Monitor Calibration
I'm confused. I have been receiving some comments lately that some of my images look underexposed or the colors seem off. They look fine on the laptop I use to edit, but then I come to work and notice the same thing. Sometimes the prints don't match up well either.
So, I think I need to correct it.
That said, I have no idea what to pick up.
Obviously the Huey's are cheap and some people love them and others say they give a pink cast. And then there's the Spyder products or i12d, etc. What do you all use? How's your experience been.
So, I think I need to correct it.
That said, I have no idea what to pick up.
Obviously the Huey's are cheap and some people love them and others say they give a pink cast. And then there's the Spyder products or i12d, etc. What do you all use? How's your experience been.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jacob Zimmer on -
I've just about given up when it comes to Internet photos. The fact is that no two monitors are the same and no users know how to calibrate them. The average consumer likes images that are brighter and over saturated, even when it's not accurate.
I have two monitors, my laptop LCD screen and a CRT monitor. The CRT is calibrated to be as close to prints as possible. The laptop screen just doesn't have the ability to be changed too much.
So when a photo is going to print, I view it on my CRT monitor, when it's going to Internet only, I view it on my laptop screen. When it's both, I split the difference.
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I used to work as a video tech for live events back when projectors used 3 gun CRTs. So I pretty much have color bars and grayscale memorized as to how they are supposed to look. The thing is, what is accurate, is usually more bland that what a client likes to see.
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Permalink Reply by Brent Halstead on
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I've got an I1 spectrophotometer (work supplied) and it's awesome.
BTW don't be shocked after you calibrate your monitor the first time, it takes the color saturation and brightness way down. Trying to get an object with its own light source to look like objects that reflect light from another source is an eye-opener.
Yeah, and don't get me started on the RGB vs. CMYK talk, I'll go for days.
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Permalink Reply by Charles on -
I use the Spyder Express 2. There are better out there....there are worse.
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Yep, Jacob is right. And not only are no two (uncalibrated) monitors alike but most browsers don't respect imbedded profiles by default. Firefox supports them, but that needs to be turned on and most people don't know/care to do that. Safari does support them and has that support on by default. IE, no idea.
I was impressed with White House Custom Color's workflow, check them out once your calibrated. They'll send you a print on 5 different stocks along with their media's profiles to use in your color correction flow. I think that was all free too.
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Permalink Reply by Shane E. on -
You must calibrate your monitor to get true results in order to print accurately. This requires a piece of equipment and accompanying software to create an accurate profile.
That being said, there is another consideration that greatly affects laptop users most of all and that is ambient light. This foul ambient light can affect you two ways. Ambient light can taint your calibration and make it somewhat inaccurate. And stinky ambient light can ruin a perfectly good calibration by tainting your little eyeballs and what you see. If you take your laptop outside on the patio and color correct images, you will see things differently than if you sat in a dark hole in your basement where you hide your Wired magazines or if you sat close to an incandescent lamp in the living room on your zebra print couch. And maybe its time for a different couch.
When I color correct in the studio, I keep the sun in the same spot by sliding my studio west at the same speed as the earth rotates. This gives me clean, even temperature ambient light while I work. I keep the ceiling lights over my desk turned off as well.
One time, really bright ambient light made my eyeball fall out and the dog bit it before I could get my uncle to put it back in.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Tigue on -
You are mad.
What however do you actually use to calibrate your monitors?
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Ooh we could go deep with this too. How about coloring your surroundings with neutral 18% gray and using balanced lights behind the monitor as the only ambient light being generated.
And, limiting the amount of foreign substances (ie. caffeine nicotine, whathaveyou-ine) in your system to the same level each time you want to color correct so as to keep your vision relatively the same.
And for Pete's sake keep your mood in check too!
I kid the color correction slaves (I'm one) but this is an example of how far down the rabbit hole one can go in this world.
Wait, how about calibrating printers too!!! Oh SNAP!!
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Permalink Reply by Lynn Marie Heick on -
It's funny but with everyone running actions all over the place why do people even worry about color correction??
So are you telling me that one must color correct an image before they run actions all over it which usually changes the color anyway. That's so old school. I was always told you had to edit on an expensive Lacie CRT or you were stupid. I never had the extra money. I don't edit on laptops and if I told you what version of photoshop I have on this old computer you would laugh. To me photography is gong to become a broad brush with no right or wrong technique. As long as we have electricity. If the grid goes we will all be using pencil and paper. I signing up for a painting class. HA!
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Permalink Reply by Ryan Armbrust on -
Don't get me going on this...
I am actually ISF certified for video calibration, just sayin'!
I own the full Sencore Colorpro system.
© 2012 Created by Ryan Armbrust.
