Suggestions calibrating monitor

[Spooky]

Hello all

I have previously calibrated my CRT monitor by eye comparing results of my prints to what I see on the screen.

When I got my last lot of prints done the prints have a dirty brown tinge in the greens which is quite unattractive and the pinks are a bit subdued.

Using the kelvin temperature and the R G B controls I tried to adjust the monitor to reflect as closely as possible to the prints so next time I print I will get closer to what I see on the screen, however despite fiddling for quite a while I can't even get close to reproducing the brown tinge in the greens.

Any advice?

[big pix]

you will have to buy a Spyder or Eye One.......

[leek]

While automatic calibration might be the answer, remember that while you can be responsible for your own monitor's calibration, you can't be responsible for or control the printer's equipment... The only way to control the calibration of the whole process is to print yourself... Sorry if that was obvious, but it sounded as if you were getting your prints done externally...

[Spooky]

Hi Big Pix, I was trying to get away without having to purchase a spyder or similar device.

Yes Leek, I get them done at a lab, in the past haven't had problems, thought my monitor might have drifted out over the past few months since I had prints done last.

[MattC]

Spooky, you will always struggle without decent calibration.

Cheers

[losfp]

IMO it's really quite difficult to get colours done accurately by eye. OS X has semi-decent calibration software built-in, so I've managed to get by until now, but I still want to get a spyder (or similar), as you can never get it exactly right.

[the foto fanatic]

If you don't wish to buy a Spyder, an alternative would be to use Adobe Gamma, which will do a calibration based on visual feedback from you.

If you have Photoshop or Elements it is included.

[Spooky]

I took the shots into the lab this morning to ask them. They say they have seen the issue before and suggested it might be something to do with the camera capturing some green tones in the yellow channel.

Suggested I boost the saturation in the yellow channel in photoshop.

I am going to do a few small images with some adjustments at different levels, get them printed and see what happens.

[JordanP]

The lab you are working with could be the problem - I wouldn't rule that out. When they print your images are they printing 'as is' or are they applying either automatic or manual corrections as deemed by the printer (person not the machine)?

What do they do, or guarantee regarding their printer (machine not the person) calibration? Labs can change or not monitor their own calibration at any time.

I will not use the local labs in my area (not much to choose from anyway) as they are too inconsistant or just plain off the mark in terms of their equipment.

However I do support the above posts about the importance of calibration.

I would be very surprised if it was your camera and suspicious that the lab suggested that was the problem. If your shots look OK on your monitor then the monitor must have shifted out of calibration the same way your camera apparently has.

[Spooky]

I went back to the lab today and the lady suggested I boost the hue in the yellow channel. She says it is a common problem with green because the camera tends to interpret some greens as having too much yellow.

Tried it out on the image and if I go negative about 10 on the hue in the yellow channel my screen image does look like the print.

I imagine if I go plus 10 on the hue in the yellow channel I would get a print near to what the screen shows.

Seems a bit of a pain. I can't adjust my monitor to compensate.


On another point the labs printers need the files in RGB mode and in 8bit. I thought by converting to 8bit you are throwing a large amount of the possible colour variations out.

What to the labs everyone else uses require. Do they print in 16 bit?

[stubbsy]

Adjusting the monitor to match THEIR printer seems a poor solution. If the colour looks right on screen, but comes out wrong and your monitor is calibrated I'd question the calibration at the mini lab. They can just as easily adjust the yellow at their end and you still see true colours when doing PP.

[daniel_r]

I'm with Stubbsy on this one.

A couple of things I'd suggest from experience:
* calibrate your display(s) the best you can using perceptual calibration tools such as Adobe Gamma (win) or ColorSync (Mac).

* do the calibration in a low light environment, be careful not to have any strong influential ambient light (ie strong incandescent or fluorescent) sources nearby

* have someone else co-calibrate the display with you at the same time (you may have mild colour blindness and not know it - 1 in 12 males are colour blind to some degree, rare in females due to colour blindness being a recessive genetic trait)

* make your own crappy pantone system (more perceptual calibration, still error prone) - rummage around in your desk and find some coloured Post-it-notes. Hold them up to your screen, open Photoshop, create a new sRGB document 400x400 px and using the colour picker see if you can bucket fill the the square image with the same colour. Repeat for a variety of different coloured post-it notes (or other coloured paper). Save your files, take them and your post-it notes to a mates/work computer with a calibratred display, open the files and compare with your Post-it collection

Now to check your prints:

Now with your freshly calibrated display, prepare a 10 image collection of vastly differing styles/colour images (strong yellows, blue, greens, reds and some with graduated midtones) and post process them to your tastes on your display. Save them out as sRGB 8-bit JPEGs.

Take your CD/whatever to a number of different labs, and print all 10 images at each lab (say they're 30c each, that's only $3). See if you can get them printed all on the same finish paper (gloss/matt).

Take them home and do a comparison with the different labs. You'll be surprised. Hint: BigW is prints are so laughable they make you want to cry (I got some printed there for entertainment purposes)

edit: found it! A colour blindness page loader http://colorfilter.wickline.org/