Monitor Calibration
27th August 2007
Judging photographs on your monitor and determing the brightness/contast and colour saturation of those images is fraught with problems especially when it comes to matching prints with what you see on your display.
It goes without saying that you should really pay careful attention to calibrating your monitor so that it exhibits the best possible output and matches any potential prints as closely as possible.
I take monitor calibration very seriously and re-calibrate my monitors at least every 30 days. (I use two 23" Apple Cinema displays by the way.)
How do you know if your monitors are out of kilter? Well you can review this article here for some more detail or you can scan through the summary I present below.
First, examine this colour spectrum.
You should see a smooth gradient moving from magenta to red. If you don't see a smooth transition from one colour to the next it meast that your computer isn't displaying the full colour range you could see.
Now look at this white square.
This square is pure white and you should see it as such. If you monitors white-balance is incorrect you will see it with a slight shade of blue or orange. You can adjust the temperature of your monitor to make it appear white although you should probably rely on a calibration device to set it for you.
Next verify your white points against this checker below. On a perfectly calibrated monitor you should be able to detect the difference (if only just barely) between the white central column and block 254. More typically, a "good" monitor would let you see the boundary between the center column and the 250 or 251 block.
What about the shadows? In a dimly-lit room, an excellent monitor would let you see the boundary between the central column and the "5" block. A good monitor may not go that far, but should let you see the difference between the "15" block and pure black.
Finally, what about contrast? If your monitor is adjusted properly, the pattern below will appear as all the same shade of grey when you view it at some distance from the screen, or if you just throw your eyes out of focus at a closer viewing distance.
What to do if your monitor doesn't display all of these correctly? Well it depends on how much you care about viewing your photos accurately? First step is to buy a decent calibration device and see if that can fix your current monitor. Depending on your budget you may then be inclined to purchase a high-end CRT or LCD monitor and maintain it's calibration accordingly?
Hope this has given you some insight and assistance in setting up your display correctly. It has been my experience that eye-balling it (such as using the software based Adobe Gamma) just doesn't cut it and you really need to use a hardware calibration device such as the Spyder.
ColorVision has just recently released the Spyder3 Elite for even more accurate calibration and improved accuracy and speed in profiling. The Spyder3 Elite also includes an ambient light sensor and uses a unique 7 detector colour engine. It even has improved functionality for black and white production.
It goes without saying that you should really pay careful attention to calibrating your monitor so that it exhibits the best possible output and matches any potential prints as closely as possible.
I take monitor calibration very seriously and re-calibrate my monitors at least every 30 days. (I use two 23" Apple Cinema displays by the way.)
How do you know if your monitors are out of kilter? Well you can review this article here for some more detail or you can scan through the summary I present below.
First, examine this colour spectrum.
You should see a smooth gradient moving from magenta to red. If you don't see a smooth transition from one colour to the next it meast that your computer isn't displaying the full colour range you could see.
Now look at this white square.
This square is pure white and you should see it as such. If you monitors white-balance is incorrect you will see it with a slight shade of blue or orange. You can adjust the temperature of your monitor to make it appear white although you should probably rely on a calibration device to set it for you.
Next verify your white points against this checker below. On a perfectly calibrated monitor you should be able to detect the difference (if only just barely) between the white central column and block 254. More typically, a "good" monitor would let you see the boundary between the center column and the 250 or 251 block.
What about the shadows? In a dimly-lit room, an excellent monitor would let you see the boundary between the central column and the "5" block. A good monitor may not go that far, but should let you see the difference between the "15" block and pure black.
Finally, what about contrast? If your monitor is adjusted properly, the pattern below will appear as all the same shade of grey when you view it at some distance from the screen, or if you just throw your eyes out of focus at a closer viewing distance.
What to do if your monitor doesn't display all of these correctly? Well it depends on how much you care about viewing your photos accurately? First step is to buy a decent calibration device and see if that can fix your current monitor. Depending on your budget you may then be inclined to purchase a high-end CRT or LCD monitor and maintain it's calibration accordingly?
Hope this has given you some insight and assistance in setting up your display correctly. It has been my experience that eye-balling it (such as using the software based Adobe Gamma) just doesn't cut it and you really need to use a hardware calibration device such as the Spyder.
ColorVision has just recently released the Spyder3 Elite for even more accurate calibration and improved accuracy and speed in profiling. The Spyder3 Elite also includes an ambient light sensor and uses a unique 7 detector colour engine. It even has improved functionality for black and white production.
