Calibrating color on your monitor

I need some advice on what to do with calibrating my monitor. Up til now I've been well pleased with prints I've purchased via uploaded images I've worked up in photoshop elements. It seems like I'm getting a dominate browning with my greens, golds, yellows. I took a fast look online and saw some downloads to calibrate it. Thought someone out there might give me a good direction to go in.

If you're looking at "cheap" (aka free) solutions, QuickGamma and the instructions that can be found in the major article referenceing it are the best I've found. If you use a CRT, your monitor is probably trending towards favoring the red gun; you can correct the initial problem by setting a custom color balance in the CRT settings, adjusting the Red gain and bias and possibly the others until you can't see any red in the black areas of the screen and your whites are really white (bright white paper is a good comparison); up the contrast and brightness per the QuickGamma instructions, then run QuickGamma to fine-tune your monitor. Apparently, a good eye can adjust to within ~1/3 stop accuracy (my personal opinion is, a bit better than that using the QG moire patterns).

However, if you're getting serious and have a bit of cash, an electronic monitor calibration system is the way to go. I'm a bit cash-strapped, so I still use the "free" method...

I use Spyder2 Express and I think it's great for $70.

Bill

I use a Huey Pro. The regular Huey is also around $70. The Pro version is $109(B&H) and can calibrate dual monitors though I think in Windows there is only one lookup table, so in reality both monitors are showing the same profile. I'm not totally sure about this. My work computer is a dual monitor setup and both seem to be very similar.

I print my own prints. I had always been content with the prints run through the standard Epson controls, but recently had a photo that I simply could not get to print well. Since I had not made the extra investment in a colorimeter, I didn't think it made alot of sense to worry about color workflow, since I could be certain that what I saw on the screen was correct. I spent some time messing with the color controls in PSE. I'm using Adobe RGB now and printing using Epson's ICC profiles. While not perfect, it has improved the printer performance, especially in dark greens and dark browns. I was having problems where these colors would simply block up into big blobs.

Mel, if you're on an Epson R1800 (or R800), using Epson's premium profiles is a significant step in the right direction. I've found that it's easier to use them, even with 3rd party paper, than it is to use the 3rd party's profiles - the premium profiles simply have a much larger and more complete gamut mapping.

To profile dual monitors in Windows, you would need a separate video card for each monitor.
Colorimeters have come down in price so much in recent years that it makes it more compelling to get one. You can't always trust your eyes to tell you what's normal, while a good piece of hardware will correct the monitor color consistently every time. If you want an extra level of accuracy in your printing, consider getting a custom printer profile. You might want to order one from someone who has customer service support, since printing a custom profiling "target" is rather complicated if it's your first time.

3 recommendations. 1) I agree with the others about buying a device to calibrate your display. I personally use a Gretag Eye-One Photo but I think the Huey mentioned earlier is a fine device that will make a world of difference for you. 2) If you commonly use the same paper on a decent printer from your home I would strongly encourage you to get a dedicated custom profile to address the specific printer/ink/paper combination. I have an epson 7600 and 9600 and even though the printers are basically the same I create different profiles for each. Each paper/printer/ink combination that you use should have a separate custom profile ideally. 3) If you are using Ultrachrome II type printers (whether they are the X600 or X800 printers) consider using MIS for your blacks since you will realize a better DMax and overall I like their inks alot better than standard Epson. But remember if you do mix-n-match inks you definitely will need custom profiles to keep things in sync.

Rich Voninski

I have to say that Rich's prints are sweet.

Les,
I'll have to try the Epson profile with the Ilford paper. I have this one print that has been giving me fits on Ilford Smooth Pearl even with their profile. I don't want to invest in a custom profile for that paper since I don't print that much on it, but I'd really like to get this one print working.

Patrick,
It is my understanding that it depends on the video card on windows. I'm under the impression that some dual monitor video cards support 2 lookup tables.

BTW, Mel, I use Ilford Smooth almost exclusively, mostly Glossy. The Glossy has a very warm tone to it; not bad on most prints, but on subtle tans and off-whites, it can be a killer to match using the Epson profile. The Pearl is whiter, so it shouldn't be as hard to match; I haven't used much of it yet, but am starting to...

You guys are a real wealth of knowledge. We did use quick gamma to calibrate our monitor. Using our eye . Our monitor was off, especially the default setting for color select. Maybe in the near future a device sounds like the way to go, like Richie and Mel mentioned. Last winter I had done a bunch of prints for friends and I was totally pleased with them. This last batch I did just seems really flat color wise compared to what I see on my monitor even after calibrating . Maybe my eye isn,t as critical as it needs to be.