The dark art of color management has been around for quite some time. With the high color gamut camera and display in the iPhone 7, all of sudden people who never had to worry about color management are wondering why the images in their web browser look funny.

The first book I read on the subject was Real World Color Management by Bruce Fraser. It was an excellent and fascinating book, covering topics from physics and the human eye to the mathematical way color is described in computers. It’s an excellent book, but not for the faint of heart. It was tough to get through, but I needed the knowledge at the time since I was working as a photographer and graphic designer.

Craig Hockenberry’s new book is a much more approachable take on the subject. Color management is still tough, but I can’t think of anyone better suited to tackle the subject for a new generation of professionals who never gave a thought to consistent color reproduction.

Once you wrap your head around color management, it’s a great skill to have. You’ll become “that person” on the team who can get the colors to look right. Making yourself indispensable is always a good thing. But more importantly, you’ll spend less time pulling out your hair wondering why in the world your color looks different than it did on your screen.