I just took a cloud photo Sunday and processed it on my Mac with good satisfaction. When I look at the same photo on two different PCs, the photo on the PCs look crummy, i.e., lighter, less contrast and washed out. It still looks good on my Mac.
How does this photo look to others?
Jeff Seldomridge
Curtis, Washington
Posted by Michael Elenko on February 8, 2010 at 11:39 PM
Jeff,
There can be so many variables from computer to computer, regardless of what operating system they are running.
My guess is that you are looking at monitors configured differently. Perhaps the Mac's monitor was calibrated.
Which brings up another question: are you familiar with color management?
Regarding this photo: since I only have the one sample with no other to make a comparison, I cannot say if it looks "good." I will say that on my calibrated monitor it looks unfocused, and slightly blown out in places.
Thanks all...Last night I upped the Gamma setting on a piece of supplied Mac Software which darkened it and then looked at it on a PC...Looks a lot better. I'm just concerned that if I want to display a photo where brightness levels are so critical that I have to compensate accordingly.
Posted by David Bostedo on February 9, 2010 at 7:51 PM
Jeff - Messing around with gamma indiscriminately is probably the wrong way to go. Especially since I agree with the others that this image looks very funky on my monitor - over processed and unnatural. I don't say that to be mean, but because I know that color management and monitor variation can be a big deal, and isn't usually straight forward. I'd suggest doing a bit of reading on color management and monitor calibration.
Of course, even if you do proper calibration, there's absolutely no way to guarantee that it will look proper on an uncalibrated monitor. No matter what you do, and uncalibrated monitor is in an unknown state - the color temperature, gamma, brightness, etc are all going to vary from monitor to monitor. That's why calibrating is important, so that you can attempt to have the image look the same no matter which calibrated monitor you view it on.
Discussion
5 repliesHow does this photo look to others?
Jeff Seldomridge
Curtis, Washington
There can be so many variables from computer to computer, regardless of what operating system they are running.
My guess is that you are looking at monitors configured differently. Perhaps the Mac's monitor was calibrated.
Which brings up another question: are you familiar with color management?
Regarding this photo: since I only have the one sample with no other to make a comparison, I cannot say if it looks "good." I will say that on my calibrated monitor it looks unfocused, and slightly blown out in places.
Noisy too.
ME
Jennifer
Of course, even if you do proper calibration, there's absolutely no way to guarantee that it will look proper on an uncalibrated monitor. No matter what you do, and uncalibrated monitor is in an unknown state - the color temperature, gamma, brightness, etc are all going to vary from monitor to monitor. That's why calibrating is important, so that you can attempt to have the image look the same no matter which calibrated monitor you view it on.