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Rebecca Herranen

1 Year Ago

What To Use To Calibrate My Monitor Or Maybe My Printer

I have been doing a lot of my own printing and most of the prints come out pretty spot on for what I seen on my screen. That is with the exception of orange, super over saturated. I think I need to calibrate my monitor but spent hours trying to figure it out. My Asus claims to calibrate on its own and has very little and nothing of use to calibrate colors. I have a Canon Pro 300 printer and find nothing there either.

I know there are programs and gadgets, but the gadgets are waaay out of our price range. What are you using for calibration?

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Mike Savad

1 Year Ago

Depends on what you want to spend. I have a xrite idisplay or something like that, using display cal (works a lot better than the program I got from the company). Takes like 10-20 mins per screen. I don't have the one for the printer. I just don't print enough, but there are more expensive models that let you do that as well.

A calibration thingy is expensive for what it is, but you have peace of mind knowing its calibrated. I remember making a fire truck, it was red and nice. Then I calibrated it. And it was an ugly brick brown red. Nothing like what I had it at.


----Mike Savad

 

Rich Franco

1 Year Ago

Rebecca,

Sorta need to find out if it's the monitor OR the printer, depending on the quality of some printers. Here's a "tool" I made that can help see which is which. If this image looks like it has any color in it, then probably the monitor and you can then adjust that color out, until the image looks gray, kinda a taupe gray.

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/gray-card-checker-o-meter-rich-franco.html

You can also just right-click on this image of mine and then print it out and see what happens. Some printers are set for "snapshots" and add saturation and contrast, to make MOST prints look good. So, again, could be the printer that needs to be re-set to some standard that is included in the printer set-up.

When checking ANY photos against the monitor OR the printer, always best to use something like my image, since it's almost a standard 18% gray.

If you have your own image that contains a "clean" gray, then in Photoshop or something like it, you can use the eyedropper thingie and "read" the color of that gray and see if it's true gray, or has some cast.

Here's another free tool that works great:

https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/monitor-calibration.htm

Especially if the monitor is also a bit dark or light....

Rich

 

Rebecca Herranen

1 Year Ago

@ Mike, thanks for that info. I looked up the idisplay, couldn't find the prices, but you need to contact them for prices. Red flag........probably to expensive for me. It would be nice.

@ Rich, thank you, I looked at your image and I see a lot of blue in it. Probably shouldn't look like that I bet. I have something similar but much more simple for adjusting the colors on my monitor. My problem color that I really notice is orange mostly, but I think red too. Really hurts my brain to try and figure this out.

These are a couple of my real problem images. They print out really oversaturated in orange and red. What do you see in the images on your screen?

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/giant-sunflower-rebecca-herranen.html

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/monument-valley-on-the-navajo-reservation-rebecca-herranen.html



 

Alan E Mason

1 Year Ago

HI Rebecca. I use Datacolor Spyder X Pro. I found the price good and it's easy to use. It will test your monitor, check the lighting you are using in your room and make required changes so what you see on the screen when editing an image is what you will print. Printer and printer paper also play a roll unless you like to have a lab process your work. Cheers.

 

Mike Savad

1 Year Ago

Https://www.amazon.com/Calibrite-ColorChecker-Display-Pro-CCDIS3/dp/B0973JMM4S/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=xrite+i1display+pro&qid=1652829858&sprefix=Xrite+i%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&smid=A1ULRCAJY2VDL5&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFEMTdRNUhNTlk3VFYmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA4NTA3NDEzU1NEN0hKQzhNTlhMJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA3OTMwMjkzN0ZPVkhNQkg0QThYJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

it seems to range from $150 to $280 or so. Not sure what extra you get though. Looks like you get a pointless but cool looking stand with that. You might find a used one also. Then us display cal, I think its open source.


----Mike Savad

 

Mike Savad

1 Year Ago

The desert is an orangy brown that could use a bump in the contrast. The sunflower looks OK, but seems a touch oversaturated in yellow or orange. The flower seems just on the edge of gamut, but the landscape seems almost pale in spots. Be sure all your ink is flowing, you may be seeing a clog on one of the colors and it only seems saturated? And make sure there isn't anything checked off to correct the color in the printer.


----Mike Savad

 

Mark Papke

1 Year Ago

Spyder x pro works great. Prints from here look exactly like on my monitor.

 

Rich Franco

1 Year Ago

Rebecca,

If you have a "little" blue in your monitor, and could be actually cyan, which is the opposite of red. So really hard to tell, but without seeing the original file, not what's uploaded on FAA, hard to judge.

Is it POSSIBLE the 2 files you're concerned about were uploaded in a different color space?

Regardless, looking at your 2 examples above, nothing that bothers me or for that matter, a potential buyer. THEY won't see a slight bump in red or yellow!

Unless you're in the mood to spend some money, I would drag my feet on buying a calibrator that's really not needed. Here's another "test"! Your image, Black and White Aspen Grove, HOW does that look on your monitor? Blue-ish? CLEAN??? How does it print? OR "swordfish"....clean or has a color cast?

People here sometimes like to go to extremes on advice, which I don't do! Print the Aspens and/or the swordfish, OR Crystal Crag Sunrise and see if indeed you have a problem,....I think you don't....

IF you were producing images for an Ad Agency and NEEDED TO MATCH PANTONE COLORS, then fine, get your monitor calibrated....really no need/reason other than that.....people are buying our prints from PHONES!!!

Rich

 

Rebecca Herranen

1 Year Ago

Thank you for all your suggestions on calibration tools, I'm investigating them all.

Not sure that this can be fixed. A lot of brainstorming with the hubs last night and made some discoveries. First off my computer is an Asus gaming computer. It received the highest ratings for any computer for color accuracy with 100% + of the RGB color range (I think that is right). Super high resolution and the colors are gorgeous and definition is spot on.......according to what I want. Was highly recommended for photo editing. The monitor is self calibrating, still haven't figured out what that means. Can I calibrate it myself and if so will the monitor re-calibrate according what the specs are. Haven't figured that out yet.

I thought to look at my images on some other devices. What I found is that with 2 iPhones and 2 iPads, the images look like what I am getting in print from my Canon Pro300. I had never realized there was a discrepancy like this until I started printing my own images.

When ever I have images printed elsewhere and there is orange or red involved I am not completely happy with the way they turn out. The sunflower and the Monument Valley are brand new. Other images are good, but the reds and oranges, look very saturated when there is a lot of those colors.

The difference that I see on my screen and what is printed or probably what you see is that on my computer the images are bright (have brightness as low as it will go) and color definition. In the sunflower, towards the top of the flower, the heavily orange petals are much more defined on my screen. There are more yellows with orange variation lines. In print and what I see on other devices is just very saturated orange, no variations from yellows to orange.

When I edit in LR I had to made it look so washed out in order to get a print that even remotely looks like what I want.

I am not sure how to fix this. I want to bring up the light in the prints and how potential customers will see the variations when viewing online.

 

Rebecca, here's a list of several articles that might help. Damien is a professional photo editor and my go-to when I need info like this.

https://www.damiensymonds.net/category/calibrate/

 

Rich Franco

1 Year Ago

Rebecca,

Can you answer my questions/suggestions about the images you have, Aspen Grove, or crystal crag?

If your monitor is made for GAMING, then colors are not accurate, over-saturated and added contrast. I've got 2 27" monitors and one is an ASUS and is fine for the work I do here.....

Rich

 

Rebecca Herranen

1 Year Ago

Oops, sorry Rich, I will work on that. Not good to hear on the gaming computer :{

Thanks Susan, I will check him out

 

Gill Billington

1 Year Ago

@Susan, thanks for that great link.

I’ve been using an old Spyder calibrator for years but was thinking of upgrading my monitor and calibrator soon so it was good to get some tips on lighting around the work station etc.

 

Renata Natale

1 Year Ago

I also use Spyder, works really well

 

Mike Savad

1 Year Ago

Monitors fade over time. Very true for lcd, but I think lcd can also fade. I have a screen where the layers delaminated and it looks water stained. The lighting in your room might change things as well. Sometimes the drivers mess up the colorspace or reset the space to a weird value. Like sRGB may have switched to something else. Or you might be using aRGB in photoshop but not the printer or vice versa.

I don't know what self calibrating is. Sounds like a marketing gimmick. Because you would need an external camera to see what the screen sees.

Look into renting a calibrator. You need to only do it once in a while. Like once a quarter is a safe amount. It just creates a profile, and you don't need their software just the driver.

Make sure your brightness isn't too high, its often set to 100. Mine is set to 28 with a contrast of 66. That's what the software decide at some point looked best. If its too bright you may adjust things wrong.

But I would look at the color space between the normal display in windows, vs photoshop - vs what the printer uses. Make sure they at least match.


----Mike Savad

 

Mike Savad

1 Year Ago

I was thinking about getting a TV for my next screen. I think they are cheaper have fine resolution and I really can't find fault on why I shouldn't.


----Mike Savad

 

Rich Franco

1 Year Ago

Most of us here, if not nearly ALL OF US, get by with what we have. Our monitors are accurate "enough" for what we do here. As I posted above, the ONLY reason to keep your monitor calibrated :

"IF you were producing images for an Ad Agency and NEEDED TO MATCH PANTONE COLORS, then fine, get your monitor calibrated....really no need/reason other than that.....people are buying our prints from PHONES!!!"

If you "enjoy" buying these trinkets" then go ahead, but DON'T LET the concept that YOUR MONITOR is off a bit, keep you from producing great images.

Rebecca, No, SOME gaming monitors are fine, even better than fine. If you have this ASUS, you're good!

ASUS ROG Swift PG278QR 27” G-SYNC Gaming Monitor 165Hz 1440p 1ms with Eye Care DisplayPort HDMI USB, $700+, but looks like out of stock now.

My remark was pointed at low-end gaming monitors.....

My very first company was "Rich Franco Labs", where I made prints for professional photographers, Ad Agencies, etc. and was a "Master Printer", so I know a bit about this topic.....

Rich

 

Chuck De La Rosa

1 Year Ago

I also use a Spyder X on my display. And if you are doing your own printing and it doesn't match what's on your monitor, you'll need to soft proof your images with the correct ICC profile. Even the type of paper you use can have an affect on your print colors. The link below is Canon's take on it and just reading through it should help you learn more.

I used to print a lot of my own and learned that having a service print my work was just as accurate and a lot less of a headache. So long as you calibrate your monitor, using one of the print services that caters to professionals and serious amateur's, you'll get great results.

https://www.canon-europe.com/pro/stories/perfect-prints-with-icc-profiles/

EDIT: Hey Rich, have you actually tried a hardware calibration tool and compared the result to your eyeball engineering method? I've made that comparison and I would not go back to what you do. That said, you spend thousands on equipment, but balk at a $150 tool that saves a lot of time and effort?

 

Rich Franco

1 Year Ago

Chuck,

SHOW ME! LOL! As LONG AS THE IMAGE IS CLOSE, that's good enough for HERE! PERIOD! Monitors, MODERN MONITORS are fine, as is and SELDOM changes and when they do, USUALLY NOTICABLE! Maybe darker, haven't seen a color shift.

Using a "calibrator" to "fix" a monitor that's off a couple POINTS of red or whatever isn't worth the money or effort! UNLESS you can see it on a Kodak/Macbeth Gray card,not worth the effort!

Sell Art Online

MOST PEOPLE can't tell the difference between "red" or "magenta"......cyan or blue, I can, because I have a "tool"

https://www.amazon.com/Kodak-Color-Print-Viewing-Filter/dp/0879857919

YOU GOTS THIS??? LOL!

Rich

 

Chuck De La Rosa

1 Year Ago

It's like sound. Some people can't hear a lot of nuances in music, which is where the term audiophile came from. Some people are just more sensitive to what their senses can pick up. It's not a criticism, it's reality. Music artists aren't going to stop putting in subtleties because the majority of listeners can't hear it all.

5 minutes to calibrate is not any effort. And it makes a dramatic difference. I know my eyes aren't what they used to be so I would not trust them comparing to a sheet of paper. But I can certainly tell the difference when calibrating with a tool. Modern monitors aren't any better than they used to be unless you spend thousands on one. I also take it that you have not used a calibration tool and have not actually made the comparison.

Besides, would you honestly buy a product from a company that makes a product that they say is "good enough"? I'm not going to do that. I spent a lot on my equipment, software, and computer. I'm not going to cheap out as "good enough" and no one else should either. Doesn't matter if most people don't know the difference. I know.

 

Rich Franco

1 Year Ago

Chuck,

As you are the "Honorary Chairman" Of Pixel Peepers of America, I understand YOUR beliefs. Years ago, I had the ASUS monitor calibrated with a top-of-the-line tool and maybe a few points off, if that. "And it makes a dramatic difference."......well, MAYBE.....I was a printer, a professional printer, for more than 15 years and I will assume you weren't. Let's then call me an expert on this topic. Okay? I'm sure there is a much LONGER list of stuff you would qualify to be called an expert on, that I'm not even close to being one!

So there's that. 99.99% of people here couldn't tell, looking at an image here, on their phones of tablets, if the color is off 5 points, probably closer to 10 points on the average image, sunsets, flowers, etc. Looking at your site, there are images that I would probably adjust, a bit too dark for me. So we all have different ideas of what an image should look like and then the resultant print should also look like. You do your thing and I'll do mine.

"Modern monitors aren't any better than they used to be", well WE KNOW that isn't true either. My $250 HP Pavillion is beyond ANYTHING you could buy 10 years ago, that's just technology marching on. Just like TVs 10 years ago were smaller and much more expensive and had fewer bells and whistles....A 32" Tv 10 years ago, maybe $1,000 and now under $300, maybe under $200, and the screen, is 100% better!

So, in closing, MOST artists here are FINE with the monitors they have, as long as they stay within the limits of some standards. Using the "tool" I made out of paint chips and then the "Cambridge" link for the monitor calibration above, is MORE THAN ENOUGH for most of us here.

I've had what looks like over 1280 "sales" here and to my knowledge, ONLY ONE PRINT RETURNED.....and that was about 10 years ago, so based on that and the fact that I'm an "expert", should settle this for all.....

People that want to calibrate their monitors, then fine, not needed is my argument.....

Rich

 

Rebecca Herranen

1 Year Ago

I think everyone has a perception of color the varies from one individual to another. Only thing I think that really matters is what the artist sees and what the vision was. I see my vision on my monitor, but when printed it's not at all what I wanted. Like Mike said, he thought he had a bright red fire truck then realized it wasn't that at all but another shade of red all together. That wasn't his vision and so for his own satisfaction he had to get it right.

I spend often 3-10 hours editing a single and then for them to turn our looking junky in my opinion, I'm not happy and that is what really matters. I might be able to put out the not great version for sale at a show and have someone buy it and walk away loving it. That's all well and good, but I am still not happy with the print.

I don't think anyone else is an expert when it comes to an individual artists work other then the artist him or herself. People like me, well I'm a perfectionist. Frustrating too is that I know it's hard for me to show you how my print is turning out. I guess I could take a picture of the print.

I just need to figure out how to calibrate my monitor so I am happy with the printed version or maybe I need to get a different monitor/computer, idk. There is lots of great input here and I thank you. It will take me some time to sort through it all, but until I get that sunflower and Monument Valley right in print, I know it's gonna bug me.

 

Rich Franco

1 Year Ago

Rebecca,

I can't be an expert on YOUR STUFF, or your preferences, but CAN be on the art of printing. I don't think you've determined if its the printer OR the monitor yet and it would help if you printed the 2 images I mentioned above and see what comes out. If the 2 images I mention look GOOD on your monitor AND they print out LIKE the image on the monitor, then, it AIN'T the monitor.

IF on the other hand, the image has some color cast on your monitor, BUT prints fine, then, yes, your monitor is off, which usually on good monitors, the owner can adjust themselves. Look on Youtube for your exact monitor.

Windows 10 has a "monitor/display" adjust function.

And again, finally, if the "issue" is contained ONLY to these 2 images, then it's the images...........

Is this your monitor? ASUS ROG SWIFT PG278QR 27"

Rich

 

Rebecca Herranen

1 Year Ago

Rich, it's a ASUS ROG GL552VW Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7-6700HQ CPU Dedicated Graphics

It is primarily those 2 images, but they are my most recent images. I just received several metal prints. The sunflower is one of them and it looks like the print I can put our on my printer.

I will do that test with my black and white images asap, but right this minute I am getting ready for a show on Sunday. Still so much to do. Thank you for all of your help.

 

Rich Franco

1 Year Ago

Rebecca,

Laptop, that helps! Thought it was monitor, stand-alone monitor. Laptop screens are a whole 'nother thing!

IF these are basically just the newest 2 images, then maybe the "color space" was somehow changed or some "update" came through and changed something.

Let us know when you get a chance to print the 2 images....Good Luck on this show!

Rich

 

Cyril Jayant

1 Year Ago

Apple (Mac laptops / Mini Mac / iMack 27" ) have a wide range of computing power to have a custom-build computer for photography.
Only If you use a separate monitor you need a monitor calibrated to suit your work you do . Ex. If you do your own printing need a an accurate calibrations between the monitors and the printers to a targeted out put. So a Spyder calibrator will be handy to avoid all frustrations.

 

Rebecca Herranen

1 Year Ago

Aaaargghh, things are going from bad to worse. Now blues are getting off, oranges still blaring, reds are off. Still not sure if it's the printer or my laptop monitor. I have done everything I can think of, cleaned the heads. I just need to print out some stuff for this weekends show. Now my chili restras are printing pink instead of chili pepper red.

Wish I could figure out which is the problem, printer or Asus. Gonna call Canon I guess.

Gonna print some older prints that came out ok and see what I get.

 

Rich Franco

1 Year Ago

Rebecca,

Here are the permutations:

1.Images look good on screen and look good printed
2. Images look good on screen, but lousy printed
3. Images look bad on screen, but look great printed
4. Images look bad on screen AND bad when printed

and finally,

5.ONLY THESE COUPLE OF IMAGES LOOK BAD, ALL THE OLD ONES ARE FINE

1. As it should be!
2. "Probably" the printer
3. "Probably" the screen
4. SOMETHING CHANGED in your system! New "update"
5. Hopefully this is your situation, recent NEW images are off, color space was CHANGED

This is something that only YOU can determine after doing a couple of the tests I requested.....

Rich

 

Rebecca Herranen

1 Year Ago

So after exhausting myself, I gave up and purchased a 27" HP All-In-One, calibrated it with a SpyderX Pro. Interesting now what I see on my screen is what was printing out. The sunflower now on my screen is the horrible overly saturated print coming out of my Canon. So clearly my little Asus was way off.

I am downloading my images from the Asus which is taking awhile, so many RAW images. Then I'll get to re-editing and print again.

@Rich I did print out the black and white and it did look slightly yellow.

 

Rich Franco

1 Year Ago

Rebecca,

Laptop screens really hard to use for good color editing....angle of the eye to the screen just changes too much. I'm happy with my 27" HP.....but I think it might have caught something from this post, it's starting to act kinda strangely.....

HOW does the B&W image look on your new HP monitor....a bit yellow?

Rich

 

Rebecca Herranen

1 Year Ago

Lol, it's a virus. I really like the calibrator I got. Really fast and easy, so thank you everyone for the recommendations. I haven't been able to print anything yet, Computer just arrived last night and am still getting everything all set up. Hopefully will be able to print tonight or tomorrow. Will let you know.

 

This discussion is closed.