Mac Book pro colors off

RevLinePhoto

I am new to mac and have been very happy with the screen on my macbook pro. However the other day I had it connected to my desktop monitor which is a older lcd one I was adjusting white balance and color settings when I saw my macbook screen change more for the cool side. I have been trying everything and can't seem to get it back to original settings. Thanks for any help.

Manfr3d

Hi Papy,

a colorimeter (Spyder3, ColorMuki or EyeOne) should be able to correct this. Without proper
calibration it is very hard or impossible to get the desired color rendering. FYI you can select
the color profile of your laptop under "System Preferences -> Displays -> Color -> Display Profile".
I believe the default Profile for a non-calibrated MBP is "Generic RGB Profile". Just know that
the colors are still way off compared to a calibrated MBP display.

RevLinePhoto

Thanks for the response, I have changed the rgb settings many times but the monitor still seams off. Talked to the apple store yesterday when picking up my new phone and was told to bring it in because they haven't heard of this problem.

Manfr3d

Papy wrote: »

Thanks for the response, I have changed the rgb settings many times but the monitor still seams off. Talked to the apple store yesterday when picking up my new phone and was told to bring it in because they haven't heard of this problem.

They will always be off without calibration ....

NeilL

Papy wrote: »

Thanks for the response, I have changed the rgb settings many times but the monitor still seams off. Talked to the apple store yesterday when picking up my new phone and was told to bring it in because they haven't heard of this problem.

Had your monitor been calibrated by you previous to this happening? If not then it should be just a matter of restoring all colour management/profile settings to default, wherever those settings appear, eg the graphics card, etc. I doubt you will get any "sense" back into the display by changing "RGB" values etc by trial and error.

You could use a colorimeter to create a new profile and apply that, and this might cause your screen to look different again! But it should be now " correct".

Neil

Matthew Saville

Don't expect to ever be able to accurately correct image white balance without a calbrated display.

Your display probably switched it's gamma or white point, to match / correct that of the external display. It may be possible to reset the gamma or white point, but you should still calibrate if you'd like to have accurate color.

One thing you can do is send in some test prints to whatever lab you prefer, and see if the brightness and color looks right when you hold up the print against the monitor. But ultimately, I recommend purchasing a Spyder or similar device and calibrating your monitor every few months. This is very important if you plan on making prints, especially professionally.

=Matt=

RevLinePhoto

Thank you all, a spider is defiantly on my buy list along with a new desktop monitor due to mine being about 4 years old and all whites seam yellow now while starting to look dark. I have done some prints which turned out fine in print but a bit off of what my monitor displays.

ziggy53

If you process your image "by the numbers", you don't even need a calibrated monitor. It's always helpful to have a monitor that is close to true colors, but you should not trust a monitor and your eyes when it comes to color accuracy.

I suggest at very least grab a large number of monitor color calibration target images from the Internet, print those from your intended printer or printer service, and then try to match your monitor colors and density as closely as possible to the prints. Human sight is very sensitive to direct color comparisons.

A color calibration hardware/software tool is easier and (potentially) much more accurate, but the above will get you close.

The best method of all is to "print by the numbers", sampling the actual numeric color values of image white, black, neutral and flesh tones for color accuracy and color purity, and then calibrating your print corrections to match.

I use the PictoColor iCorrect Portrait Photoshop plugin to assist in correct white and black and skin tone correction prior to printing. This can get me very close to acceptable values very quickly, and then some tweaking to polish the results.

For volume work (candids) I do basic corrections/enhancements in ACR/Bridge and then use the standalone application, "Image Editor" from Colour-Science:

http://www.colour-science.com/IE/ImageEditor.htm

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Including a color target and white target in the scene during image acquisition can also speed up the initial process of white balance and basic color balance in RAW files conversion.

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Here is a fairly simple method for flesh tones:

http://www.smugmug.com/help/skin-tone

ziggy53

I moved this to the Digital Darkroom, where we discuss computers and displays and such.

Carry on.

arodney

As others have said, you have to calibrate and profile your display, period. Here’s why:http://www.takegreatpictures.com/digital-photography/9984