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Further compounding the problem is that no two monitors or printers produce
exactly the same colors. (For example, you can see differences in color ability
among monitors in the TV department of a consumer electronics store.)
ColorSync is a system extension that provides color-conversion capabilities and
improves color consistency. ColorSync “translates” the colors used on one
device so that they more closely match the colors displayed or printed on
another device.
ColorSync color conversion is a central part of Mac OS–based computing,
ensuring that applications, monitors, printers, scanners, and digital cameras can
use the same scheme for color conversion. This means you can scan an image,
display it on your monitor, and print it—with visually matching colors every
step of the way.
How ColorSync works
When you create a TIFF or PICT file using a program that supports ColorSync,
a “profile” describing the color capabilities of your equipment is saved with the
image. For example, when you scan a photograph, a profile describing the
scanner is saved inside the image file. If you later print the image, even using a
different computer, ColorSync looks at the profile to learn about the
capabilities of the scanner you used, and automatically picks closely matching
colors that your printer can reproduce.
The profile contains information ColorSync needs to perform color matching,
such as the lightest and darkest possible tones (white point and black point)
that the device can produce, and the maximum supported densities for red,
green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow. Together, these characteristics describe
the
color gamut (or range) that a device is capable of capturing, displaying,
or reproducing. To take advantage of ColorSync, each of the imaging devices
you use needs to have its own ColorSync profile. When you create images
using these devices, information from the profile will automatically become
part of the image file—ensuring that colors are consistent throughout the entire
creative process.
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Appendix A