New to Color Calibration Software - Question?

kcui

I just bought Datacolor's SPyder3Pro to calibrate my monitor.

Before I was working in sRGB space which was set to the default between my camera, monitor profile, and in Photoshop.

I calibrated with the Spyder colorimeter and I saved the resulting profile onto my computer and and set it as the default in the Color Management in Windows.

Should I now use this color profile as the default working space in Photoshop? Right now it is set to sRGB. I don't print the photos myself, I use WHCC. My proofing prints through WHCC came out slightly warm (not too noticeable) and I confirmed this when the calibration resulted in a cooler temperature.

Is there anything else I should do at this point? Should I be saving my resulting images in this new color profile?

Thanks! I do realize I should recalibrate every so often...

jfriend

Monitor profiles should NEVER be used as a working space. Your images should NEVER be saved in the working space of the monitor. As long as your monitor profile is configured right in your system, they are used automatically by software (like Photoshop) to properly display images on your screen, no matter what working space you use in Photoshop (sRGB, aRGB, proPhotoRGB, etc...).

You can think of your monitor profile like a color map for your monitor. For any application that wants to display accurate colors on your monitor, it consults the color map in order to find some directions for how to display accurate colors on that particular monitor. It is done on-the-fly by the software when bits are sent to the screen. Documents are never converted to that profile.

You should continue using whatever working space you were using in Photoshop before as that should decision NOT be influenced by monitor calibration. If you are ultimately going to print at WHCC, then you need to understand what working space, they want you to deliver images in. If they want you to deliver your images in sRGB, then you may want to just consider working in sRGB in Photoshop all along - otherwise, you will have to remember to convert to sRGB before sending an image to WHCC.

Your images should always be in a standard working space that everyone understands (such as sRGB, AdobeRGB, proPhotoRGB). If you aren't sure which one to use and aren't sure when it's the right one to use, then you should use sRGB as it is the safest and most universally accepted.

ziggy53

I moved this to the Finishing School which is where I often see this question addressed.

I believe you will want to use a color working space and proofing profile that is appropriate to your task, and that can vary by your application and needs.

I am anxious to see how others respond.

Edit: John gave an excellent response and he types a lot faster than I do.

kcui

Thanks for the info.

I normally work/shoot in sRGB. WHCC takes sRGB.

So basically the monitor profile I calibrated is set to correctly display sRGB? Or is the calibration regardless of working space?

jfriend

kcui wrote:

Thanks for the info.

I normally work/shoot in sRGB. WHCC takes sRGB.

So basically the monitor profile I calibrated is set to correctly display sRGB? Or is the calibration regardless of working space?

The monitor profile has nothing to do with your working space. It is a description of how your monitor displays color so that any color-managed software can use the monitor to display accurate color regardless of the working space you are using.

kcui

Thanks for the clarification

ashgray2

Procedures
Any procedures and instruction for color callibration.
I mean the photoshop tutorial for this section.
How about how to make a leaves in a photo.

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