Monitor Calibration

[limr]

Let me ask this. How do the colors in the following pictures look?

Edit: and now a third version:

 

[tirediron]

Okay... what does Photoshop say about your whites? Do a quick drawing in PS (or whatever application you use) and see how far off of pure white "it looks white" actually is, and conversely, what pure white looks like in PS. Don't forget your browser is NOT a colour-managed application.

 

[tirediron]

Let me ask this. How do the colors in the following pictures look?

View attachment 91922

View attachment 91923

Strong magenta tone in the upper image, not present in the lower. The lower appears to be a bit high in blues/greens.

 

[Ysarex]

The top one has a pink sky and the bottom one is has much more believable color.

Joe

 

[limr]

Once again, I say huh!

I had to go check on my laundry and something on the stove, so I closed the laptop while I was out of the room (otherwise, it becomes a cat bed for Zelda.) When I came back and opened it up, the monitor reverted to the way it was before I calibrated again for those last screen shots.



I'm remembering a few of the negative reviews mentioning this.

Anywho...white points...

Do a quick drawing in PS (or whatever application you use) and see how far off of pure white "it looks white" actually is, and conversely, what pure white looks like in PS.

I've got Corel, which I'm sure can tell me about white points, but to be perfectly honest, I've read these directions and I'm still not sure what to do

 

[limr]

I've added a third version of the tractor picture. I edited that just a few minutes ago after I opened the laptop, so I'm presuming I'm working with a supposedly uncalibrated monitor.

 

[tirediron]

Okay... amended directions. Open up a black & white image in Corel (You must have at least one B&W, right? ) and then on a point that you know to be white (regardless of white it appears on your monitor;( ie, if you have someone wearing a white shirt, use that, even if the shirt looks purple to your eye), using the colour measurement tool (an eye-dropper I think) see how 'white' it actually is. If it's way off of white according to the software, there may indeed be a problem, but from what you're posting it looks like it's pretty darn close.

 

[limr]

Okay, so I calibrated once again. I checked the white point before I recalibrated and after. They both showed the same.

Before:

After:

 

[limr]

Zelda's eyes also contain some pure black in this picture, just in case anyone wasn't sure whether or not cats were demons

 

[tirediron]

I gots nothin'....

 

[BillM]

I bought a ColorMonki recently. The first few times I tried to run it I got the error too. Then when it did "work" it turned everything blue. And I mean really blue, I had a hard time running it again because my monitor looked horrile but I managed to get through it. That final time I ran it everything came out great.

I knew I had an issue when I sent some shots out to get printed. Now my print results are much better, well at least I think they are

 

[pgriz]

Leonore, you have done and pushed me off the fence. I've had kinda (via Windows) calibrated my monitors, but you motivated me to go and get a real calibrator. The one that people in my photo club spoke highly of, was the Datacolor Spyder 4. I got the Pro version since I have several monitors to calibrate. After going through the calibration procedure, I can see the colour change. Now, both my monitors look the same, as does my laptop (different machine), and the whites actually look white, while the blacks look black. The colour shift was minimal on my main editing monitor, but substantial for my laptop. So... thank you for giving me the push.

 

[The_Traveler]

DOWNLOAD PDI TEST IMAGE Photodisc Color Management Calibration Target Reference Image Baby Faces How To Achieve True Print Color

Try downloading reference images and see how they look

 

[tirediron]

Leonore, you have done and pushed me off the fence. I've had kinda (via Windows) calibrated my monitors, but you motivated me to go and get a real calibrator. The one that people in my photo club spoke highly of, was the Datacolor Spyder 4. I got the Pro version since I have several monitors to calibrate. After going through the calibration procedure, I can see the colour change. Now, both my monitors look the same, as does my laptop (different machine), and the whites actually look white, while the blacks look black. The colour shift was minimal on my main editing monitor, but substantial for my laptop. So... thank you for giving me the push.

I'm a Spyder fan too!

 

[limr]

DOWNLOAD PDI TEST IMAGE Photodisc Color Management Calibration Target Reference Image Baby Faces How To Achieve True Print Color

Try downloading reference images and see how they look

This seems to be for Photoshop. I'll see about finding something similar for Corel.

Though really, this whole thing may be for naught if I can't even get the settings to save. Every time I close the laptop and open it up again, it reverts to the default.

I'll probably uninstall and reinstall, just to make sure everything installed properly. I can check some files against prints I've made, then run the calibration again and check again. Then I'll close the laptop and open again to see if the settings remain the same.