This article explains how to increase the color depth of a fine-art or illustrations to make the image appear more vibrant when printed (of course it also look more vibrant on the screen).

I have used an image that contains a lot of color an depth.  For exapmple purposes we have used Adobe PhotoShop.  Like all of our "Better Print Examples" we are using this as a sample application.  Dozens of image editing application perform the same functions.  You do not have to go out and purchase Photoshop to do this.

The image we are using is titled  jw-CrystalOfEnchantment.jpg as it was downloaded off the internet from alt.binaries.fine-art.

Now first of all odn't get me wrong when I say that this picture is not vibrant enough.  My tastes when printing on Canvas and PolySilk is one of extreme color depth.  I love color to literally jump out of the page.  For some this type of color may be too much color.  You'll have to work that one out yourself.

In this first example of color vibrancy we will let the application make the necessary adjustments for us.

To start load an image into your image editing program.  You can use this image for this example as well by downloading and saving it.

Below you'll see the image displayed along with the image color levels.  You'll notice that the image color levels lean towards medium to bright colors.  (the grey slider bar shows the spectrum in grey sale quite well here).

Our objective will be to move or shift the color spectrum so that the colors are spaced more evenly thoughout the entire spectrum.  Looking at the image above you'll notice that there is very little 'darkness' in the image.  When adjusting our color shift what we will end up doing in spreading the color depth do that dark colors will appear darker and medium colors will spread thoughout the sprectrum.

If you are using PhotoShop the exact menu commands are:
IMAGE:ADJUST:LEVELS.
We then click on AUTO.

When we do this the application shifts the color so that they are spread out more evenly though out the spectrum (as seen below)

Take a close look at your levels above.  The levels are spread thoughout the entire spectrum instead of being close group.  This will create deeper, richer color in many images that appear to be washed out or do not contain as much vibrancy as you would like them to.

Image this image printed on Canvas or Poly-Silk.  The textured media in combination with the deeper richer color make for some very beautiful show pieces.

A note for technically inclined individuals and artists.
Though some of our references seem a little basic and maybe even incorrect in a true technical sense, the ideas are for example purposes only.  If you are interested in more technical example using exact numbering and terminology then you'll want to see some of the more advanced example as seen in Overdrive.  These tutorials were designed for beginners and intermediates.