Calibration help please

[photophorous]

I just finished calibrating my monitor for the first time, but it looks weird to me. I'm not sure if I'm just unaccustomed to the correct colors, or if I did something wrong. Here's a couple of before and after photos. Please let me know if you think either of these looks correct, and which one you think looks best.

Thanks,
Paul

[Greg McCary]

The colors in #1 seem to have a little more color and pop. If that helps at all.
Greg

[another view]

Paul, it's going to be hard for us to give you a good answer because what these shots look like on your monitor probably look different on my monitor. Could be a lot different, too. The monitor I'm using at the moment is not calibrated but my other one is - even then I'm not sure that I'll see what you're seeing.

Monitor calibration is only valid in one type of lighting - if you calibrate it at night with all the lights off in the room, it's not calibrated for daylight coming thru the windows or having artificial lights on in the room. This time of year I find it's just easiest and safest to calibrate and color correct in the dark.

Remember that calibration is to make sure that your final image really looks as you see it. The "acid test" is to make a print, and have that print match what you're seeing on your monitor (as close as they reasonably can be, anyway).

[photophorous]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I guess I just need to make some prints to see how they turn out.

This is the most frustrating part of digital photography...it makes me want to shoot film again.

Paul

[freygr]

To me the colors look the same but the gamma setting is different. If you have more than one printer you have to make sure you have the correct color profiles for each printer and also there are color profiles for each paper.

[Canuck935]

When I first calibrated my monitor I felt the same way. I thought it had made the colors a little too warm. The problem was that my monitor was just really blue to begin with so that it made neutral colors look warm to me.

Though I'm not looking at these images on my calibrated monitor, I have to agree with the others. They both look the same but the second one just looks brighter/less contrast. The only way to really tell is to get some prints made. Just make sure that wherever you print it they don't do their auto-corrections for the prints.

[another view]

This is the most frustrating part of digital photography...it makes me want to shoot film again.

There's a learning curve - no doubt about it. Once you have it all set up, you're pretty much done though. Just be careful to be consistent under what light conditions you calibrate and use your monitor (for color critical applications) and do it about every two weeks.

From the "do as I say, not as I do" department, I haven't calibrated mine in a couple of months. But I do calibrate it before I use it when color is critical.

[photophorous]

Thank you all for your comments. I plan to work on this some more tonight, but I think I'm slowly getting a grasp on things.

I'm not planning to do any printing at home. I've been reading about printer profiles, though. I'll get the profiles for the places I order prints from, before I order more.

The gamma, black point, and white point, seem to be the hardest to get right, because there are so many variables. When I was doing that part of the calibration, I ran into a problem adjusting brightness. I couldn't turn it high enough using the monitor controls; I had to go to the video card controls. I'm not sure if that means my monitor is bad, or what. The changes resulted in much more shadow detail, but I don't see any problems with blown highlights. I just have some shots that look terrible because the dodging I did on the shadows is obvious now, when it wasn't before.

This photo was not the best example to post. The colors didn't change much, but I think it looks too dark in the first shot (after) and too washed out in the second shot (before). I think I need to get it somewhere in between, but my failure to do so this time is probably related to my room lighting. It was dark when I did it.

The calibration definitely fixed some color issues I was having, but in an unexpected way. It wasn't just a color shift. The colors in some shots look the same as before, but in others there are big differences. I had another photo printed a while back that didn't come out well. Now, with no further editing, the color on the screen looks like the print. That's a good sign, I guess.

Thanks,
Paul

[another view]

Fun, isn't it!

Now, with no further editing, the color on the screen looks like the print. That's a good sign, I guess.

Heck yeah. That's what you're going for.

When you decide on a place to do your printing (I don't have a printer either), also make sure to find out what color space they use - probably sRGB but you might find someone who works in Adobe RGB. Some people prefer one over the other but the vast majority of online print shops use sRGB. I don't have a problem with that, personally but Adobe RGB is a "bigger" color space. The problem is when you have an Adobe RGB file that you try to print as sRGB - you might as well give up on calibration because you're still not getting what you think you're going to get. (rant over ).

You're definitely on the right track, just stay with it. How old is your monitor? Mine's about 4 years and still calibrates just fine but I'm starting to get curve at the top of the screen. It dips down about 1/8" and is wierd to look at in some cases. Think it's time for an upgrade. I tried degauss and that didn't do it (unless anyone else knows how to fix it!).

[photophorous]

Fun, isn't it!



Heck yeah. That's what you're going for.

When you decide on a place to do your printing (I don't have a printer either), also make sure to find out what color space they use - probably sRGB but you might find someone who works in Adobe RGB. Some people prefer one over the other but the vast majority of online print shops use sRGB. I don't have a problem with that, personally but Adobe RGB is a "bigger" color space. The problem is when you have an Adobe RGB file that you try to print as sRGB - you might as well give up on calibration because you're still not getting what you think you're going to get. (rant over ).

You're definitely on the right track, just stay with it. How old is your monitor? Mine's about 4 years and still calibrates just fine but I'm starting to get curve at the top of the screen. It dips down about 1/8" and is wierd to look at in some cases. Think it's time for an upgrade. I tried degauss and that didn't do it (unless anyone else knows how to fix it!).

I'm a little confused about the whole color space thing...mostly, I'm confused about when to switch. I start with raw files, and my converter spits out TIFFs. Should the converter be using Adobe RGB? I take these files into photoshop (7.0), which is using Adobe RGB. Then when I'm ready to create my final jpg, it needs to be sRGB (for web display and most printers). What I'm confused about is how to make sure Photoshop saves the JPG in the sRGB color space. It's probably simple, but I haven't figured that out yet. Any tips?

Things are starting to look correct now. I think I was just accustomed to it being wrong.

Thanks,
Paul

[another view]

I'm not at my computer that has Photoshop CS on it so I can't give you a step-by-step (or close to it) but I think it's under the Edit tab and maybe Mode from there. You can (should) be able to set your RAW converter for sRGB, and Photoshop the same way. If you have a mismatched color space (opening an sRGB file when PS is set for Adobe RGB for example), you will get a little window that pops up and tells you that.

Personally I don't use anything other than sRGB. If you have control over the entire workflow from shooting to final print, and want to use Adobe RGB then there's no problem with it. There are advantages to it I guess, but I'm very happy with my results.

It's important that color spaces match thru the process, or your prints won't come out as they should - basically it's like the difference between using a calibrated and uncalibrated monitor - but it's the color that's affected.

[Canuck935]

Make sure you select to 'Convert' to sRGB and not 'Assign' to sRGB. I work in Adobe RGB until I'm ready to output for print or web, then I convert it to sRGB.

[photophorous]

I do my editing in Adobe RGB because that's what Scott Kelby's book says to do. I don't really know what's best. I should go back and see if that book has anything about preparing files for printing.

I spent the last year learning the basic functions of PS, but I haven't made many prints yet. So, I'm pretty new when it comes to the detailed stuff like this. I plan to send some files to Winkflash pretty soon, so I can fine tune things.

Thanks for all the help!

Paul