Polar Bear in a Snowstorm (Page 2): O.K. I'm new to digital and keep reading about "calibrating one's monitor." How do you do it or where do you learn how to do it? John...

smackwater

healthydogs wrote:

Having recently seen some horrible attempts on UHH... (show quote)

O.K. I'm new to digital and keep reading about "calibrating one's monitor."

How do you do it or where do you learn how to do it?

John

VHD-Tex Loc: Mc Allen Tx.

Dogs, you did good.

Going Digital Loc: MidWestern IL (Near StL)

I see the need for it, but putting a white paper next the lighted screen, the paper looks gray.

travlnman46 Loc: Yakima WA

healthydogs wrote:

Requests for or attempts at color correction can b... (show quote)

Hi healthydogs: Your polarbear in a snow storm is whiter on my monitor that my white paper.... lol

picturedude Loc: Yosemite natl. park, Ca.

Don't forget the cubs.

flytyer57 Loc: Mountain Home, Arkansas

PNagy wrote:

I can tell this picture is a fake: Polar bears have black noses.

Dang it!! Ya beat me to it.

C. David Loc: Wisconsin

PNagy wrote:

I can tell this picture is a fake: Polar bears have black noses.

Maybe they were walking away. (camera shy)
8-)

RockinRobinG Loc: The Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska

C. David wrote:

PNagy wrote:

I can tell this picture is a fake: Polar bears have black noses.

Maybe they were walking away. (camera shy)
8-)

Boy...now THAT comment certainly opens up another string of dialogue. <Laf'n>

healthydogs

Going Digital wrote:

I see the need for it, but putting a white paper next the lighted screen, the paper looks gray.

Wait until day time when the light from the monitor is a little better balanced with the light reflected off the paper. A grey-appearing paper that you know to be white may not indicate anything more than there's too little ambient light getting to the paper to make an eyeball comaprison.

Also, if you can, enlarge the white box on your screen so that it dominates the frame and minimizes the distracting yellow UHH background here. (Ctrl-Mousewheel Forward)

Then step away from the monitor and stare at the bright white paper until it appears white again to your eyes. Now when you look back at the white box on screen, does it immediately appear white? or a slightly different hue?

Because our eyes are built to adapt, they quickly and automatically correct for incorrect colors, eg sunglasses. And so on our screens we see white where we believe it to be, eg a wedding dress, even though our monitor may actually carry a light yellow or blue to our eyes instead.

Trouble starts when we want to warm up (add yellow to) an image when, unbeknown to us, our white point is yellow and we show it to someone else whose monitor has also drifted a bit to yellow... yikes, that girl on the beach gets a George Hamilton tan! - but only on the second monitor. If a third party's monitor is too cool (blue) the bathing beauty now looks spectacular!

I present the idea of a white box and paper to help someone decide if they need to calibrate, not to do the calibration.

For calibration you need to use a commonly available tool like Spyder 3 or ColorEyes or EyeOne Display or others. They run from about $150 to $250. It's a software and gadget combination where you run the software and the gadget (a spectrometer) measures your monitor and the software then adjusts your screen's colors to standard. Remember, though, once done you still have to do it periodically (at least 1/month) as the colors will drift.

A bit pricey, perhaps. But maybe you can borrow one from a friend... or if you had trouble finding one I do have a backup Spyder 3 Pro in original box that I'd be willing to sell.

PNagy Loc: Missouri City, Texas

RockinRobinG: I'll close the can of worms myself. Polar bears know that their black noses stand out in snow and cover them with one paw as they sneak closer to the seal. I had set myself up for that one deliberately, thinking Alaskan or someone would point it out, but have decided to come clean.

Going Digital Loc: MidWestern IL (Near StL)

healthydogs wrote:

Going Digital wrote:

I see the need for it, but putting a white paper next the lighted screen, the paper looks gray.

Wait until day time when the light from the monitor is a little better balanced with the light reflected off the paper. A grey-appearing paper that you know to be white may not indicate anything more than there's too little ambient light getting to the paper to make an eyeball comaprison.

Also, if you can, enlarge the white box on your screen so that it dominates the frame and minimizes the distracting yellow UHH background here. (Ctrl-Mousewheel Forward)

Then step away from the monitor and stare at the bright white paper until it appears white again to your eyes. Now when you look back at the white box on screen, does it immediately appear white? or a slightly different hue?

Because our eyes are built to adapt, they quickly and automatically correct for incorrect colors, eg sunglasses. And so on our screens we see white where we believe it to be, eg a wedding dress, even though our monitor may actually carry a light yellow or blue to our eyes instead.

Trouble starts when we want to warm up (add yellow to) an image when, unbeknown to us, our white point is yellow and we show it to someone else whose monitor has also drifted a bit to yellow... yikes, that girl on the beach gets a George Hamilton tan! - but only on the second monitor. If a third party's monitor is too cool (blue) the bathing beauty now looks spectacular!

I present the idea of a white box and paper to help someone decide if they need to calibrate, not to do the calibration.

For calibration you need to use a commonly available tool like Spyder 3 or ColorEyes or EyeOne Display or others. They run from about $150 to $250. It's a software and gadget combination where you run the software and the gadget (a spectrometer) measures your monitor and the software then adjusts your screen's colors to standard. Remember, though, once done you still have to do it periodically (at least 1/month) as the colors will drift.

A bit pricey, perhaps. But maybe you can borrow one from a friend... or if you had trouble finding one I do have a backup Spyder 3 Pro in original box that I'd be willing to sell.

quote=Going Digital I see the need for it, but pu... (show quote)

Thank you for the explanation. Makes sense. Like you said the Spyder is pricy. I saw a Sypder2 on Flea-Bay for a decent price. May be gone now. Am I wasting my time and effort trying to use a LCD laptop screen, as they are "truly" adjustable?

healthydogs

My own desktop monitor is a calibrated LCD (Samsung 2232). My Ipad2 as well. I calibrate both with the Spyder 3 spectrometer. So I would assume laptop LCD is just as susceptible to color drift and correction through calibration.

But I don't have any direct experience with laptop monitor calibration.

Bruce with a Canon Loc: Islip

healthydogs wrote:

Requests for or attempts at color correction can b... (show quote)

damn bear BLINKED, did you know Polar Bears skin is black?

C. David Loc: Wisconsin

Bruce with a Canon wrote:

quote=healthydogs Requests for or attempts at col... (show quote)

Well, yes. I believe their hair is hollow, and the tongues are black. Zebras stripes are not just on the outside of their hide, the underside is also striped. Lots of neat things in nature. 8-)

jbert Loc: Texas

Is that a Nikon or Canon you are shooting with. Doesnot really matter it is just blown out. And I am sorry to say, I ran out of copy paper, trying to see the polar bear.