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Author Topic: Monitor Calibration for Stock Photos  (Read 25225 times)

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steheap

  • Author of best selling "Get Started in Stock"

« on: November 22, 2009, 12:36 »
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I've read quite a few articles about the importance of calibrating the monitor, and particularly in reducing the brightness of LCD monitors down to 90 cd/m2 in order to avoid dark looking prints from the image. I have used ColorEyes Display Pro to get to that level, and it certainly is darker that you would normally expect a monitor to be.

My question - does the group use monitors calibrated down to this lower level of brightness (which I am sure is correct for printing), or a more "middle ground" brightness because most of the buyers will be using monitors calibrated for a higher brightness level, or do you think it doesn't matter as long as the colors are right!

Steve


« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2009, 16:57 »
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I cannot speak for anyone else, but I have two monitors side by side.
One is an LCD and the other is a CRT.

The CRT is set to 100 while the LCD is dialed down to 90 cd/m2.
Setting them this way renders the brightness of the two monitors approximately equal.

LCDs as a general rule are set too bright and contrasty from the factory.
This makes them look fantastic displayed in the bright electronics store environment, but makes for crappy prints.

Remember that even though your images bought from micro are purchased while being viewed from a computer display, many times they are destined to be used in print.

« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2009, 17:11 »
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« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2009, 04:47 »
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http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/monitor_sensitivity.html

Drycreek is one but there are more. I have a list here (scroll down till the bottom: monitor calibration).

« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2009, 17:26 »
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http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/monitor_sensitivity.html


I can see the breaks in part of line 2, but nothing on line 1 (unless I look very carefully and very closely).  Is that bad?

« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2009, 17:58 »
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That's about what I'm seeing too. My printouts are very true, so I'm pretty happy.

LaCie electron 22 blue IV
calibrated with Spyder 2 Pro
« Last Edit: November 23, 2009, 18:01 by rimglow »

« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2009, 18:03 »
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My monitor was never calibrated, so I am pleasantly surprised with the results, also in some of those links Flemish has.

RacePhoto

« Reply #7 on: December 01, 2009, 21:44 »
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I've read quite a few articles about the importance of calibrating the monitor, and particularly in reducing the brightness of LCD monitors down to 90 cd/m2 in order to avoid dark looking prints from the image. I have used ColorEyes Display Pro to get to that level, and it certainly is darker that you would normally expect a monitor to be.

My question - does the group use monitors calibrated down to this lower level of brightness (which I am sure is correct for printing), or a more "middle ground" brightness because most of the buyers will be using monitors calibrated for a higher brightness level, or do you think it doesn't matter as long as the colors are right!

Steve

Since I'm not printing and the people looking at them are viewing on a monitor, I use a CRT calibrated correctly. Are you looking for some Kentucky windage adjustment which means you'll see things wrong, and then when they get to someone else they will see something different? I don't understand.

Calibration means adjusting to a standard, so everyone else in the world can see the image the same. Does that make sense?

If you want to do printing and selling, you can set up your software to use different profiles. One for the world and one for your personal printer.  ;D But that's not calibration of the monitor it's color profiling.

I have a Huey pro under $100. There are probably better devices, but since it works, I don't have a desire to spend $200 - $300 for a better puck or spider.


Seems to work because my photos pass at Alamy (judged only for image not content) and they are very critical.

« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2009, 22:37 »
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My spider cost less than $100 on eBay as well. Get the hardware... it's worth it!

« Reply #9 on: December 02, 2009, 08:36 »
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My monitor was never calibrated, so I am pleasantly surprised with the results, also in some of those links Flemish has.

Mine neither !  I have a ViewSonic VX924 and a Samsung SyncMaster 913n,  and they just did VERY well in those tests !!
Nothing special !  But both look fine :)

Never seen the point in all this so-called calibrating (which is really adjusting), the person viewing the images has no idea what the original looked like !!  Obviously it has to be reasonably close, especially for skin tones. 

How many times do we adjust colours in photoshop !  So why correct for monitor ??


RacePhoto

« Reply #10 on: December 02, 2009, 11:22 »
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My monitor was never calibrated, so I am pleasantly surprised with the results, also in some of those links Flemish has.

Mine neither !  I have a ViewSonic VX924 and a Samsung SyncMaster 913n,  and they just did VERY well in those tests !!
Nothing special !  But both look fine :)

Never seen the point in all this so-called calibrating (which is really adjusting), the person viewing the images has no idea what the original looked like !!  Obviously it has to be reasonably close, especially for skin tones. 

How many times do we adjust colours in photoshop !  So why correct for monitor ??



You correct the monitor so the image looks the same on every other system as it does on your. Uncalibrated, the photo may look fine on your system and on another (say a reviewer or a buyer?) it may look red, or have a yellow tint, for example, but you will never know it, because you always see things on only your monitor.

Calibration is matching your monitor to a universal standard.

CofkoCof

« Reply #11 on: December 02, 2009, 11:30 »
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I think they would know pretty soon: all their pictures would get rejected for incorrect WB :D

« Reply #12 on: December 02, 2009, 12:04 »
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How many times do we adjust colours in photoshop !  So why correct for monitor ??

Nice circular reasoning. You adjust your images in Photoshop on an uncalibrated monitor? Right.  ;D

RacePhoto

« Reply #13 on: December 02, 2009, 12:49 »
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I think they would know pretty soon: all their pictures would get rejected for incorrect WB :D

Not necessarily. I have the old monitor and when I got a newer one, I could see a slight greenish tint, but black was 0 and white was 255, something wrong in the green/yellow areas. Never had anything rejected for white balance, but now I'd never send in most of those. I also have a laptop that tends to look great, until I put the photos on a calibrated desktop monitor, and then the oranges are yellowish and the reds change to something else.

Stu, The idea is, our eyes will adjust to different colors and actually correct in our mind. The reviewers can't see what we see, unless we are all looking at the same standards for colors.

For those who don't need to calibrate their monitor, just keep believing that the rest of us are either disillusion or wasting money. Anything you can do to help us sell more photos is appreciated.  ;)

lisafx

« Reply #14 on: December 02, 2009, 12:59 »
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I calibrate my monitor every couple of months, but even so I had a hard time with some of the test links from FD. 

I have the contrast on my LCD toned down a bit to be easier on my eyes.  Maybe that is why I am getting clipping in the darkest shadows?

« Reply #15 on: December 02, 2009, 13:09 »
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Maybe that is why I am getting clipping in the darkest shadows?

I struggled with this problem for a long time. NEVER clip the blacks: iStock won't forgive it. Avoid autocurves, autocontrast and autolevels in PS at any cost. I only found out by a high-contrast calibrated monitor what was wrong.. It's also good to detect banding in gradients, for instance blue sky. Previous posters were right: calibration is not that much about color but about luminance, especially in the blacks.

eyeCatchLight

  • Imagination is more important than knowledge.
« Reply #16 on: December 02, 2009, 13:34 »
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i think monitor calibration is essential.
i was editing pictures on my laptop for a while....and people kept telling me "wow your pictures are so crazy....colorful, yellow, saturated" and so on.
i thought they are just boring ;-) until i saw my own pictures on another monitor....everything was horribly yellow and totally oversaturated. (oh and i like colors...but it was definitely overdone).
simply my laptop screen was too cold and so to make it look nice i shifted everything over to warm tones and saturated tones...
not good. if you just put them on the web or so, fine. if you sell them, definitely no.

« Reply #17 on: December 02, 2009, 13:46 »
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I have tried calibrating my monitor so that I can see all those blacks but then when I look at the best selling images on the sites, I can see that setup doesn't work, they don't look right at all.  So all I do now is look at images that sell well and make them look good on my screen.  It works for me :)

lisafx

« Reply #18 on: December 02, 2009, 13:59 »
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i think monitor calibration is essential.
i was editing pictures on my laptop for a while....and people kept telling me "wow your pictures are so crazy....colorful, yellow, saturated" and so on.
i thought they are just boring ;-) until i saw my own pictures on another monitor....everything was horribly yellow and totally oversaturated. (oh and i like colors...but it was definitely overdone).
simply my laptop screen was too cold and so to make it look nice i shifted everything over to warm tones and saturated tones...
not good. if you just put them on the web or so, fine. if you sell them, definitely no.

Great story Simsi!  I think we all have had similar experiences before learning about calibration :)

FWIW, I don't know if there are any laptops with good enough monitors for graphic work.  If you haven't already, it might be worth getting a good stand-alone monitor to use with the laptop when you edit images. 

eyeCatchLight

  • Imagination is more important than knowledge.
« Reply #19 on: December 02, 2009, 14:03 »
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yeah... i am doing that, remember the other thread about monitors... i ordered the 245T, but it is backordered everywhere and i still haven't received it  >:(

« Reply #20 on: December 02, 2009, 14:45 »
0
My monitor was never calibrated, so I am pleasantly surprised with the results, also in some of those links Flemish has.

Mine neither !  I have a ViewSonic VX924 and a Samsung SyncMaster 913n,  and they just did VERY well in those tests !!
Nothing special !  But both look fine :)

Never seen the point in all this so-called calibrating (which is really adjusting), the person viewing the images has no idea what the original looked like !!  Obviously it has to be reasonably close, especially for skin tones. 

How many times do we adjust colours in photoshop !  So why correct for monitor ??



You correct the monitor so the image looks the same on every other system as it does on your. Uncalibrated, the photo may look fine on your system and on another (say a reviewer or a buyer?) it may look red, or have a yellow tint, for example, but you will never know it, because you always see things on only your monitor.

Calibration is matching your monitor to a universal standard.


I didn't say I don't check it !!  I use test cards to check colour, contrast and gamma.  If it was way out then it would be disasterous, but it's never far out and I don't do it often.  I just question the practice of using optical aids to attemppt to get things spot on !?  Can anyone reall tell ??

lisafx

« Reply #21 on: December 02, 2009, 17:54 »
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yeah... i am doing that, remember the other thread about monitors... i ordered the 245T, but it is backordered everywhere and i still haven't received it  >:(

Oh yes, I do remember.  You definitely made the right choice.  Too bad so many others did the same thing.  Hope you get it soon. Maybe in time for Christmas? :D

« Reply #22 on: December 03, 2009, 00:34 »
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I didn't say I don't check it !!  I use test cards to check colour, contrast and gamma.  If it was way out then it would be disasterous, but it's never far out and I don't do it often.  I just question the practice of using optical aids to attemppt to get things spot on !?  Can anyone reall tell ??



Yes, anyone who ever prints from Lightroom or Photoshop can tell.
Anyone who puts their images on a keydrive and then takes them to a friends house to view on an uncalibrated monitor can tell.
And the inspectors that are required to calibrate their monitors every single day can tell.

« Reply #23 on: December 03, 2009, 12:50 »
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nosaya :)

>> Yes, anyone who ever prints from Lightroom or Photoshop can tell.
But that could be your printer !?  and if u calibrate them BOTH (as I'm sure u do), that doesn't mean they are correct with everyone else !

>> Anyone who puts their images on a keydrive and then takes them to a friends house to view on an uncalibrated monitor can tell.
But of course, if it's that bad.  But that's down to his monitor, not the calibration of yours !

>> And the inspectors that are required to calibrate their monitors every single day can tell.
How ??  if they don't have the original scene in front of them, then how can they tell it's wrong !?

I'm sure they can detect WB problems or GROSS colour imbalance, but they don't know what u intended it to look like, do they !?



« Reply #24 on: December 03, 2009, 14:02 »
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The first time that you a get a rejection from IS for "file has been altered too far from it's original appearance" you will appricate that they can tell.

Another example; I shot a test with a young African-American model.
I shoot raw and place a WhiBal card in the first frame.
The shots I sent her were dead on accurate, but she was unhappy with her skin tones.
She thought I made her look like an 'orange moon'.

Why? Because she does not have a calibrated monitor.
So on her screen she looked too orange.

This is the reason that color science exits and why calibrating to a known standard is essisential for consistency.

No one cares if the grass in your shots is a little too blue or too yellow... Unless the person buying the shot is in the grass seed business.
The same applies to many fields in science and industry. Accurate color matters.

And as in my example above, certain ethnic groups are very aware of how their skin tones are represented. 


 

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