Alan321 Offline Image Upload: On
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p.1 #7 · Using a bright (LED backlight) LCD for editing? | |
shoeless wrote:
I normally keep the LCD brightness up around the max (which is very bright on the new LED backlit MacBook Pros) but I am starting to realize that it's throwing off my perception of the levels in my photos.
Maximum brightness is not a good idea. Firstly it is too bright to work with for long periods. Secondly, it wears out the light source faster. Thirdly, it's like reading books in the bright sun without the aid of sunglasses. Fouthly, it loses all sense of reality whenever you compare it with any other device or print.
The recommended brightness is around 100 Cd/m2. Maybe a little brighter if it is farther away from you. That gives a reasonably bright white that corresponds nicely with what you'd see on a white part of a print in normal white lighting.
Would calibrating my monitor with one of the tools out there fix my issue (like the ColorVision Spyder2 for instance)?
Absolutely ! Consider it compulsory for all digital photographers.
Your computer lets you work on image files, but displaying the images is different from storing or working on them. The display part is prone to translation errors due to incorrect or no calibration and profiling. You can give the file to anyone and they all have the same thing, but it's their monitors that show them what the contents look like. Only if their monitors are calibrated and profiled can they all expect to see the same thing as everyone one else from that identical image file.
You must not edit your file to suit your screen or your printer output. Otherwise the result will only look right on your system and nobody else's. You should get the screen and printer right and then you edit the file to suit your artistic intent, knowing that it will be shown correctly on your system (screen or print) and on mine too (because mine is also calibrated and profiled).
- Alan
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