Color Calibration

Hello everyone! Apologies for the stupid questions below.

I just finished up shooting my first wedding. It was a blast, and I think the pictures came out beautifully. I can't wait to show them to the couple. However, I want to make certain that the experience translates onto paper and other monitors that they may view them on.

I have never used any kind of color calibration, and I work off of a laptop, attached to a monitor via HDMI. Obviously, the laptop isn't the best candidate, due to varying viewing angles and the likes. I've had a bit of trouble making sure that what's seen is what's printed before, but I want no doubts this time.

So my question is this: How does one make absolutely certain that what they see is what is there when editing? (Preferably on a decently cheap budget.)

You can even call it 'Color Management For Dummies' if you'd like.

Thanks! -Darin

I'll be the first of a long parade of folks to say that you absolutely must be working with a calibrated monitor. I bought a Spyder4 Pro a while back and it made a world of difference.

But you won't know that their monitor is calibrated. Have the couple come over and view the photos on your monitor. You can serve wine and cheese(or coffee and cake).

groundloop wrote in post #17183697
I'll be the first of a long parade of folks to say that you absolutely must be working with a calibrated monitor. I bought a Spyder4 Pro a while back and it made a world of difference.

I agree; that's why I'm asking for help.
Does that have to stay on your screen the entire time, or is it a one time calibration?

rrblint wrote in post #17183784
But you won't know that their monitor is calibrated. Have the couple come over and view the photos on your monitor. You can serve wine and cheese(or coffee and cake).

Also noted. However, I still really need to make sure that what I'm seeing is accurate for printing purposes.

Calibrating your monitor is a must and you need to be somewhat consistent with the lighting you have around you while you work on your photos.

No, the device does not always stay on your computer but you do need to recalibrate periodically. I use a Datacolor device and their software reminds you.

Then you need to test some prints. Your lab will likely have a profile you can download and use to view your files in LR, Photoshop, etc. But even then you need to do a few tests to see what happens. In my experience, you will need to lighten up your files a bit for printing.

groundloop wrote in post #17183697
I'll be the first of a long parade of folks to say that you absolutely must be working with a calibrated monitor. I bought a Spyder4 Pro a while back and it made a world of difference.

Me too. Spyder4 Pro used on a Dell U2311H monitor that is connected to a Toshiba laptop. The Spyder, after measuring and profiling your monitor, creates a display profile that becomes your OS default and is thus available to programs like Photoshop whose color management function translates the image color space to the monitor space.

Calibrating your laptop is fine as a "starting point", but then getting prints made that are suitable, prints that you can frame and hang on their walls, that's the "acid test"!

If your monitor is red shifted by 10 imaginary units, and the viewers is too, it will look 20 units red. If yours is calibrated then it will only be ten units. So by calibrating your monitor you can make images look better even on uncalibrated monitors.

As crazy as it sounds, there is probably a lot less variability in aiming for sRGB output that caters to mobile devices than trying to account for the variability in everyone's display attached to their computer. At least mobile devices appear to be more uniform and consistent - the area of the target is smaller because there are fewer options for the user to completely screw up. This might be a reasonable compromise if you would like your clients to be able to view small proofs of their images. I'm thinking tablet/iPad - big enough display size, and fairly predictable display properties that more or less give you sRGB.

Otherwise, you are trying to anticipate all of the displays on the internet - that is not an enviable position to be in.

Some displays and calibration devices permit emulation of mobile devices, and this might be a way to proof your workflow for mobile platforms.

kirk

To ensure good prints setting the correct brightness for your monitor is as important as color calibration. If you've never turned your monitor brightness down from the factory setting your prints will come back quite dark. You may be surprised how low you need to turn down brightness to get your prints to match how you see the images on your monitor.

Some calibration systems still require the user to manually adjust brightness. Either way some sample prints (with instructions to the printing service to turn all auto-corrections OFF) are the best way to confirm if everything is set up the way you want. View them in a well lit room, not next to your monitor.

Bob_A wrote in post #17185308
To ensure good prints setting the correct brightness for your monitor is as important as color calibration. If you've never turned your monitor brightness down from the factory setting your prints will come back quite dark. You may be surprised how low you need to turn down brightness to get your prints to match how you see the images on your monitor.

Some calibration systems still require the user to manually adjust brightness. Either way some sample prints (with instructions to the printing service to turn all auto-corrections OFF) are the best way to confirm if everything is set up the way you want. View them in a well lit room, not next to your monitor.

How do you tell where you should be? (Other than repeatedly ordering prints...)
I bought the Spyder 4 Pro. Now to see if I can figure out the thing. Will it also help with brightness, or not?

D. Vance wrote in post #17186157
How do you tell where you should be? (Other than repeatedly ordering prints...)
I bought the Spyder 4 Pro. Now to see if I can figure out the thing. Will it also help with brightness, or not?

My Spyder3Pro couldn't adjust brightness, but hopefully the Spyder4Pro does. If it gives you a luminance target, set it to about 100 cd/m^2, carefully edit a few photos then send them out to get printed at a good lab with all auto-corrections tuned off. If the prints come back a tiny bit dark try 90, and if too light try 110. I'd expect you to end up in the range of 80 to 110. Note, I also turn down my ambient lighting a fair bit in my work area.


Here's what I recommend if you need to manually set brightness:

1. All monitors out of the box have their brightness turned way up. The setting is more appropriate for using Office applications or browsing web pages. Even my NEC PA series monitor had a default luminance around 160 cd/m^2 if I recall correctly (way too bright).

2. Using a grey scale tool like what is shown in every DPReview camera review ( http://www.dpreview.co​m/previews/canon-powershot-g7-x ) . Scroll down to below the "Specs Compared" section. There's a few threads on POTN showing how to use a grey scale to roughly set brightness and contrast.

3. If I were using a Dell IPS monitor I'd expect to need to turn down brightness from the factory setting of 60+% to 15-20%. Most likely closer to 15%. I only mention this so you don't think you're out of whack if you need to turn brightness down that far, as it can be normal. Every monitor is a bit different though.

4. At the correct brightness for photo editing, web pages, etc. should look "dull", and will take about a week to get used to (at least it did for me ... ).

5. Once you think you have it close THEN send out some images to get printed (again, ensuring ALL auto-corrections are turned off by the print lab) and make some minor tweaks if necessary.


Also, as Kirk mentioned you may want to edit differently for viewing on a mobile device than for print. For web viewing I know I can't control what monitor/calibration my audience is using so I post images that are edited to print well aside from small tweaks I make during soft proofing.


I hope this helps!

Well, I received the SyderPro4, but I can't use it. I went to register it, and it said the serial number has already been used by another device. Which is very strange, because this is a brand new device, straight from Amazon (corporate) in sealed retail packaging. I submitted a ticket for it on Datacolor's website on Friday evening, and I guess I've got to wait to hear back from them.