands each client and perhaps even each print job is unique. A good rule of thumb is if you are trying to fix a single document’s color, you need color correction. If you are ensuring the printer prints the right colors in the first place, that is color calibration.

Give Novatech a call if you need help with color correction or color calibration.