Post-Processing Ambient Light?

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leadZERO
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p.1 #1 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

A few months ago I got a Sypder3Pro for calibrating my display. It worked great at first, but then it started getting very red. After playing with it I think it's because I'm now doing my calibrating in the evenings, when the predominant ambient lights are CFL bulbs that appear to be pretty close to incandescent temperature. Does this sound right?

If so, can anyone recommend a good bulb I could fit into a regular light socket that would be good ambient lighting as well as direct lighting for comparing printed vs on-screen quality?

Or any other advice if I'm way off track!

(Note: I use Smugmug for printing. I usually use their ICC profile to softproof and then like comparing it against what I see on-screen. I've also done some comparing between their true color and auto-color options.)

Apr 01, 2008 at 03:56 AM

Peano
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p.1 #2 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

I calibrate the monitor in the dark and use very low ambient light when editing.

Apr 01, 2008 at 12:37 PM

howardm4
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p.1 #3 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

ditto. I calibrate at night w/ almost no lights on.

On my i2, it lets you monitor the ambient light so you can cancel that out

Apr 01, 2008 at 12:39 PM

leadZERO
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p.1 #4 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

I can do that.

For the second part, what kind of lighting do you use to evaluate prints?

Apr 01, 2008 at 02:50 PM

Jonathan H
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p.1 #5 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

The industry standard generally falls to two options:

1 - Solux lamps: A lamp that is claimed to have the lowest ∆e from daylight, i.e. most closely approximates daylight. Their lamps are gorgeous, but quite pricey ($125-$200 or so). Alternatively, you can just buy the bulb for about $10-$15 and then find an alternative lamp to house it.

http://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlistore/infopages/index.html

2 - To evaluate prints, buy a "proofing booth" - it's a 3-walled box with controlled 5600K lighting coming from all sides and the top. Very pricy ($600 and up for a decent one) but used almost exclusively by high-end graphic design houses. They use these to ensure color accuracy across the world, no matter who receives/processes/prints the image. I'm not sure I personally know a single photographer using one, but I'm sure they're out there.

Edited on Apr 01, 2008 at 06:40 PM

Apr 01, 2008 at 06:39 PM

Dadsdesk
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p.1 #6 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

I evaluate my images in the light they will be presented in.

Apr 01, 2008 at 09:24 PM

leadZERO
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p.1 #7 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

I tried calibrating with no lights, and I still get a color cast.

I'm using a Spyder3Pro on an Apple 23" Cinema Display with Windows Vista 64. I'm using 2.2/6500k. Every time I try to calibrate I end up with something that looks slightly red to me. It's driving me nuts. Unfortunately I don't have any other device to compare it to.

Am I doing something wrong?

Apr 02, 2008 at 03:09 AM

Jonathan H
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p.1 #8 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

Are you basing your "slightly red" opinion on a single image or all sorts of images (product, people, landscape) etc to ensure some variability?

Also, have you selected the option for the S3P to compensate for ambient light? Try whichever option you haven't yet.

Apr 02, 2008 at 08:14 AM

leadZERO
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p.1 #9 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

I'm basing it on pretty much everything: the images provided by the S3P, Windows, Photoshop...

Apr 02, 2008 at 12:36 PM

Peano
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p.1 #10 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

leadZERO wrote:
I tried calibrating with no lights, and I still get a color cast.... Every time I try to calibrate I end up with something that looks slightly red to me.

Maybe it's time to put the "Show" back in "Show and Tell"?

Apr 02, 2008 at 01:35 PM

leadZERO
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p.1 #11 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

I thought about that, but how do you "show" a monitor calibration?

Apr 02, 2008 at 02:53 PM

Peano
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p.1 #12 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

leadZERO wrote:
I thought about that, but how do you "show" a monitor calibration?

You said the images all look slightly red to you. Show one of those images.

You might also try this. I produced to this gray test image in Photoshop. There its RGB values measured 160.160.160. I saved it as a jpeg and checked RGB values when viewed in IrfanView and also in my Firefox browser. The values remained the same (checked with an independent color checker outside Photoshop), so I assume that my monitor calibration isn't producing a color cast.

Check the RGB values on your screen using (in your browser, not inside Photoshop). If your monitor profile is creating a red cast, it should show in those values.

Edited by Peano on Apr 02, 2008 at 10:31 AM GMT

Edited by Peano on Apr 02, 2008 at 10:32 AM GMT

Edited on Apr 02, 2008 at 03:32 PM

Apr 02, 2008 at 03:15 PM

BobCollette
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p.1 #13 · Post-Processing Ambient Light?

One other thing you could try is to open an image in Photoshop, and convert it to grayscale. The image should look neutral, without any "coloration" to it. If it doesn't look neutral, then the monitor calibration is off.

Apr 02, 2008 at 03:27 PM


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