CROMABASE: ONLINE PLATFORM FOR IMAGE PRODUCTION

Pre-press stage online: With CromaBase, the Hamburg company Instant Data wants to release photographers and agencies from time-consuming tasks such as color correct data processing, image archiving and data transfer. Profifoto tried out the service Nowadays, the digital photographer has to devote his time to many kinds of tasks that are anything but creative: color management and profiling, former pre-press tasks such as scaling photos to print size or color, contrast and focus corrections. Furthermore, if at all possible, he has to ensure that the fruits of his labor reach their destination since, in the customer's opinion, this is child's play thanks to ISDN and email. He is also encumbered with the administration and archiving of his work results. In short, many photographers today feel more like a system administrator and data warehouse specialist than a creative individual. This not only comes into the conflict with the way professional photographers have always seen themselves, but it also makes little sense from the point of view of time and money. The photographer is, ideally, a highly paid specialist for taking pictures. Just like it makes no sense for the surgeon to clean the floor of the operating room or to wheel the patient back to the ward after the operation and tuck him up in bed, why should the photographer have to occupy himself with the peripheral phenomena of his activities instead of concentrating fully on his actual job? The changes brought about by the digital revolution in photography do not of course stop at the camera, but also have an effect on the photographer's working environment. Be it in the traditional photo laboratory, that suddenly has to cope with completely new concepts for image output, be it in the advertising agency commissioned or in the customer's company. The new technology requires new processes and if these are to run in a controlled fashion, in the sense of quality assurance, the complexity quickly increases considerably.

GETTING COLORS MANAGED
It is precisely here that the CromaBase concept of the Hamburg enterprise Instant Data begins. Instant Data's boss, Frank Gerlinger, likes to compare the business model with that of mobile telephony - however, a comparison with a bank account would be more appropriate. The photographer makes a "deposit" by uploading his pictures. He can then "transfer" these not only to different customers, but also to his own website or to a photo agency. He can also change his image data to another "currency", such as paper prints or DVDs and, of course, make a "withdrawal" himself at any time. But, in the most important point, the comparison with the mobile phone and the bank account does not apply - CromaBase goes far beyond simply managing a photographer's treasure trove of digital images since it stands for total control of color processing. This involves utilizing the latest color management technology on the basis of ICC profiles. Although this is not entirely new and can also be done today with a lot of cheap software. But to do this successfully, you still need a high level of expertise, which is not always available on account of lack of relevant training courses. Moreover, profiling digital input and output devices requires a lot of care - and money. Nowadays, you can also make a lot of terrible mistakes.
Job, film, image: the structure of the CromaBase database works with well-known concepts.When the images are uploaded, the folder structure is displayed - the software generates thumbnails automatically.