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Monitor Calibration for print
minnesotamom
Registered Users Posts: 5 Beginner grinner
I got some test prints back from my lab (whcc.com), and they were too dark. I’ve calibrated my monitor with Eye One, and that was all I needed to do for this lab; they said they calibrate to the standard and I should calibrate to the standard, which I did. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Any ideas? Help MUCH appreciated!
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did you softproof with their ICC Profile? Not sure what 'standard' means. I get good results when I use the EZPrints ICC Profile embedded in my (with EZPrints of course)
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/1123524
and here is another :
http://www.smugmug.com/help/display-color
Thanks for the comments and links. Can you check the first link above and see if it has a link to the "old" ICC profile for EZPrints? I think it has the date of 2007 in the file name. The 2nd link you have, does have the correct link to the current ICC profile.
I believe I am understanding the issues with soft proofing, monitor calibration and so forth. I am using a Huey Pro on a dual monitor system, and am being extra careful to have the "image" monitor accurately calibrated. The 2nd monitor is for PS CS3 panels, etc. I just got a calibration print from Smugmug, and my colors compare very well on screen, with the print.
Here's my quandry. I'm viewing the calibration print on screen using Firefox 3.01. And as I said, when I look at the calibration print that I am holding in my hand and compare - all looks fine.
But if I have one of my images open in PSCS3 and the same image opened in Firefox (via File; Open File) then the image in PS does NOT look quite the same as what I am seeing in Firefox. (same monitor, side by side images). I understand that browsers are not "color aware" (or at least previous versions were not). The image in PS looks a little less vivid. The image in Firefox is more vivid, and seems to have a reddish color cast.
I am using the current EZPrints ICC profile, and have turned on Soft Proofing in PS to view the image there.
Should I be able to capture a digital copy of the "calibration print" and open it in PS and then be able to compare that one on screen to the one that I hold in my hand?
It seems that if the calibration print looks different on screen in PS, than in Firefox, and I can't view the calibration print in PS, then what good does it do me to have a hard copy calibration print to try to compare to?
Any help in clearing this up would be helpful.
TIA
T.J. Shuflin
aka TJCajun (in Louisiana)
edited to add my Smugmug site link: http://tjshuflin.smugmug.com
edited again to say that Smugmug has today corrected the incorrect link to an older 2007 ICC profile. See my reply further down the thread.
Read here, and weep: (think PS and FF on Windows operates the same way)
http://blogs.smugmug.com/don/2007/02/14/this-is-your-mac-on-drugs/
There are many threads in Dgrin as well, look for 'safari color' or something like that in the search, or wait, someone will post them here
Thanks for fast reply. I am on PC. Just got a new box recently - dual quad-core, 64bit WinXP-Pro, 16GB RAM, 3 internal HD and 3 external HD for image storage.
I should have also said that I just got some "test prints" from Smugmug where I edited some to look "best" in PS with EZPrint soft proof, and some to look "best" when viewed (after editing) in FF3.01. And also added some prints of each, for TRUE and AUTO color. There's not hardly enough difference across the board in any of them, except with my hyper-critical, Type A personality eyeballs. The client would never be able to tell the difference I don't think.
So... I shouldn't worry about this... BUT I DO!
Thanks again for suggestions of where to search for further reading. Best to you...
T.J.
To ALL:
Smugmug HELP is fantastic (as we all know).
At 3:39pm today, I got this reply from Steve:
Hello TJ,
Thank you for contacting Smugmug. We have replaced the 2007 profile with the 2008 profile. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Have a wonderful day TJ :-)
Steve
Wow... now that is RESPONSIVE and DECISIVE service! Thanks Steve and Smugmug!
Here's the deal at least in my experience:
Monitor calibration typically makes sure that the colors on your screen match a reference standard. However, to accurately judge for printing I find it best match my monitor calibration to my room lights which requires going a step beyond simple calibration. Most calibration software give you two controls over how you calibrate the monitor: color temperature and brightness (lumens). Matching these settings to your proofing environment will give you a much more accurate print preview.
Here's how I do it:
Create a pure white document in Photoshop and put Photoshop in proofing colors mode. Then hold a sheet of white paper (preferrably the paper you plan to print on) up next to the monitor and compare the white on your screen to the white of the paper. If you have matched your calibration to your room lighting, then the white of the paper will match the white of paper.
If your workstation is typical, your display is quite a bit brigher than the ambient light. While they don't need to match perfectly, I find that a bright monitor makes me think my image will print brigher than it actually will. There are really two was to go to fix the problem; either calibrate your monitor at a lower lumen level or else improve the quality of light in your working environment. Calibrating an LCD to a low lumen level can (depending on your hardware) result in posterization and poor rendering in the shadows, so I prefer to work on the light first. My recommendation is to light your work enviroment with good quality fluorescent lighting; my preferece is 5500K bulbs with a high CRI (90+) because, thanks to Dr. Ott, they are fairly commonplace and not too expensive.
LiquidAir - thanks for your reply and the info. I'll give that a try, and it will likely help me do a better job!
I should correct something that I may have inferred in an earlier reply, about wanting to be able to display the calibration print in Photoshop, but not being able to. It is a simple matter to go to this page:
http://www.smugmug.com/help/display-color
You can then click on one of the links to the calibration print, display it on-screen, and on a PC, simply "right-click" and save the image as a jpeg file on your computer.
I can now display this jpeg in Photoshop, and view the same file in my browser, so I am able to compare the two. This helps me satisfy myself that if I soft-proof using EZPrints ICC profile for 2008, that I can see essentially the same image in PS on my calibrated monitor, as what I see in my Firefox 3.01 browser. And my prints from Smugmug should agree very well with my editing.
I can also now test my own printer (Epson R1800).
Thanks to those that have replied, and to Smugmug!
T.J.
I think LiquidAir's suggestion of comparing the brightness of your display with the brightness of a piece of printing paper is a reasonable idea, if the paper is properly illuminated. You just can't use an old tungsten table lamp, it won't match.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
The white point, luminance and TRC (what is incorrectly called Gamma) vary, the first two are to be set based on the viewing conditions of the print which we know all varies.
So, if you're viewing a print under a booth near the display and it appears too dark, you can lower the luminance calibration target values for the display OR raise the lighting luminance for the prints (or both) for a match. Of course, some light sources can't be altered this way without the color changing. But the point is, if there's a disconnect in target luminance or white point, there will be a disconnect in the print to screen match.
We calibrate displays because they are not stable devices and we want them to behave as we desire day in and day out. We profile that behavior so ICC aware applications like Photoshop can preview what is just a big pile of numbers correctly (and that involves soft proofing using the output profile).
Author "Color Management for Photographers"
http://www.digitaldog.net/
I've been readijnjg your thread in hopes of figuring out how to load the EZPrints ICC Profile. I"m followiong th einstructions for a XP PC but it is not working? Thoughts? Thanks