Color Issues

OnTheFly7 · Aug 5, 2014

I had an older laptop that I use to use, plugged into a 24" desktop monitor. Last weekend I picked up a new laptop and for the life of me, I can not get the coloration correct. I will preface this by stating I am not using the new laptop with the 24" monitor. I want to do most of my post processing on the new laptop. I have tried to set the colors on the monitor two different times now and the photos on the laptop look great. However, when I post the photos to a website, they look entirely different on other screens. I am not using a calibration software at this time. I was planning on picking one up and I know this is good for printing photos. My question is will the software help with my issue?

If not, what other options are out there?

The photos that I edited on the old laptop, on the 24" monitor, look good everywhere. I want the same results with the new laptop!

This is one of the photos.....

TCampbell · Aug 6, 2014

Sounds like you need to color-calibrate your screen. e.g. a tools such as a Datacolor Spyder or an X-Rite Colormunki would do that for you.

bratkinson · Aug 6, 2014

Laptop screens and, by extension, tablet screens, too, are known to be less than accurate in color renditions. Laptops are even more variable considering any viewing angle other than 90 degrees perpendicular (or close) will result in some apparent color shift. But even monitors will have less-than-perfect color rendition between brands and models within a brand.

As Tim indicated above, a Spyder or Colormunki is needed to calibrate your screen to 'get it right'.

For what it's worth, I finally broke down and bought a Colormunki about a year ago and the difference in what I saw on the screen was truly amazing. I should have bought one years ago! Now I'm considering calibrating my printers. But then, I don't do any 'critical' printing and what I get is 'close enough' to satisfy my needs...especially as I now have the colors right on my screen.

Tinderbox (UK) · Aug 6, 2014

In the meantime try Windows "Calibrate" if your using windows, it has three colour sliders, i usually adjust the left and middle one, and it can change screen with yellow whites to a very nice crisp white and this should make your photo`s look a lot better, you might have to run it a couple of times at different times of the day before you get a setting you like, this it not a replacement for a hardware calibrator.

John.

KmH · Aug 6, 2014

What type of display does the 24" desktop have, and what type display does the new laptop have?
Many laptops have a TN type display rather than the more desirable for photo editing IPS display type.

If the ambient light falling on a calibrated display changes, the display has to be re-calibrated to maintain color accuracy.

OnTheFly7 · Aug 6, 2014

Thank you for the replies.

The older laptop had the same issues, but once I calibrated the monitor with the software it came with, the results were much better. From that point on, everything had been done on the big monitor with great results. Now that I have the new laptop, I was hoping to do most everything on there, but I just picked up an HDMI/DVI converter. I will do a photo or two this evening and see if the results are any better. I am hoping so, since I will be back on the big monitor, which has served well in the very recent past.

I do think I will break down and get a calibration tool however. I am looking at the Spyder4ELITE.

For what it is worth, the new laptop is an HP Envy 17" and the Monitor is a Samsung S24B150.

This is such a PITA!