Profiling & Calibrating CRT and LCD monitors

Yesterday I discussed the importance of profiling computer monitors in order to get optimum printing results. Today let us look at the ways to get your CRT and LCD monitors profiled and calibrated.

The simplest way to profile your monitor is using Photoshop. If you are using Photoshop version 5.0 and above it comes packaged along with Adobe Gamma which can profile your computer monitor. However this isn't the best solution as it is too subjective and prone to user error.

The scientific way to get your monitor profiled is using a monitor-profiling package and a spyder - a tiny device that when attached to your screen works with the software to calibrate and profile your monitor. It produces objective settings for black point, white point and gamma as well as color balance. These packages are available for around US $300 and can save you a lot of time and money in producing accurate, reliably consistent prints.

How they work?

The spyder is plugged into a USB port and the software is installed and run. The software then asks to attach the spyder to the screen (or hold it in place). Once it is in place the program then proceeds to flash a series of colors for several minutes. The spyder reads these colors and informs the software of what it's seeing. The program then calibrates your monitor and creates a Profile based on this information. This profile is simply a text file which describes how your monitor displays various colors.

What to look for when buying a monitor-profiling package?

Before you set out to buy a monitor-profiling package, read this "open letter to monitor profiling software manufacturers" by Ethan Hansen which will help you get the right monitor-profiling package suitable for your job.

Is there anything more that needs to be done after calibrating and profiling my monitor?

Once you have calibrated and profiled your monitor, you need to set up Photoshop to work properly. Computer Darkroom has some must read comprehensive tutorials by Ian Lyons that will help you get all the settings right in Photoshop 5, 6, 7 and CS (a.k.a. version 8).
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Publishing for Dummies

Got that book inside you that you've always wanted to publish? Love to make something more of your travel shots? Blurb is a company that believes in the power of books.

Founded by Eileen Gittins in 2004, this publishing service can make an author of any would-be novelist, travel writer, or poet wishing to create and distribute affordable, bookstore-quality books. The company's BookSmart software application makes it possible to create a professionally-designed book using simple dragging and dropping of photos and auto-flowing text in about an hour.

Blurb recently announced that its new BookSmart beta release version 1.5 is available for download at www.blurb.com, (for Mac and PC) enabling customers to create soft-cover books and slurp blogs from any TypePad or WordPress account. And it's cheap! Prices start at just US$18.95 for up to 40 pages, while a whopping 440 page hardcover book costs just US$79.95 » Continue reading

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How important is profiling computer monitors in DTP

It is said that to get colors right, computer monitors need to be profiled. How important is this? Is it really necessary for me to spend a lot of money to get a device to profile my monitor? I have a home printer and I am quite satisfied with the colors but when I give my files to a lab, they often give me lousy colored prints.

Let us take a hypothetical situation and assume that your computer monitor has a blue cast, that you are unable to notice. Let's also say that your room is lit by incandescent bulbs (yellowish lights). The yellow light could cut the blue and that could be the reason you were not able to notice the blue color cast on the monitor. Now, if you were to give this digital file to a lab, you are very likely to get a print with a blue cast.

In this example, let us say that your room lighting is perfect (not giving any color cast). Your computer monitor is still giving a blue cast that you are not able to notice. When you print the file using your home printer, the print looks good - without any color cast. Does that mean that your system is perfect? Not necessarily. Your printer may be giving a yellow color cast that could be canceling the blue cast from the monitor! In this case, two wrongs seem to be making a right! As explained, such a situation does not mean that everything is OK.

To circumvent such potential problems, and if you are very particular about your work, it is very much necessary for you to profile your computer monitor as well as your printer. It is also necessary to profile the monitor/printer every month, as the calibrations do shift (slightly) from time to time.

There is one solution (?), though it is very unscientific and debatable. Don't try to compare the colors of your print to those on the monitor. If you are happy with the print colors (even thought they may not match the original scene), then be happy. Think of this in reality - can you hundred percent remember the multitude of colors that you saw in the original scene? Can any man-made imaging device (film or digital sensor) ever 100-percent match the colors provided by mother Nature? Mind you, I am not advocating that we do a sloppy job, I am merely indicating that trying to be 100-percent accurate in everything we do in life, is close to madness.

Tomorrow, I will talk about how to get your CRT and LCD screens profiled. » Continue reading

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