ggab Loc: ?

Monitor calibration is only 1 step in a long chain of steps that make up color management.
The key is to calibrate and profile to standards.
This includes:
1- Ambient light in which the prints will be viewed
2- Monitor. Cheap, < $1,000.00 monitors will not reliably hold calibration and profile.
3- Input device or Camera
4- Output device or Printer, if you can not calibrate your printer and profile your paper manually you are missing part of the chain. Using mfg profiles, while better than nothing, is not much better.
5- Editing software, it has to recognize the rgb standard in the image and make the conversion to cmyk based on your printer.
6- Paper

If you are going to do it right, all these steps in the chain must be considered. If your software or printer rip doesn't recognize the standards used in the rest of the chain, don't bother. If you are using a $200.00 monitor, don't bother.

Color management is one of those things that makes my head spin professionally.
You can get all of the above right and yet your consumer, customer or person that will view your work, may not like the result. They may view the image in a different light, changing the way the image looks.

UGH!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

With respect, I’m going to have to disagree. The graphics card can’t calibrate itself without an external sensor/colorimeter (puck) because it has no way of knowing what actual color the monitor is displaying. The computer may “tell” the graphics card to drive the monitor to green, but the monitor may actually display a different tint or brightness. During calibration, the “puck” reads the actual displayed color and generates a correction, which is then written to the graphics card LUT so when it is told to produce green, it actually produces the correct tint and brightness on the monitor,

ggab Loc: ?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Correct. The puck-and-software method is far faster and more accurate than blindly fooling around with monitor controls and operating system voodoo and such.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

In my experience, even a $200 monitor can be calibrated and profiled. It’s just that it is likely a little deficient in parts of the sRGB color gamut, and useless for Adobe RGB or NTSC. Cheap monitors also tend to be lit unevenly.

With my software, after calibration and profiling, the actual monitor gamut is graphed in comparison with sRGB, Adobe RGB, and NTSC.

bleirer

So assuming I've not done a lot of this, where would a find a good step by step to get the color I see from camera to monitor to print? Assuming Lightroom, Photoshop, hp laptop, bay photo?

Canisdirus

When you make a calibration software purchase, and calibrate the monitor .... it will show you a before and after comparison. Within the software itself.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

ggab and I agree saying much the same thing in different ways. The important thing is to try to unspin our heads or understand why ggab says "Color management is one of those things that makes my head spin... ."

For those who wish to become more educated on the subject of color or colour the following series may help [yes, multi part]:
https://www.xrite.com/blog/color-perception-part-1

If calibration with gadget/software then it is beyond what the eye/mind can perceive. This subject is much like "Monster Cables" for your sound system which internally has hair-fine wires... a brag point that looks good but unnecessary. Can you see the difference between prints from Epson and Canon when in different rooms? Perhaps, Perhaps not. Get practical.

ggab Loc: ?

The issue is inconsistency not only over time, but across the screen.
You can calibrate the cheaper monitor, however the settings will not hold so you are constantly calibrating.

Frankly, it's not worth it IMHO.
Talk with a person who does color management for a living and they will laugh at you.
I am not laughing, just saying as I was laughed at when I asked.

ggab Loc: ?

unlucky2 Loc: Hemet Ca.

I think a review of the importance of color management will drive most to calibrate their monitors.

http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/color11.html

The above link is of much greater value to photo artist than photo realist, but an understanding of visual acuity (color and intensity) helps all with the printing/reproduction process. This is truly a case of knowledge being power, for powerful pictures in any media color and intensity must be considered. One should not diminish their capture by improper reproduction.

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

I have a cheap (rather new) dell desktop with an old monitor as well as a 5 year old Lenovo Laptop...

my question is can the laptop monitor be calibrated and if so what do i need to do this...

thanks for any info
chuck

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

That's a vision thing not a calibration thing. Calibrating a laptop video card requires one that will accecpt downloadable profiles. Not all of them do.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

It used to be that some of the calibration devices wouldn't work on a laptop... but I think most or all do now.

The problem is, laptops are difficult to calibrate. You move them around to various ambient lighting conditions, open them to different angles, etc.... and technically should re-calibrate after every change.

One solution is to use the laptop at a "workstation" with an external monitor that's been calibrated.

Another, partial solution might be a calibration device that stays "live" and makes continuous adjustments. That will likely add to the cost of the device, though. I say "partial" because I don't know if the device will be able to correct for brightness, which can vary a lot using a laptop under different lighting conditions. I know that some of the devices can adjust the color rendition "on the fly".

I've also heard of people calibrating and using the laptop's screen, but taking extra steps such as using a homemade device of some sort to be sure it's always opened to the same angle and shading it with a "tent", so that ambient light has less effect.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I dunno. I use a $250 Dell monitor and calibrate it with a Spyder 5. I recal every few months, and while it does change slightly (you can see the before and after), it’s not much. As I said, using calibration, printer/paper profile(s) and soft proofing, I get exactly what I expect, and not using color correction at Bay Photo when I send prints out has already saved me more than the cost of the calibration kit, not to mention the paper and ink I would have wasted on bad prints when I print at home.