How do you calibrate a computer monitor?

[Aaronw]

II'm finding that photos I adjust on my laptop, show up with a red tint when viewed on other computer screens. I know there is supposed to be a way to adjust the screen to be more accurate. I know I can adjust the tint but how do I know it is "right" so my photos will appear on the screen the same way elsewhere (or when printed).

Hoping one of the computer / photography types might be able to help with this.

[Harry P.]

  On 11/21/2010 at 6:10 PM, Aaronw said:

II'm finding that photos I adjust on my laptop, show up with a red tint when viewed on other computer screens. I know there is supposed to be a way to adjust the screen to be more accurate. I know I can adjust the tint but how do I know it is "right" so my photos will appear on the screen the same way elsewhere (or when printed).

Hoping one of the computer / photography types might be able to help with this.

Maybeit's the other screens that aren't calibrated correctly! You have no way of controlling (or even knowing) if the other computer screens are calibrated correctly.

There's no way you can guarantee that your photos will appear the same way on all computer screens because you can't control the settings on the other screens. And you can't get an exact matchup between colors on your screen and when printed, because images on your screen appear in Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color subtractive process, colors created with light, while a printed piece is created in the Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black (CMYK) additive process with ink. The two systems are completely different. The best you can do is get a close approximation on the screen to what you'll get in print.

Most monitors have color settings, usually you go through a step-by-step process to adjust color balance, color temperature (warmer or cooler color), contrast, etc. Depends on the brand of monitor (or laptop) that you have, different manufacturers have different controls.

[Foxer]

I use a piece of hardware to calibrate my monitor to my printer. It's a Spyder 3 and may be more than you wish to spend for this. If you google "monitor calibration" you'll get links to many ways to do this by eye and many are free, but I find these rarely will get it as close as I need. Still, you will probably get it closer than you have it now.

Like Harry says, though, matching your computer screens is nasty. If you calibrate each to your printer you'll get in the ballpark.

Since my screen is calibrated to my printer, Harry would say all my photos are bad color when he looks at them on HIS screen!

Edited November 21, 2010 by Foxer

[mountaindewd]

If you have Windows 7, go into "Control Panel" from the start menu, select "Appearance and Personalization", then "Display" followed by "Calibrate Color".

[Aaronw]

harry I realize monitors will vary, but when the 2 or 3 other computers I have access to show similar results, I figured my laptop is the one most out of whack. I thought I remembered seeing a similar topic awhile back, but I could be imagining it.

Foxer, I did a google search which probably should have been my first step. I had no idea there were so many sites on the subject. Anyway I did find some sites with basic tests to see how out of whack a monitor is. Not sure I want to spend that kind of money for a program, but it is worth considering since I take a lot of photos (of stuff besides models) and it doesn't make a lot of sense to edit my photos on a monitor that is way off.

Mtndewd still on XP.

Thanks guys, the google suggestion found a bunch of sites to work with.

[935k3]

Adjustments made in software on the computer usually have allot more adjustment capabilities than the monitor has. This is dependent on what video card you are using and the driver software. If you use the generic windows driver you will not have as many options as the card specific driver.