So... I have a question about calibrating the LCD of a Mac Book Pro (matte). Well, I guess I really want to know about matching what I see on the screen with what comes across on prints.
Recently I have opened an account with WHCC printing. I got 5 free 8x10 prints to see how they would look vs. what prints look on my computer. I noticed that ALL prints were much darker then anything on my screen.
What is the best way to correct this? I need to make sure that my edits on the computer are going to match what the client sees in print. I have done a search, but I see many different ways to get the desired result, and I am confused.
I have decided to use WHCC for all my printing (very nice options with them).. so what next?
Let you MBP warm up for 30min. or more, download some calibration screens, set your MBP to look as close to "ideal" as you can, compare the photos from the printshop side-by-side with your MBP screen and adjust it further to match more closely. If you can repeat that last step in two or more different kinds of room light you will be very very close. Perhaps better than most $500+ optical calibration kits.
Well.. I guess this is one way to do it! So.. when you say "set my computer to look" like the print.. I would create a new profile on my computer? Adjust the settings? and then use this new profile in CS3 and Aperture for my prints?
The best thing is to get a hardware calibrator. (can get ones for less than $200, probably less than $100 these days).
Short of this, you will want to download or use something like adobe gamma. This will allow you to set up a display that will be more or less standard.
Then contact your printer and download an icc profile for their printer.
You can then install this and in ps you can softproof the image to see what it will print like.
Recognize this will be difficult to do with a laptop screen. Would be better if you could get a good quality external monitor, but I realize that might not be what you want to do right now. If you plan to do this professionally at some point in time a better monitor would be a good investment.
This is not just a matter of doing "one right thing" but rather of controlling every step in the process. Of course few of us have the time and money to do everything right, but at least knowing what impacts this can help.
1. Set your display gamma to 2.2
2. Calibrate your monitor. Best would be to use a hardware calibrator (maybe a friend has one that they will let you use). Otherwise there are some Mac programs that help you do this by eye. Not as good as the hardware calibrators, but better than nothing.
The calibration of the monitor is somewhat impacted by the environment (more later).
3. Ask WHCC for their printer profiles (these make the display on your computer mimic what WHCC printers print). Install the profiles.
a. Then "soft-proof" your photos in Photoshop and adjust as desired.
4. Color manage. I am guessing WHCC expects sRGB - so make sure your files are in this color space when you send the files to them.
5. Your working environment has an impact on all of this. Best is a moderately dark area with constant light level, neutral background. We are not always in control of this of course.
I am sure there are other things I did not think of that others will note.
If you need additional instructions on any of the above I am sure people on FM will help.
Jim
PS: What application are you using - Photoshop CS3, etc.?
sharp_glass wrote:
Well.. I guess this is one way to do it! So.. when you say "set my computer to look" like the print.. I would create a new profile on my computer? Adjust the settings? and then use this new profile in CS3 and Aperture for my prints?
- T
No, leave all the profiles except the monitor profile alone. Use whatever you used for the photos you sent to be printed. Basically you're changing your screen to match the print. if the print was a good test image it will be MUCH better than $500 sensors can get you. Those things suck. I don't see much talk of how bad they are on photo sites (which is surprising to me) but if you go to other graphic sites or their own support sites it's downright funny. People actually pledging to smash them with hammers and trash them. There are good ones but I think you're talking as much as the monitor cost or more in some cases. Sentences like: "I had it about right on my own till I used _______ and now everything is blue." or "every time I run it I get VASTLY different results, do these things even work?" seem very common. It seems that in the best scenario the about $500 ones can only get "kinda close" but I claim you're eyes are much more accurate than "kinda close". So... You have the match reference in your hand... match it up. If you need to send off a test print to the printers and then match from that then go for that. $5 is better than $500 when it comes to spending.
To make the actual adjustments you can use the Adobe Gamma that someone recommended or just use the controls in the display driver. Either will do.
This is interesting... But how do I go about changing my color profile? I see a list of profiles in my system preferences control panel.. but I am reluctant to change anything in there... I do see a "calibrate" button... ect... but I am unsure how to proceed.
I like you idea.. I just need more information on how and where to make changes.
:To make the actual adjustments you can use the Adobe Gamma that someone recommended or just use the controls in the display driver. Either will do.
When you change one of the standard profiles it shouldn't actually change the "saved profile" unless you save and overwrite. So, save as another name and you'll be good.
There's articles on the same site about how to use them if you need - as well as several good reviews about hardware calibrating. The site is terrible to navigate but the info seems petty good.
Short of using a good external monitor with hardware calibration, the best thing you can do is buy a hardware calibrator (http://spyder.datacolor.com/index_us.php for example) and use it.
Turn your laptop on and let it sit for about 15-30 minutes, then run the included calibration software. Very easy and straightforward. Less than $200. Don't let a little thing like $200 sit between you and accurate color, and more importantly, get between your vision and the clients results.
Yes, it can be calibrated. It won't be as accurate as a high end crt or ultra high end LCD, but you will notice a difference. Just remember, you'll want to calibrate at least once a month if you want accuracy. I know the digital labs in my old college calibrated weekly for the 3-4th year students.
You actually don't need to reprofile nearly as often with the new LED backlit displays (as used by the MacBook Pros); the majority of the drift in older LCDs came from the cold cathode fluorescent lamp degrading. LEDs are considerably more stable, and you should be able to go a considerable amount of time without needing to reprofile.
How long is a matter of personal taste and your hardware; the better display packages will let you measure how your display changes over time, letting you easily determine how often you should make a fresh profile.
Thank you everyone for all the thoughts... Let me check my understanding on somethings mentioned above to ensure I am on the right track...
1. I need to calibrate my LED Macbook Pro to have an "accurate" base to start from. This calibration will effect how the display looks under all programs / applications / operating system? Right.
2. I have downloaded and install the ICC profiles from my printing vendor. I can see where I can load them into CS3 for proofing. I can see already without calibrating that all my prints look darker when proofing with the vendor supplied ICC's. This is what I saw too when I got prints back from them.
3. After I "calibrate" my LED screen... I assume I am still going to see a difference when I activate proofing in CS3 and use the vendors ICC profiles... so... my question is now, how do I end up getting my edited images to look like I already have them for print? Does this mean that I need to go AND RE-EDIT ALL MY IMAGES with proofing turned on in CS3 for the vendor ICC profile If this is true then it means I need to have 2 sets of images?? one for on-screen display, and one for print? I am confused....
The holy grail of print making ... matching a monitor to output!
A couple of thoughts, if you are calibrating your "screen", what are you calibrating it to? A theoretical ideal?
If you look at the color management process, there normally are only two "variables" that can be adjusted or controlled, and one of those two normally isn't very adjustable. They are the viewing conditions of the print vs. the monitor, the second is the monitor profile itself.
To enable as close a match as possible, you need to have a quality consistent method to view the prints, and if matching to the screen exactly is important, you need to be able to see both at the same time (this often isn't really necessary unless doing very color critical work.)
So If you take a known file, preferably a good test file with lots of colors and ramps and one that will produce a good print despite what it looks like on your screen. Don't adjust it ... just output it. So now you have a print made under the conditions that you have no control over. If you now take that print and view it with your stable viewing conditions, you have a measurable to "calibrate" your monitor to.
You can vary your monitors luminance to try and achieve the correct print density. You can create various profiles, with various white balances to try and match the overall color balance of the print.
I use Epson printers (3800 and 11880), and have a gti desktop viewing next to my monitor. For my screen to match my viewing conditions, my most recent profile required a luminance value of 130 (about 50% brightness on my monitor), and a White point of 5800k. The "recommended" 6500k is much too blue, so if I use that, my prints will all come out too yellow. If I set set up proofing of the image using Photoshop soft proofing, my screen and print are about as close as I can expect when comparing two very different outputs.
As to whether you will see a difference when soft proofing, it will depend on the printer/paper combination and image. Note that just because when you soft proof you see a difference doesn't mean the result is bad. When you enable proof colors, I would recommend you look away from the monitor for a few seconds when you switch so you don't start doing mental comparisons. Don't watch it switch, and don't toggle back and forth to compare. Just decide if what you see looks good, or do you want to tweak it some.
If you do want to tweak it for printing, normally you can apply some adjustment layers while proof colors are turned on to provide a satisfactory result. Put them all in a grouping, and just enable those when you are printing or outputting a jpeg for a lab to print, leaving them off when working on a web or similar version.
You have the match reference in your hand... match it up. 
If this is true then it means I need to have 2 sets of images?? one for on-screen display, and one for print? I am confused....