However how frustrating is it when after all your hard work, you cannot share the images and show them in their full glorious tones and colour?
If your monitor and/or printer are not properly calibrated, this will be the fate of your photographs.
In order to help club members avoid such disappointment, Alan Thompson prepared a presentation during which he gave an explanation of International Colour Consortium (ICC) profiles which describe the colour of the pixels within digital photographic files and therefore the capabilities of monitors, scanners, cameras and printers.
He then went on to details the goals of a Colour Management System (CMS), the goal of which is to maintain colour consistency across a variety of devices.
Having got the theory out of the way, Alan then got down to the practical side of his presentation, demonstrating various methods of calibrating a monitor after first identifying its type.
The two types of calibration are visual or by using a hardware device such as the Datacolor Spyder range of calibration devices and Alan outlined the advantages and disadvantages of both systems.
Visual calibration is usually free, however using a series of optical illusions he demonstrated how the human eye can be fooled.
Hardware calibration can be expensive, however it is quick and very reliable.