calibrating a pc monitor

[steve_dittmar]

Recently purchased a new HP computer and HP flat panel monitor. Last night, I noticed that some night shots I

tweaked in Photoshop Elements 6.0 both printed and e-mailed to others (I sent a copy to myself) MUCH darker than

what I observed on screen. Is there a way to fix this without buying a special software program, and if I do need a

program, which one should I get?

[david myles photography]

My favorite monitor calibration website is http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

 

Basically, you do need a way of calibrating your monitor to your printer, at least along the lines of tone and then an extension with color matching. There are international standards that your printer and monitor can be calibrated to. This has to do with contrast, white and black point, brightness and finally color accuracy. It is a simple process once you understand how to do it but learning how to do it is like color correcting a photo, it takes time and experience. I can sit down in front of a monitor and just know it is off.

 

A few thoughts, most monitors out of box are not calibrated and the store display models have the white point too high as a way of making it "LOOK" good to a customer but is no where near international print standards.

 

Calibration of an LCD monitor has much to do with the environment you have it in. Changing light contamination from lamps and sunlight affects the colors and tonality throughout the day. I keep my monitor in an area with controlled lighting and no direct sunlight. I also calibrate my monitor every time I start a new project because they drift or see previous point. Monitors should warm up at least a half hour before calibration. Another point, you may find out how "consumer" level your monitor actually is after calibration. Meaning, it does not show detail very well in the highlight and dark areas or there is poor color/tonal separation. You will see that in the website I posted. There is a good reason why people spend $800 to thousands of dollars on a monitor.

 

There are too many different things regarding this topic and you have to do research and customize for your particular monitor/printer combination. First, what should your white point be in your particular room lighting environment.By setting your white point and contast (via calibration tool) and making a print, you will be able to judge how close you are on a tonal level. If your screen is too bright then it is lying to you because in actuality, the image is a different tonality than what you see. The printer tells you that by printing darker. I can only speak in artistic terms and maybe a more technical person will be able to explain it in terms of gamma and other engineering definitions. I use a Spyder 2 Pro but there is a new generation of calibration tools that may be better.

[steve_dittmar]

Thanks David. I am now wondering if it is the monitor at all, or something else. I worked on a sunset shot (attached) and in Photoshop, I can clearly see a hayfield of one tone closest to me, another field of darker tone behind that, and a row of still darker trees behind that. When I print, e-mail, or just pull up that photo from file, it is just a black blob with sunset behind it. Anyone know why this is happening?<div></div>

[steve_dittmar]

better example<div></div>

[david myles photography]

With my calibrated monitor I see some detail in the dark areas. You need a good monitor that is calibrated to see detail in the darks and a knowledge of post processing techniques. I know my printer would print most of the dark areas of that photo as black with no detail. Only until you get to the 2nd, farther away hillside which is at an RGB of 30 would you get some tonal gradation.