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View Full Version : Setting your monitor - viewing your babies!


Debby1
April 1st, 2003, 08:52 AM
Hey all,

1 What do you all do and recommend for setting your computer
monitor? ( brightness)

2. How do you relate that to your printing ( if you sent it out? )

For example, I guess I tend to let my monitor run dark. I mean it looks okay to me. And most sites: CNN, anywhere i cruise
the pics look about right.

BUT, I got photoshop and did the monitor set up.
WHOA - it brightened my monitor quite a bit. ( the whites
were really greyish I learned)

So I put some prints on line with my new brightness and
they looked fine. But sometimes the monitor boots and
doesnt go into the new bright mode - every other site
looks about right BUT now my prints I put on line look DARK to me.

1. Are most sites and users using too dark a monitor?

2. If I correct to my monitor now, I think shots are too dark - and most surfers are using a darker monitor and will think they are UNDERexposed and amateur!

( anybody agree? )

3 also, Im afraid to send stuff out for printing. Should I calibrate it
to the adobe or what?

( I know the adobe photoshop has a bunch of different templates, but most seemed brighter than my orig.)

also, I once noticed a friends new site ( pro done) , shes a model, was WAY dark to me. I didnt comment to her out of politeness. but with my monitor UP now - it looks fine. But hers is about the only example i can think of.


This seems like a Huge ISSUE to me, and dont know why
Pros arent discussing it more!

Very confused.

Deb


Ps - I note most the pics in the gallery here, look about right
to me, on my lax ( dark ) monitor - NOT too dark like my shots.

( by the way - I dont mean my s2 is dark, but I re set the
brightness of the image in shop, got me?)

cbandes
April 1st, 2003, 08:57 AM
You want to calibrate your monitor

Get a spyder, and photocal, run through the steps, and you'll be good to go :)

It's that simple, really!

CaptJR
April 23rd, 2003, 10:23 AM
Originally posted by cbandes
You want to calibrate your monitor

Get a spyder, and photocal, run through the steps, and you'll be good to go :)

It's that simple, really!

I waited quite a while hoping someone else would ask this question. Nobody did, so I guess I'm the only dummy here.

What is a 'spyder'?

I don't know exactly what photocal is either, but I'm assuming it is a picture of some sort that you make your monitor match.

So I guess I'm asking cbandes to expand on his reply here a little.
Thank you
JR

jknights
April 23rd, 2003, 11:14 AM
This UK website gives a nice set of info.
http://www.mwords.co.uk/pages/cm/infoFAQ.htm


ColorVision produce software and harware that allows you to do the necessary.
http://www.colorvision.com

Have fun it is a heavy and expensive topic.
However if you want the CRT/TFT screen to match your prints perfectly it is the way.

bjnicholls
April 24th, 2003, 11:12 AM
Here's a link to a good step by step description of using Adobe Gamma for calibration. Don't miss the step of adjusting your monitor's contrast control to its maximum contrast setting.

http://www.aim-dtp.net/aim/photoshop/v6/adobe_gamma.htm

Adobe Gamma will get you a pretty good monitor calibration. The rest of the loop relies on proper setup of color managment and use of printer drivers and printer profiles. If you need the highest level of monitor calibration, a hardware sensor solution like Colorvision's or Monaco's (I use Monaco EZColor 2 with their sensor device) will get you as close as you can get to an accurate image. Don't hold the illusion that a glowing display can ever perfectly mimic a print viewed under refected light. It won't, but you can get a very usable monitor preview and experience will fill in the gap.

For color management and printing information, visit Ian Lyon's Computer Darkroom site and read the relevant articles.

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/home.htm


The dark images you're seeing can often be chalked up to web pages that are optimized for Mac gamma as opposed to PC gamma. If you adjust your images on a Mac to look good under the standard 1.8 Mac gamma, the images look dark on a PC browser. PC 2.2 gamma images, on the other hand, look light when viewed on a Mac via a browser. If you set Photoshop up properly, the gamma issues don't effect image viewing - it's a color managed application as opposed to browsers, which are not.

EverStaR
April 24th, 2003, 04:34 PM
It really is a great product. It actually made my laptop screen look good again since i had some how managed to mess it up with Adobe's Gama tool in control panel.

Perhaps the most amazing effect is the increased amount of detail I am able to see now.

Get one! I fully endorse it! But then again, who am I?

Have Fun!