Monitors?

[hypordk]

This might have already be asked and addressed but please help.

I switch back and forth between work and home. I do all my photo editing at home and the pictures look great on my home monitor and like crap at work. Now I know my monitor at work is crap, but my question is one do my pictures appear to everyone else too dark? And 2 Is there a way to set up your monitor to get the most accurate color and Brightness?

Example: This photo at home I can see the background detail, but not sure if anyone else can.

[Mr. Pickles]

The image above seems dark to me, but don't know if that was an actual question or if it helps.

If you don't have a device to calibrate, the link below might help. Scroll down a bit to the big "Gamma and black level" chart and section and read it. It is a pretty simple way of getting you close. There is a free program to use there too that might help.

It is NOT the best method, but it is certainly very good at getting you close. Might not do your important editing on that work monitor, but if you read along and do it, it will be a lot better.

For simplicity, if you got crt, make the contrast and brightness settings both 100%. Then lower the brightness till it "looks" good. Otherwise, read that site. A ton of info on it.

Monitor calibration and gamma

[Freezframe_2]

Well I'm in the same situation as you are ...Have an older style Mon' at work and LCD at home......You can try a huey or a monitor calibrator of some sort ...LCD will always give you a superior picture though.....If you search under Googles for monitor calibration you can do a test rite over the net....

Hope this helps :Brady

[hypordk]

Thanks, I will try that when I get home. FYI my work monitor has both the brightness and the contrast at 100% same with red, green and blue color, but it is really dark. Does anyone see the tree between the dogs legs? I think this will help me determine if my home monitor is too light. I can see the background detail on my home monitor. I did make it dark on purpose, but not so dark as to appear as a black backdrop. Which is what I see on my work monitor.

[jfrancho]

Calibrate your editing display, and worry about that. Everyone else's is the wilderness that you cannot control. If someone says its dark, and they haven't calibrated their display, then that's their loss. Chasing a moving target is a waste of time.

[Mr. Pickles]

I don't see any tree, and very little background detail. So it looked dark to me, no matter what JF said...

[jfrancho]

I can in Photoshop, but not in the browser. My laptop is calibrated, but the browser is unmanaged, so probably cannot reproduce all the detail a more robust image editing app like Photoshop can. If you really need to soft proof you images for the web, use a browser to do so.

[Mr. Pickles]

Originally Posted by jfrancho

I can in Photoshop, but not in the browser. My laptop is calibrated, but the browser is unmanaged, so probably cannot reproduce all the detail a more robust image editing app like Photoshop can. If you really need to soft proof you images for the web, use a browser to do so.

Then your display and your PS are not the same working space?

[hypordk]

So before I convert to .JPG with CS2 I should lighten up the shot. I really liked this shot on my computer and I would assume that it would print the way I saw it. (I guess I will know when I get home and check the calibration and maybe test print). I just got CS2 like a month ago and didn't think about having to do any adjusting. When I post images up on this forum I wont them to convey what I see not a blob or a completely black img. Oh well. Thanks for the help. If there is any other suggestions please let me know.

[Mr. Pickles]

Just to clarify...

So you use PSCS2 on your home PC, correct?

You used your home PC and PSCS2 to convert this image to jpg?

This image has a clear image of the tree behind the dog on the left on your home PC, correct?

Is your machine at home using a CRT (cube shaped) or an LCD (flat/thin) monitor?

[tomrock]

Are you converting the image to sRGB before saving for the web? That will help.

If you live near a store that sells computers and monitors like Best Buy or CompUSA go there and look at their displays. It's amazing how different they all look.

If you calibrate carefully, pictures will look great on your screen but probably not so good on every other computer in the world.

Who is going to be looking at your picturers? Other photographers with calibrated monitors or regular people who don't know what calibrate means?

[Mr. Pickles]

Originally Posted by tomrock

Are you converting the image to sRGB before saving for the web? That will help.

That is a common issue, but the image he posted above is an sRGB image, so I didn't question it.

i think what he needs to know is, is the image dark on our screens? Not dark, dark, but there is actually a wide tree trunk under the doggie on the left. If you can clearly see it, he needs to know.

I think he believes his one monitor is too dark, but actually, his other one is too bright, I'd think.

[hypordk]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pickles

Just to clarify...

So you use PSCS2 on your home PC, correct? YES

You used your home PC and PSCS2 to convert this image to jpg? YES

This image has a clear image of the tree behind the dog on the left on your home PC, correct? YES

Is your machine at home using a CRT (cube shaped) or an LCD (flat/thin) monitor?
My home monitor is a Westinghouse 17" wide screen LCD.

Originally Posted by tomrock

Are you converting the image to sRGB before saving for the web?
That will help. ICC Profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1 (not that I even know what that means).

Who is going to be looking at your picturers? Other photographers with calibrated monitors or regular people who don't know what calibrate means? Just you all

[Mr. Pickles]

I find LCD's pretty bright by nature, so in the image below, on your HOME LCD....

Color_Scale_wBW.jpg

1) In the colored boxes on the top row, do you clearly see a dark patch inside each of the bright outer colored areas?

2) In the bottom row, do you see a solid black box on the left, with a solid white one on the right, with changes of gray in the middle?

If you're good with the above, in the one below, do you clearly see changes in EACH of the color swatches? Should be WHITE on the left, and BLACK on the right (not a shade of gray).

Gray_Scale_bits.jpg

If something isn't right, then you need to adjust the monitor. Buying a monitor calibrator is preferred, but these should get you by for the short term. If you use a CRT and an LCD, then a calibrating device is almost a required thing, since both can display differently.

[hypordk]

WOW!! I first tried "Monitor calibration and gamma" that you suggested I was having a hard time trying to adjust. Then I went into my control panel and found Adobe Gamma and went through the steps with that. I thought that everything was looking good. Came back on the site to thank everyone and noticed Mr. Pickles last post and was able to do some fine tuning I think my picture looks better than before on my home monitor. But I don't think there is any hope for my work one. I will give it a shot tomorrow.

[jfrancho]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pickles

Then your display and your PS are not the same working space?

Working space has nothing to do with it, and no they shouldn't be the same. I have a custom built profile created by my display calibration kit, and this profile is available to color aware apps. PS is color aware. Unmanaged apps like Firefox use the system default, which should be Windows RGB. Windows RGB is a device profile that is targeted at images created with sRGB working space.

A color profile describes that particular devices behavior.

Calibration is adjusting that device to match a specific target.

A working color space is a gamut, or pallet of color to work from.

[jfrancho]

One other thing to note, while a monitor calibration hardware/software bundle is a must for anyone even casually serious about digital photography, since most consumer grade LCD displays do not have any real adjustments to brightness (black point), contrast (white point) or color temperature, there really isn't any way to "calibrate" them to recommended target - ISO Standards say D65, or 6500 °K and Gamma 2.2 - so when you use these devices, leave them at their default with brightest setting, and run the software. You will be profiling the display, and the software will create a custom profile based on the data it collected, and will maximize the color accuracy from your display.

[Mr. Pickles]

Originally Posted by jfrancho

Working space has nothing to do with it, and no they shouldn't be the same.

I'll disagree with whatever you said there and leave it at that.

[jfrancho]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pickles

I'll disagree with whatever you said there and leave it at that.

There isn't anything to disagree about - they are two different things. A working color space is your pallet filled with different colors, the display profile is how the colors look on the canvas. Does that analogy make more sense? They can be both targeted to the same output, and in fact Windows displays are targeted to display sRGB, which is why the easiest approach is to use sRGB as your working color space.

[Mr. Pickles]

So they should or shouldn't be the same? Make up your mind.