Digital camera & digital photography resources
for professional & amateur photographers

I was wondering...often times in the reviews from different folks, there are comments about the image being dark, light, to contrasty, not contrasty enough etc. I don't have enough money to buy the calibration device that attaches to the screen or for that matter, any other method to help with this issue. I then was thinking and here is what I came up with. When I have a pic to print, I take it to Kinkos or other type places and get a laser or di sub (spelling?) print. If my monitor calibration was off...wouldn't there need to be calibration done for the image from either of these machines to print a well balanced photo? These machines, in my case, are not designed to make adjustments and only print the digital info on the cd I just burned. After taking my photos to several locations over the course of a year, and always getting well balanced i.e properly exposed and clear images back, couldn't I then assume my monitor is fine and that those addressing these kinds of issues in their reviews might have monitor calibration issues? I'm not speaking just for me...I saw a POTW photo this week of three trees sillouetted(?) on a cliff and I saw detail in the shadows where others didn't. If I'm WAY off my rocker in suggesting this...can the more proffessionals here suggest a way that everyone here (new folks coming on board as well as older folks) could download a program, use some technique, or whatever so that we're all on the same page. I remember the first time I was working with Photoshop and tried printing the image I saw on my screen...YUCK! I think we could all benefit from this information. BTW, this has nothing to do with any current, past, or future, comments on my photos. Its just an observation as I read a lot of other's comments here at BP. Thanks, Dave

Report this to a moderator | IP: Logged

Here's a quick and simple way

http://www.bytephoto.com/tutorial/c...alibration.html

Hope this helps in some way.

__________________
Kind regards
Stephen

Report this to a moderator | IP: Logged

quote:

---

Originally posted by davemin
After taking my photos to several locations over the course of a year, and always getting well balanced i.e properly exposed and clear images back, couldn't I then assume my monitor is fine and that those addressing these kinds of issues in their reviews might have monitor calibration issues? I'm not speaking just for me...I saw a POTW photo this week of three trees sillouetted(?) on a cliff and I saw detail in the shadows where others didn't. If I'm WAY off my rocker in suggesting this...can the more proffessionals here suggest a way that everyone here (new folks coming on board as well as older folks) could download a program, use some technique, or whatever so that we're all on the same page.

---

I'm far from a professional but I did want to comment. I think the issue is more than calibration. I bounce between three computers and I will tell you that images are viewed very differently depending on the monitor that I am viewing. I use an old IMac, a PC Windows machine with a very nice Sony monitor, and Mac G4 laptop. Using the image that you mentioned in your post:


On my IMac the resolution is poor because the monitor doesn't produce as refined detail, I can make out very little detail in the cliff and the image appears flat. On my laptop G4 the detail is very good, with lots of variation in the landscape. Then again, on my PC, the contrast (and usually color) is very rich, there is detail in the cliff but it is darker than viewed on my G4. All monitors are calibrated ok, but the quality of the monitors vary considerably. Also of interests is the fact that gamma settings on my Macs are set to 1.8, which is normal, while the PC is set to 2+. This means the monitors on the Macs are much brighter, while colors on the PC tend to be darker and richer.

The bottomline is that images are going to be viewed differently across machines, even when the monitors are calibrated properly. I think you need to balance comments about contrasts and color with what you're viewing, knowing that there are differences. Often in my comments I say, "Take what is helpful and toss the rest."

Last edited by autumnsky on Mar 3rd, 2004 at 10:53 PM

Report this to a moderator | IP: Logged

Hey thanks, I appreciate your input! I was wondering if my observation about printing still holds true though. If I were to take the pic you posted and adjust it on my computer, then take it to get printed somewhere, it would print fine. I'm suggesting that folks who are wanting a simple way to fine tune their montors might want to print the images that look "good" on their computers on multiple printers and THEN adjust their monitors so it looks like the printed article. Could that work?

Report this to a moderator | IP: Logged