foUr QUalItY Before we dive into all the nitty-gritty details, let's lookattheperceptionofoveralltechnicalqualityand howthatimpactseachsubsequentdecisionandwork- flow. This value judgment is connected to our earlier discussion of proficiency and knowledge bases or the particular needs of the job, client, budget, or project. Theleastdefinedworkflowparameterisquality.Some people may define quality as something with zero defects, others as something having a high degree of excellence.Photographersareprobablymostcomfort- ablewithdefiningqualityintermsoflevelsofperfec- tion. This could be described as a sliding scale, or perhaps as a target: directly from a memory card or displayed on an uncalibrated consumer-grade monitor, would most likely give a result somewhere within the large green circle. No deep knowledge of color management, file types, or sharpening is required to hit somewhere within this large target. If you use computers with calibrated and profiled monitors that have advanced software for color cor- rection and image manipulation and use high-quality digital printers, you will move into the smaller red circle. If you use high-quality printers with custom profiles,youwillmoveclosertothecenter.Areason- ably complete understanding of color management, file types, sharpening, and postproduction techniques is required.