I am trying to assure that my color is accurate all the time. I have a Spyder and have calibrated both of my PC computer screens. I think I have done it alright but both my screens look different. Is this normal?
I guess my question is ...Is the output still going to be the same even if the screen appearance is different?
Thanks for any help.
Rick T
Posted by Ed Cordes on December 16, 2007 at 10:18 PM
I believe the output will be the same. It will depend on how you have the printing preferences set in PhotoShop. Which monitor is accurate is a question. I believe they should look the same. I would try to ensure the brightness is set the same prior to calibrating. I would also do both in as dark a room as possible or in the light you work in with little chance of reflection off the monitor face. Let us know how you make out.
Thanks for input Ed. Yes the room was dark. I assign adobe RGB 98 profile and tell the printer to take the profile from PS.
RT
Posted by John Mumaw on December 16, 2007 at 11:52 PM
Hmmmmm....Adobe RGB is a color space, not a profile.
Posted by Gene Lugo on December 17, 2007 at 4:58 AM
Try recalibrating the monitors again. If they are the same type and not broken, they should look very close, if not exactly the same. If they are old and so far out of spec that they will not calibrate then you might have to replace them.
You should also calibrate your printer, so that it can print a calibrated image. Obviously, if you edit your image on a properly calibrated monitor and get it to look the way you want, it will print reasonably close to what you saw on the monitor. If the other monitor looks different from the first monitor, it will also look different from the print.
Whenever possible try to work in RAW format, using Adobe RGB color space. It gives you the widest reasonable color gamut. Convert to SRGB only if you are sending images to the web. As far as profiles are concerned, the spyder will generate a profile for the monitor, and if you are not using a printer profiling utility, then you should be using oem ink, paper and oem-supplied profiles. This will help ensure reasonable results. If you are using third party paper and/or ink your results will be all over the map.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on December 17, 2007 at 12:51 PM
Are you using one computer and two different monitors, or two computers and two monitors?
With Windows, under ordinary circumstances, only on monitor profile will be active. (There are some tricks and hardware to have two machines with two profiles active, but if you know about those, you probably wouldn't be asking your question. These are also not cheap) If you are switching between monitors on the same machine, you will have to manually switch monitor profiles. The most common place where I have seen this become an issue is when someone is using two screens for Photoshop, the first containing all of the palettes and tool bars and the second containing the image itself. In this case, you want to be using the monitor profile for the editting monitor and let the palettes monitor look bad.
I would also make sure that Adobe Gamma is not working. It will be in your startup folder if it is active. Adobe Gamma overrides any profile and is nowhere near as accurate of a profile since it is done by eye rather than by machine.
Is one monitor a laptop? Those are notoriously hard to get right and probably shouldn't be used for serious image editting.
Are you comparing an LCD with a CRT? These have very different "feels" to the images that might be part of the problem.
Last, how are you comparing the two monitors. If they are LCDs sitting next to each other, there may be just enough of a shift in your viewing angle to notice a difference. If you can do it on a desk or setup that has a 90 degree bend in it, set up both monitors on it. Make sure that your viewing angle on both is exactly the same. Now how does it look?
I am using two laptops Dell Lcd panels about 3 years old. I have had good results I should say using Adobe 1998 as I mentioned. When I have my work printed 'outside' at a reputable place and ask them not to adjust the color I have very satis factory results. Also on my pixma printer I have good results if I let tell the printer not to adjust the color.
Yes Adobe Gamma was removed before calibration.
RT
Posted by David Bostedo on December 17, 2007 at 3:39 PM
Richard - I'm slightly confused by the statement that you "have good results if [you] let tell the printer not to adjust the color." Does that mean you aren't applying a printer/paper profile? Or do you mean that you're letting PS rather than the printer driver apply the profile? (This kind of thing can get tricky is you aren't very specific.) Just want to make sure this is going right for you. The gist, I think, is this :
-- You profile your monitors so that the colors look good (i.e. as the objective checker thinks they should). The Spyder should handle this for you, but with LCDs, check the brightness settings in the software.
-- The you do your work in Adobe 98 - this colorspace is read and interpreted through your monitor profile to display good colors.
-- When you go to print, either PS or your printer driver should read the input profile from your monitor, and apply the output profile (for the paper/printer) to the file using a particular rendering intent that you choose (either perceptual or relative colorimetric).
-- Then, assuming the profiles are correct, the printer should produce colors that reasonably match your monitor.
Sounds to me like the problem is with getting both laptop LCDs properly calibrated in the first place. But it's possbile for things to get futzed up at several places. I think Dan's suggestions are good ones.
Discussion
8 repliesI guess my question is ...Is the output still going to be the same even if the screen appearance is different?
Thanks for any help.
Rick T
I don't know what OS you are using, but you might want to check to see if the monitors are actually using the profiles you created.
Just curious, but what are the differences between the two monitors? Hue? Contrast? Brightness?
Make sure the color temperature is set the same on both monitors, and do as Ed says; calibrate in a darkened room so that there are no reflections.
The output to print should be same, assuming that you only make changes to the PSD file using only one of the monitors.
-PB
RT
You should also calibrate your printer, so that it can print a calibrated image. Obviously, if you edit your image on a properly calibrated monitor and get it to look the way you want, it will print reasonably close to what you saw on the monitor. If the other monitor looks different from the first monitor, it will also look different from the print.
Whenever possible try to work in RAW format, using Adobe RGB color space. It gives you the widest reasonable color gamut. Convert to SRGB only if you are sending images to the web. As far as profiles are concerned, the spyder will generate a profile for the monitor, and if you are not using a printer profiling utility, then you should be using oem ink, paper and oem-supplied profiles. This will help ensure reasonable results. If you are using third party paper and/or ink your results will be all over the map.
With Windows, under ordinary circumstances, only on monitor profile will be active. (There are some tricks and hardware to have two machines with two profiles active, but if you know about those, you probably wouldn't be asking your question. These are also not cheap) If you are switching between monitors on the same machine, you will have to manually switch monitor profiles. The most common place where I have seen this become an issue is when someone is using two screens for Photoshop, the first containing all of the palettes and tool bars and the second containing the image itself. In this case, you want to be using the monitor profile for the editting monitor and let the palettes monitor look bad.
I would also make sure that Adobe Gamma is not working. It will be in your startup folder if it is active. Adobe Gamma overrides any profile and is nowhere near as accurate of a profile since it is done by eye rather than by machine.
Is one monitor a laptop? Those are notoriously hard to get right and probably shouldn't be used for serious image editting.
Are you comparing an LCD with a CRT? These have very different "feels" to the images that might be part of the problem.
Last, how are you comparing the two monitors. If they are LCDs sitting next to each other, there may be just enough of a shift in your viewing angle to notice a difference. If you can do it on a desk or setup that has a 90 degree bend in it, set up both monitors on it. Make sure that your viewing angle on both is exactly the same. Now how does it look?
Yes Adobe Gamma was removed before calibration.
RT
-- You profile your monitors so that the colors look good (i.e. as the objective checker thinks they should). The Spyder should handle this for you, but with LCDs, check the brightness settings in the software.
-- The you do your work in Adobe 98 - this colorspace is read and interpreted through your monitor profile to display good colors.
-- When you go to print, either PS or your printer driver should read the input profile from your monitor, and apply the output profile (for the paper/printer) to the file using a particular rendering intent that you choose (either perceptual or relative colorimetric).
-- Then, assuming the profiles are correct, the printer should produce colors that reasonably match your monitor.
Sounds to me like the problem is with getting both laptop LCDs properly calibrated in the first place. But it's possbile for things to get futzed up at several places. I think Dan's suggestions are good ones.