We developed the HLC* Colour Atlas and see it as a new basis for all stages of professional colour communication – from design to the final product. The printed atlas is the central tool. The ring binder contains 2040 CIELAB-HLC colours (over 13.000 in the XL Version), which are systematically arranged by hue/base colour, lightness/brightness and chroma/saturation. The atlas is an exemplary implementation of the CIELAB colour space, which was introduced by the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage in 1976 and has since established itself worldwide in colour management, colour measurement and colour formulation. The model has great advantages: The project is completely based on open standards – for colour definitions it is the CIELAB colour model, for the production of physical samples it is proof printing systems according to ISO 12647-7 and for the exchange of spectral data it is the CxF file format. All data is published under CreativeCommons license. This means: All users can freely use the developed colour data and samples and further develop them.
The Zone System and in general every rule that matches the dynamic range of the capture medium and the maximum contrast of the scene tries to get two results: correlating the minimum and maximum points of subject contrast with the dynamic range/contrast index of the recording material and to record the maximum number of tones between these extremes. When working with black-and-white materials (Leica Monochrom and black-and-white silver emulsions) a third parameter is required: the spectral sensitivity of the material must equal the spectral sensitivity of the eye. This introduces a subjective factor, because every human will have a different perception of the brightness of colors.
The full gamut of photographic printing processes may be little-known to contemporary photographers, who have been educated largely within the mainstream of the silver-gelatine tradition. My intention here is to help restore some of the ‘lost’ options by providing you with a handy reference list of the better-known alternative processes and an outline of their characteristics and working methods, without any detailed formulae or procedures. This should enable you to decide if 'there might be anything in it for you’. If so, then the texts listed in my bibliography should provide you with an entry into the practice
