MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Newbie Discussion => Topic started by: tab62 on February 04, 2011, 13:12
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Hey MS Group,
I am really new to the MS world - like less than 4 months into the world of stock photos. I've been told that I need to get a monitor calibration like Spider 3 to ensure my colors are correct- it is very expensive to say the least. Is this true? Currently I use a few program that just shows you what you should see via adjustment the brightness and contrast settings. Any comments from you guys would be great!
Thanks.
Tom
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You can certainly try to get by with the eyeball based software calibrations, but if you're serious about selling your images (as stock or in any other fashion) you need to have some certainty about color.
You need a color managed workflow (everything with profiles embedded and a reliable profile for your display devices). The way to get a reliable profile for a monitor is with a hardware calibration device. And it needs to be redone periodically (although I think less frequently now we've moved away from CRTs) as the monitor ages.
I continue to use a Monaco Optix I bought a few years ago (X-rite bought Monaco) and I don't have a current recommendation for the best bundle, but I'll bet if you do a little googling you can find some reviews of the current crop of devices.
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We've discussed this issue a few times on here. Unless exact colour-matching is essential (i.e. for commercial product catalogues, etc) I'd recommend the Mark 1 Human Eyeball.
Used in conjuction with a few reference points like how your images appear on your monitor compared to a digital print or against other images on a stock search, and a little patience, it should be fine.
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Yep. I don't even know where my Spyder2 is.
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getting rid of your fancy wallpaper and using a exact middle grey instead of it should always be the first step ;-)
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If you ever print images and expect them to match what you see on your screen then hardware calibration is essential. If you never expect your images will be seen anywhere but on a monitor or a cell phone display, then the 'mark one' eyeball is sufficient.
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my attempts at eyeballing were always crap. But I also think it depends on how good a monitor you have.
Now I have the Spyder 3 elite. I use dual monitors, the calibration is miles better than what I did manually and a little better than the cheap one. The 2nd monitor has a very slight magenta cast even after calibration. I tried dozens of times to get them the same and cant. At work I have 2 PCs each with 2 monitors. As I couldnt get the monitors the same at home I took it work to see if it did the same. On each pair of screens there is differences after calibration, one is slightly darker on one pair and one has a green tint on the other pair. So personally it does a better job than eyeball, but is still not perfect. I decided that if I bought another I'd try one of the gretag? ones instead.
Personally I'd buy a cheap one or 2nd hand off ebay because its still probably good enough and then put the extra money towards a good monitor.
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At work I have 2 PCs each with 2 monitors. As I couldnt get the monitors the same at home I took it work to see if it did the same. On each pair of screens there is differences after calibration, one is slightly darker on one pair and one has a green tint on the other pair.
I had the same problem at work with my dual monitors. I hear this is a problem peculiar to Windows machines.
I use a dual monitor system on my Mac at home and don't see the same issue there.
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Now I have the Spyder 3 elite. I use dual monitors, the calibration is miles better than what I did manually and a little better than the cheap one. The 2nd monitor has a very slight magenta cast even after calibration. I tried dozens of times to get them the same and cant.
Same for me here, except there is no slight magenta cast on the second monitor. It looks positively pink :)
I've been at it for days, very frustrating.
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My guess is those who find they don't use their Spyder etc, units anymore is that they use their computers a lot and have calibrated in the past and have developed an eye for colour management. Not unlike a piano player will develop an ear for tuning. Unfortunately as someone starting off, you are under several disadvantages, not having an income to offset all the widgets not being the least. I'd borrow a Spyder or get a cheap one if I were you.
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I'm scared, because I never calibrated my monitor with one of those tools. ::)
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when my monitor isn't calibrated (if the profile isn't loaded for some strange reason) I go bonkers looking at a too bright, off color screen. That said, I didn't have a calibrated monitor for the first 3 years I was doing microstock. I would say it is nice to have but not essential. I would wait to see how 'serious' you get before investing in one.
Another thing to see if your images look OK, or to make sure your colors are OK is look at something that SHOULD be grey and make sure all the RGB values are similar. I think the biggest thing in regards to a color calibratior for me was the brightness and contrast of the screen. You can also check out the colorchecker passport to help get your images correctly color corrected.
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For a rough and quick adjustment of brightness and contrast this works quite well
http://www.photofriday.com/calibrate.php (http://www.photofriday.com/calibrate.php)