Color brochures, catalogs and magazines contain many colored images. In mail order catalogs, the printed images are images of real things, such as clothing, which the producer of the catalog wishes to sell. Since the buyer does not see the object being bought until it arrives on his or her doorstep, the buyer wants the image he views to match the object as closely as possible. This is particularly important for clothing, in which the buyer often buys a product to match, in color, an already owned outfit. If the color printed in the catalog is not a close, if not exact, replica of the actual color, the buyer may find himself with an unacceptable match which he will return to the seller. Therefore, it is important to reproduce the colors in a mail order catalog as closely as possible.
There are many ways to match the color. Typically, a photograph is first taken of the object to be sold, after which, the photograph is scanned to produce a digital image thereof. Alternatively, the images are obtained by digital photography. A mask is produced which separates the object, for example a skirt, from the other elements in the image. Color specialists then view both the masked digital image (i.e. the image of the object itself), a color book containing many patches of color printed by the target printing process and the object to be sold and changes the colors of the digital image to colors which more correctly match those of the object. This is a difficult process since the object typically has shape and texture and since shadows might fall on the object due to the illumination arrangement.
The digital image is then printed on a proofer which provides an indication of the colors which will be printed in the actual catalog. Once again, the color specialist may change the colors in the digital image such that the colors of the proof will more closely match those of the object to be sold.
Finally, the digital image is printed on a printing press. Since the color range and quality of proofers do not match that of printing presses, it is possible that the colors which are printed by the printing press might not be the desired ones. It is known to automatically match the colors of the proofer and printing press so as to avoid this problem. One such automatic color correction scheme is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,176. Other color correction schemes are described in the following patents:
______________________________________ 2,920,131 3,663,744 3,679,816 3,708,614 3,763,310 3,780,218 3,871,023 3,882,534 3,959,813 4,051,510 4,091,411 4,296,432 4,314,274 4,458,265 4,511,916 4,647,963 4,668,979 4,694,286 4,805,016 4,811,108 4,812,902 4,819,077 4,833,546 4,857,994 4,862,251 4,864,357 4,924,323 4,928,167 4,954,883 4,956,718 4,959,711 4,977,448 5,028,991 5,060,060 5,072,305 5,077,604 5,109,274 5,121,199 5,126,834 5,140,413 5,142,356 5,172,244 5,204,948 5,233,413 5,255,076 5,270,808 5,289,295 5,296,945 5,317,426 ______________________________________