Calabrating and LCD

[WolfSpring]

do LCD moniters need to be calibrated for color to do good editing on photos? Or is that just CRT. And even if they should be, is it completely necissary for begginer level editing, or is it one of those, practice the actions of a pro as a begginer so that you will do it right when you reach higher levels?

 

[Sideburns]

yes they do. It's not necessary for beginner level editing, but it makes it easier to get the prints you want if your monitor and printer are calibrated.

 

[solrac8126]

what brand is your monitor? most of them include some software to calibrate them, not as much on colors but on brightness and contrast. you can also use an icc profile to match your printer.
http://www.displaymate.com/ offers some calibration tools , and when you know what to look for it can lead you to some other sources of information that might help.

 

[WolfSpring]

I got some el cheapo Moniter it's westerland or soemthing a w with thee balls on the top points of the W and it's W underlined as such with a circle around all of that. It was a19 inch LCD moniter for 85 bucks, I wasn't going to pass on that about two years ago.

 

[Big Mike]

I agree with Sideburns. It's not fully necessary for beginner level stuff...but I had a heck of a time getting good prints until I properly calibrated my LCD monitor...so I would recommend it.

 

[m1a1fan]

I got some el cheapo Moniter it's westerland or soemthing a w with thee balls on the top points of the W and it's W underlined as such with a circle around all of that. It was a19 inch LCD moniter for 85 bucks, I wasn't going to pass on that about two years ago.

Westinghouse?

 

[WolfSpring]

Thats probably it m1a1

 

[D-50]

There is equiptment to buy to calibrate a monitor but if your looking for a cheap (free) way, print a photo out and then adjust the monitor match the printed photo. This is most likely not the best way but it will get you by. I find that when using photoshop if I increase my brightness to 25 the print very closely resembles my screen. If Im printing a photo that is very dark though I need to bump the brightness to 30 if not 35. On the screen it will look very bright but that does not translate into the print. This is just my bootleg version of color calibration but the end result is what Im looking for and thats all thatmatters to me.