I am working on two monitors and I noticed that for my images the color is fairly different from one monitor to the other. One is much more saturated than the other one. When comparing others' images on both machines some are like mine and are completly different. However, others' images seem to have a much more consistent look and look fairly close on the two different monitors. I am wondering why this is and what I can do to achieve a more uniform look? Does this have something to do with the colorspace I am using?
Thanks,
Michael
Posted by Keith Bauer on December 7, 2010 at 11:24 AM
The first question that comes to my mind is.... Are your monitors color calibrated using a good hardware calibration device?
Posted by Richard Ditch on December 7, 2010 at 12:40 PM
Other questions:
do you embed a color profile in your images?
is your OS color aware?
is the application you use to view the images color aware?
are the monitors on the same computer?
do the images that appear about the same on both monitors contain a color profile?
Posted by Mitch Moraski on December 7, 2010 at 1:45 PM
I echo Keith's response Michael. Get yourself a GOOD monitor calibration system and go from there. It's a lot like going to look at HD TV's at Best Buy. They all look good, but in some way or another, they differ, whether it be in color, contrast and such. Start with a calibration and go from there. I used to own my own lab here in VT, and customers would bring in files that they adjusted on their monitors, but it does not mean that it would look the same on my printer monitor, thus totally different end results. It's all about calibration.
do I embed a color profile on my images? Not that I am aware of...
Is my OS color aware?....I don't know what that means
Is the application I use to view the images color aware? ..... Again, I am not sure.
Are the monitors on the same computer? Yes
do the images that appear about the same contain a color profile? not sure
Posted by David Bostedo on December 7, 2010 at 5:56 PM
I use Spyder 3 with updated software.
That's a good start.
do I embed a color profile on my images? Not that I am aware of...
Most people's software, including PS, will save files with the color profile by default. You actually have to do something (like uncheck the box or use Save for Web) to strip the profile away.
Is my OS color aware?....I don't know what that means
Windows and Mac OS are both color aware in somewhat different ways, so you're probably OK there unless you've done some mucking around with their color engine settings.
Is the application I use to view the images color aware? ..... Again, I am not sure.
PS is, FireFox and Safari are, pretty much any high end graphics application is - that means that they read and understand the profile in the image file, and how to adjust the output.
Are the monitors on the same computer? Yes
Depending on your setup, do you only profile one or both? I'm not certain, but I think you can't have active profiles for both on some hardware. In that case the two monitors should be different. (It sounds like yours may be pretty close though?)
do the images that appear about the same contain a color profile? not sure
Again, most graphics editing apps will save the profile with the image by default.
There's more to this of course - you have to have the right settings in your software, your calibration has to be correct, and the particular images can vary wildly in how they respond to profiled vs unprofiled monitors, and different color spaces. (Basically, an image that has a very limited range of color will not show as much variation as one that has wildly varying high saturation colors.)
Discussion
5 repliesThanks,
Michael
do you embed a color profile in your images?
is your OS color aware?
is the application you use to view the images color aware?
are the monitors on the same computer?
do the images that appear about the same on both monitors contain a color profile?
do I embed a color profile on my images? Not that I am aware of...
Is my OS color aware?....I don't know what that means
Is the application I use to view the images color aware? ..... Again, I am not sure.
Are the monitors on the same computer? Yes
do the images that appear about the same contain a color profile? not sure
That's a good start.
do I embed a color profile on my images? Not that I am aware of...
Most people's software, including PS, will save files with the color profile by default. You actually have to do something (like uncheck the box or use Save for Web) to strip the profile away.
Is my OS color aware?....I don't know what that means
Windows and Mac OS are both color aware in somewhat different ways, so you're probably OK there unless you've done some mucking around with their color engine settings.
Is the application I use to view the images color aware? ..... Again, I am not sure.
PS is, FireFox and Safari are, pretty much any high end graphics application is - that means that they read and understand the profile in the image file, and how to adjust the output.
Are the monitors on the same computer? Yes
Depending on your setup, do you only profile one or both? I'm not certain, but I think you can't have active profiles for both on some hardware. In that case the two monitors should be different. (It sounds like yours may be pretty close though?)
do the images that appear about the same contain a color profile? not sure
Again, most graphics editing apps will save the profile with the image by default.
There's more to this of course - you have to have the right settings in your software, your calibration has to be correct, and the particular images can vary wildly in how they respond to profiled vs unprofiled monitors, and different color spaces. (Basically, an image that has a very limited range of color will not show as much variation as one that has wildly varying high saturation colors.)
I'd suggesting reading up on color management in general. This Cambridge in Colour tutorial is a good place to start.