You need to take control of your color space by using Color calibration.
The only accurate way to do this is invest in a tool that will do it for you. Such devices are made by X-rite, Gretag, ColorVision (Spyder), and others. Here is an alternative...
To calibrate your monitor
(1) Make sure your monitor has been turned on for at least a half-hour so that the monitor display has stabilized.
(2) Set the room lighting at the level that you plan to maintain; then adjust the brightness and contrast controls on your monitor. Because changes in these factors can dramatically affect your display, you should close your room off from external light sources and tape down the monitor and room lighting controls once they have been set.
(3) Turn off any desktop patterns, and change the background color on your monitor to a light gray. This prevents the background color from interfering with your color perception and helps you adjust the display to a neutral gray. If you need help changing your background color, refer to the manual for your operating system.
(4) Depending on your platform, do one of the following:
· On the Macintosh, choose Control Panels from the Apple menu, and double-click the Gamma control panel. Use the On and Off buttons to turn the Gamma software on and off. If you turn off the Gamma software, the monitor’s default values are used.
· In Windows, choose File > Color Settings > Monitor Setup.
Note: On the Macintosh, if you do not see the Gamma control panel, locate the Gamma file in the Goodies > Calibration folder inside the Adobe PhotoShop folder. Drag the Gamma icon into the Controls Panels folder in the System Folder, and restart your Macintosh.
(5) Click a target gamma at the top of the control panel (Macintosh), or type a value for Gamma in the Monitor Setup dialog box (Windows). A target gamma of 1.8 is recommended for printing CMYK images, because it closely matches printer dot gain. If you’re sending your output to an RGB device (for example, a monitor, film recorder, or RGB printer), use a higher target. Images intended for video should have a target gamma of 2.2, which is the typical gamma of most television sets. If you plan to print or display the image using another application or on another platform, use a gamma of 1.8; that value is the closest match for uncorrected gamma.
(6) Windows only: If you changed the gamma value in step 5, click OK; then choose File > Color Settings > Monitor Setup to reopen the Monitor Setup dialog box.
(7) Windows only: Click Calibrate in the Monitor Setup dialog box. You can preview the effects of calibration on an open Photoshop image at any time by clicking Preview in the Calibrate dialog box.
(8) Hold up a white piece of paper similar in color to the stock on which you will print. Click White Pt, and drag the three slider triangles until the monitor white matches the paper as closely as possible. This process lets you compensate for the bluish tint found in most monitor displays.
For maximum accuracy, view the paper under controlled lighting, such as a light box or a combination of fluorescent and tungsten light bulbs.
(9) Adjust the gamma by dragging the Gamma Adjustment slider until the solid gray areas match the patterned gray areas in the gamma strip above the slider.
(10 ) Adjust the color balance by clicking Balance and dragging the three slider triangles until the gray areas in the strip below the sliders become a neutral gray. This adjustment controls the monitor’s mixture of red, green, and blue, and it compensates for color casts in the monitor.
(11 ) Adjust the black point by clicking Black Pt and dragging the three slider triangles until no color tint appears in the shadow tones in the lower strip and you can see a distinct gradation between each pair of swatches.
(12 ) If necessary, readjust the color balance and then the gamma.
(13 ) When you’ve finished making adjustments, close the Gamma control panel (Macintosh) or the Calibrate dialog box (Windows).
(14 ) Save the settings. See Saving and loading custom gamma settings.
To create your own CMYK proof document:
To create a proof AND Calibrate backwards
(1 ) Create a new Adobe Photoshop document in the CMYK mode.
(2 ) Create a set of swatches in the document. Include the following swatches:
· Four swatches, each containing 100% of the CMYK colors (100% cyan, 100% magenta, 100% yellow, and 100% black)
· Four combination swatches (100% each of magenta and yellow, 100% each of cyan and yellow, 100% each of cyan and magenta, and 100% each of cyan, magenta, and yellow)
(3 ) To include a calibration bar in the image, choose File > Page Setup, and select the Calibration Bars option. Then click OK.
(4 ) Print the document
After examining the color proof, you may need to adjust some additional calibration settings to make the image on-screen exactly match the proof. In particular, you may need to adjust the settings in the Printing Inks Setup dialog box to compensate for dot gain, custom ink characteristics, and color casts.