Omg my photos look so different on different screens!

[snerd]

I....... I have not noticed that people with calibrated monitors make better photos.

That's a subjective thing. Photos can be crap artistically, but the colors can be correct/closer with calibration.

 

[KmH]

I think everyone is forgetting that this is the beginners board... I'm the equivalent of the first tmie guitar player with a $35 guitar from amazon. I simply can't afford $90 for a calibrator, and even if I could improve my kit a lot more spending that money somewhere else. I was just trying to find a way to get as much as I can out of what little I have, without the calibrator.

I guess you don't realize the topic of your OP isn't a photography beginners forum topic, because display calibration has nada to do with making photographs.

Digital Discussion Q A Photography Forum
For editing : Graphics Programs and Photo Gallery Photography Forum

Both are in the TPF section with the heading: Digital Photography

 

[Buckster]

I think everyone is forgetting that this is the beginners board... I'm the equivalent of the first tmie guitar player with a $35 guitar from amazon. I simply can't afford $90 for a calibrator, and even if I could improve my kit a lot more spending that money somewhere else. I was just trying to find a way to get as much as I can out of what little I have, without the calibrator.

What other gear do you have so far in your kit? Which camera body, lens(es), tripod, flash, triggers, stands, modifiers, etc., etc., etc.?

What exactly are you working with?

 

[mcap1972]

This one is on special. Datacolor Spyder4PRO Display Calibration System S4P100 B H Photo

 

[Buckster]

This one is on special. Datacolor Spyder4PRO Display Calibration System S4P100 B H Photo

They already said they can't afford the $90 for the other one. I don't think offering them one for $130 really helps.

 

[yellow ant]

What do you want to do?

If you want to share photos online I'd say to make your content count because you can't control what it's going to look like.

If you want to print or show in an otherwise controlled way, go ahead and calibrate.

I have not noticed that people with calibrated monitors make better photos.

As this person says.

Unless its for printing everyone is going to see your end image very differently to the next person who views it.

As long as its a good image and you have it about right then the rest of the editing is for yourself and a few people you know who have a good eye or a calibrated monitor.

 

[TheStupidForeigner]

Ok I was having a hard time explaining just how different the screens were so I decided to edit the an image twice to look the same on both screens to show how different they are. I believe this is not just a slight difference that could be expected from screen to screen, these are completely different! And on my budget considering I rarely print I am satisfied not to have it perfect, but surely I should be able to get it better than it is right now. The biggest problem is I don't know which screen is better... The laptop screen seems washed out and the LCD seems like it has too much contrast and definitely too warm. But if I look at either of them they start to seem fine after a few minutes...

Btw this is AFTER doing some tweaks already, it was even worse before...

I've tried adjusting the Red/Blue/Green settings on the LCD to lower the warmth but I can't seem to get it down much... When I lower the red or raise the blue things start to look blueish rather than less warm..

 

[Waldo32487]

try this:
LCD monitor test images

an actual calibrator will be better, easier, and more accurate. but at least it's a start.
BTW you should calibrate both your laptop AND your desktop screen....should be able to get them close to matching...

 

[photoguy99]

If you plan to share on the web you could make the opposite argument. Have two or more displays with quite different rendering, so you can verify that your picture looks pretty good on various displays.

I used to do some (temporary) pretty radical curves adjustments as a last step to make sure that things didn't fall apart on wildly varying displays. Mainly just lifted the shadows way up. But I don't do much color.

 

[TheStupidForeigner]

Is there any way to change settings other than the buttons on the front of the screen? Maybe some 3rd party software? No matter how hard I try by changing the red/blue/green from the LCD menu I can't get it to look right :/

 

[andylucian]

When I started sending photos to friends I noticed that my photos were way off compared to my screen. One peice of advice helped. A local professional lab I used told me to do this;
Take a photo in high quality jpg format. Using all the normal settings (sharpness/contrast etc). If you normally shoot raw these settings would all need turning off or zeroing out.
Take the file to a pro photo lab. Tell them you're printing it for colour calibration and get them to print something roughly the same size as your monitor.
Take it home and compare it to the montior with the unedited jpg in lightroom and adjust the settings on the screen until its as close as possible.
In windows 7 and later there are some basic colour profiling tools that may help you acheive this. To be honest if you LCD monitor hasnt got any more settings other than colour channel (things like brightness, contrast and gamma) then it might be better sticking with your laptop screen and being conscious of viewing angles and lighting when editing photos. Again keep the reference photo on hand for readjusting if you're working on a critical photo where tones etc are a large part of the effect.