OK I know, this is something I should have done a long time ago! But I rarely make prints except for a few to put on my wall at work, or for my note cards, and I've never had a problem with color. Now that I'm thinking of getting into portrait work, I need to be sure my monitor is calibrated. What is the best way to do that? I just had my first shoot printed out at CVS, hoping for a quick set of 4X6's to show my niece...and they were horrible! A terrible yellow cast. Not sure if it's my monitor or just the drug-store kiosk, but I need to be sure!
Alice,
Assuming you are using Photoshop to work with your images you can use Adobe Gamma to obtain a reasonable calibration. Adobe Gamma can be found in 'Control Panel' on a Win PC. It will guide you through various steps to arrive at a reasonable calibration..
While Adobe Gamma will get you in the ball park, a calibration tool (photometer) and software that creates a profile is the best way to go. I've gotten excellent results from my Monaco OptixXR and it's software. Another great tool is the Gretag-McBeth Eye-One.
Take a look at Chromix for a lot of great info and tools. I have been a customer for a while and have been very pleased. Highly recommended.
Color management is a pain, but absolutely necessary if you want accurate results. The one time cost of buying calibration equipment is much less expensive in the long run than using up paper, ink, and reprinting bad color prints from commercial services. If you are going to use commercial print services, you might be able to get away with just calibrating the monitor, but you should use an accurate device, like a Spyder 2 Pro from Colorvision, which Amazon has for $111. Their Express product is simpler but the accuracy is not as good, and their more expensive product, the Pro Suite, is better suited for a small production environment.
Using Adobe Gamma will not result in accurate results. It may be closer than what you now have, but not correct. Since skin tones in particular are prone to showing color casts, especially along the magenta-green spectrum, it is important to get as close to ideal as possible.
While the color printers at CVS are set up for the lowest common denominator, the color management is a hit or miss proposition at best. Going to a color photo lab is going to be more expensive, but the results will generally be more consistent and you will be much more satisfied with the results, as long as the display you are using is accurately profiled.
If you are printing your own work, then you either have to get a printer/paper setup that provides custom color profiles for their ink and paper, or get a color printer profiling setup that creates those profiles on your existing printer.
I can personally recommend Colorvision's Print Fix Pro Suite (which includes the Spyder) as the least expensive solution to do both. For a little over $500, you will find the results worth the cost.
You might also take a look at Norman Koren's excellent tutorial on color management http://www.normankoren.com/color_management.html
Posted by Sharon Menke on June 26, 2007 at 11:32 AM
Thank you for posting this issue. I am having the exact problem right now. I will look at the photo on 2 different computers and get 2 different results. I have Photoshop 5.0 LE and it does not have the Adobe Gamma on it or in the Control Panel.
Posted by raymond auger on June 26, 2007 at 12:05 PM
I have gotten excellent results with Huey by Pantone. I think it cost around $65.00
Ray Auger
Rochester, MN
I use Praxisoft's Wiziwyg to set my monitor profile. For me it does a good job (maybe not a great one) but using proper profiles, my prints pretty closely match my screen, and my photos look about the same on other calibrated monitors. Unfortunately, the Praxisoft website appears to be down...or maybe the company folded. If you can get a copy (it was free) it's not a bad app.
Another nice thing about Chromix is that we occasionally pop in to the NP forum to answer technical questions! We get so many calls from customers having trouble getting their printer to match their monitor that we put an article in a recent newsletter that cover the whole subject. This is a broad overview of your options depending on what your budget is and how particular you are about color accuracy. And there's a whole checklist of things to try if your color isn't matching. http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/Printer_to_Match_my_Screen
-Pat
Hi Pat!
The article you referenced is very well done, and should be of great assistance. Thanks for 'popping' in to NPN!
-PB
Posted by James Audett on June 27, 2007 at 3:25 PM
Hi Alice,
We just had the same problem. Ordered prints and they were awful. Someone on RMNP forum recommend Quick Gamma. It's free and actually was pretty good. I am about to get new prints made after callibrating. I spoke with the printer, ProLab Express and they print in sRGB. I guess a lot of commercial printers use sRGB rather than Adobe RGB. You might check that out as well. I use Photoshop Elements and all of my photos have been saved in Adobe RGB, the full color management. I have changed to sRGB and hope to see a difference in printing. It will be about a week before I get anything back, but if you're interested I can let you know. I have a couple of weddings coming up and I need to make sure my color is correct. Hope this helps.
I used PrintFix Pro and Spyder Pro on my Macs with mixed results. The colors were "close enough for gubment work" but not spot on. I did the horrible 700+ samples on the printer no less. When we made the decision to go full time and open a studio, I went to Colorbyte Software for a color management solution, ImagePrint RIP, and Eye One for a monitor calibrator. They're both rather spendy, but the output is dead on the money. I just ordered another ImagePrint license for my Epson 2400 that piggy-backs on the license for my 7800. So, I've got over $2k invested in color management... But color management IS my business.
Discussion
10 repliesAssuming you are using Photoshop to work with your images you can use Adobe Gamma to obtain a reasonable calibration. Adobe Gamma can be found in 'Control Panel' on a Win PC. It will guide you through various steps to arrive at a reasonable calibration..
While Adobe Gamma will get you in the ball park, a calibration tool (photometer) and software that creates a profile is the best way to go. I've gotten excellent results from my Monaco OptixXR and it's software. Another great tool is the Gretag-McBeth Eye-One.
Take a look at Chromix for a lot of great info and tools. I have been a customer for a while and have been very pleased. Highly recommended.
-PB
Using Adobe Gamma will not result in accurate results. It may be closer than what you now have, but not correct. Since skin tones in particular are prone to showing color casts, especially along the magenta-green spectrum, it is important to get as close to ideal as possible.
While the color printers at CVS are set up for the lowest common denominator, the color management is a hit or miss proposition at best. Going to a color photo lab is going to be more expensive, but the results will generally be more consistent and you will be much more satisfied with the results, as long as the display you are using is accurately profiled.
If you are printing your own work, then you either have to get a printer/paper setup that provides custom color profiles for their ink and paper, or get a color printer profiling setup that creates those profiles on your existing printer.
I can personally recommend Colorvision's Print Fix Pro Suite (which includes the Spyder) as the least expensive solution to do both. For a little over $500, you will find the results worth the cost.
Ray Auger
Rochester, MN
http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/Printer_to_Match_my_Screen
-Pat
The article you referenced is very well done, and should be of great assistance. Thanks for 'popping' in to NPN!
-PB
We just had the same problem. Ordered prints and they were awful. Someone on RMNP forum recommend Quick Gamma. It's free and actually was pretty good. I am about to get new prints made after callibrating. I spoke with the printer, ProLab Express and they print in sRGB. I guess a lot of commercial printers use sRGB rather than Adobe RGB. You might check that out as well. I use Photoshop Elements and all of my photos have been saved in Adobe RGB, the full color management. I have changed to sRGB and hope to see a difference in printing. It will be about a week before I get anything back, but if you're interested I can let you know. I have a couple of weddings coming up and I need to make sure my color is correct. Hope this helps.