Colortuning

Colortuning is the process of adjusting the color rendering of an imaging or display system to achieve a target appearance. It encompasses hardware calibration, color space management, and perceptual adjustments so colors remain consistent across devices and media.

In displays, colortuning aims to match a target white point, gamma curve, and grayscale response, and to reproduce standardized color spaces such as sRGB, Adobe RGB, or DCI-P3. In photography and video, it includes white balance, color grading, and the use of lookup tables (LUTs) to produce a desired look while preserving accurate skin tones. In printing, color management uses ICC profiles to map digital colors to the properties of media and inks.

Common methods include hardware calibration with colorimeters or spectrophotometers, software-based profiling, and the use of LUTs or color-management workflows. Settings adjusted often include white point, luminance, gamma, and the hue, saturation, and luminance of color channels.

Limitations of colortuning include device gamut constraints, viewing conditions, and perceptual differences between observers. Even well-tuned systems can diverge when displayed in different environments. Colortuning aims for repeatability and predictable results, and is guided by industry standards and color-managed workflows to maintain consistency across devices and media.