Color Management for Fine Art Reproduction

[tomsaknit.com]

Friends;

I'm at a loss so turn to you for help.

I have been shooting and printing artwork giclée's for my colleagues for some time now, but I am having difficulty dialing in a workflow for accurate reproduction.

I have created ICC profiles for my paper, printers, monitor and camera using the X-Rite i1 Studio. I'm able to get close, but not precise color matching.

I'll list my process below in case you can see my error...or if you just know a link I should read, I'd appreciate it.

Acquisition:
Sony A7R IV, AD400 flash, Polarizer on flash. Flash 30* off camera axis. Artwork 6' from camera and flash. 100-400 lens at f/8 with circular polarizer rotated to remove specular reflection.

ISO 100, flash 1/4 power with histogram peaking just above 25% from top.

Exposure #1 with color checker passport, Exposure #2 with artwork alone.

Edit:
Import to Lightroom. Select A7R IV color profile. White balance on neutral gray square of Passport. Apply color balance to Exposure #2.

Here I get creative:
Crop Exposure #1 to medium gray cube (so medium gray fills the image) and adjust exposure to bring single peak to 50% on histogram. Apply new exposure compensation to Exposure #2. Typically this is about a quarter stop brighter.

Output both exposures to PSD.

Extend image size of Exposure #2 then copy image of passport and paste to the side of the image in Exposure #2

Flatten image

Using levels, I select the "Sample...white" picker and click the white box on the checker. Then select the "Sample...black" and chose the passport's black box. Finally, selecting the "Sample...gray" I apply medium gray.

I save the .psd as a .jpg then print to my Pro 1000 or Pro 4000 as needed, with color profile for paper used.

The attached image shows the result. Shot with iPhone for simplicity. Center image is original. Right is first print and left is print with "Midtone input levels" (Knee?) adjusted down to 1.30

At this point I'm as close as I can get on this image. Others using this process are closer...but this one gives me fits.

Ideas?

 

[Smile]

You do not write about the colormanagement side of things. The workflow is OK, AFAIK.
Except the creative part should be automatic if you shoot the card in same shot as image.
There should be no need for manual color tuning as this is not analog film scanning.