And how good are your pictures really?

[Sven]

So do they look as good as the LCD screen on your camera after taking a picture when looking at it on your computer?

So it looks really good on your computer and looks super after editing?

So you think, print it out, see what it looks like.

Or post the picture on the web, then go look at the picture on some one else's monitor. Does it look as good or terrible?

Funny thing happens with monitors, some use them right out of the box and happy with the monitor preset viewing set-ups.
Some adjust to their liking............so everybody thinks, everyone sees the same thing in a picture. Wrong.

Unless your monitor is calibrated especially for photo editing, what you see is great others will see as too dark, too light, faded,
off color, too much contrast etc. Enter an on-line photo contest and never win? More than likely your monitor is not calibrated correctly to
a color standard ao you can edit properly. So no one is ever going to see the photo as it should look like.

This is really bad when you sell items on line, and the item looks worse than it does in real life to many lookers. Could hurt sales.

I noticed how much a non calibrated monitor could hurt pictures this week. I have a gaming monitor Ben-Q, fantastic monitor, super customizable settings and options.
So many different looks. Started taking pictures, viewing in different monitor settings and editing for the web, trying to find a happy medium so the picture looks good on the other
5 monitors in the house hooked up to other computers etc. This is a real eye opener! And a lot of trial and error. Getting close to where I will be so-so happy for now.
Being a perfectionist and picky, did a bunch of web searching about adjusting monitors. Apparently there are monitors strictly for photo editing, general use and gaming.
Just like metal detectors one for every style of hunting, computer use.

From what I gathered, unless your monitor is calibrated for color, it will never be spot on. What can you do, go out and spend some money, get a monitor calibration tool and software.
I bit the bullet and did just that, didn't want to but, if it cuts down all this playing around with monitor settings to get it right, the purchase will be worth it.

There's many calibration devices out there to drain your pocket book...................decided on one called Hughski Ltd. ColorHug, which works with Apple, Windows and Linux.
Price was about what I wanted to spend according to my budget. It should arrive within 15 days from the UK to Canada.

I'll post back with my results.

See the picture below as a left sample, on some monitors the black is black. On my monitor its a bit light. On the right sample, the black may be too black. On my monitor it looks just about right.

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

you will have no control over how other folks have their monitor adjusted. Your picture might look horrible on their monitor. Is this correct? Please advise. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Sven]

Right we have no control what our picture looks like on some one else’s monitor.
If their monitor is set outside the RGB color standard that's a given. Lets say if your monitor is set on the iron side of "0" (-3) because you have adjusted it to your tastes. RGB will say is "0" and my monitor is set to the plus side of "0" and I edit my pictures to lets say +3 as that's where it looks good on my computer. If I post the picture on the web, more than likely the picture will be off and not look as it should. If the person with a monitor set at -3, doubt it will look good.
By calibrating your monitor to "0", even if the person on the other computer is set to -3, your picture will still look good enough for that person on his monitor.

Will try to give an example.
I currently have my monitor set at standard mode, not RGB, the picture below looks really good. +3
Middle picture is sRGB, my monitor is not device calibrated so it looks a bit darker, not as bright. as +3
First pict ECO we'll say is -3

My edited at Standard Pic still looks pretty good compared to "0" RGB but when viewed on a -3 monitor is too saturated in color.


http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/icc_profiles.htm#calibrate

http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/MONCAL/CALIBRATE.HTM

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

My monitor with its bells and whistles: http://www.displaylag.com/benq-rl2455hm-professional-gaming-monitor-review/

Monitor calibration, just something else to ponder about..........bad enough when your after a detector that in all in one.

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

n/t

 

[BJ in Okla.]

on this computer with windows 7 and a flat screen, the picture on the right looks the best..
on my other computer with windows XP and a old monitor, they look worse than the picture on the left...
Did I win anything ??? lol.
J

 

[Southwind]

I think where people get in to trouble is when using a high end monitor and video/display adapter.

I was always told if you want your pictures to look the best they can on the MAJORITY of monitors, then edit your pictures on a lower end average monitor. The same thing the majority of people seeing it will be using. I've seen pictures that look fantastic on a high end monitor look like crap on the average monitor. If a picture looks good on an average monitor it will look great on a high end monitor.

 

[BJ in Okla.]

my computer with the XP has a Monitor that is dying,, I need to replace it today..
J

 

[Sven]

my computer with the XP has a Monitor that is dying,, I need to replace it today..
J

What a great excuse to upgrade...............now which one will you choose?

 

[Nancy-IL]

True, so very true. Larry's screen seems more crisp than mine. He's got an Acer laptop and mine is an HP. The pictures on the desktop computer are a lot more intense. Hmmm.

 

[NM5K]

I just bought a new monitor the other day. And also was pretty careful trying to get it calibrated. From the tests in the second link, it
looks like I got pretty close. My settings seem about the same as yours according to your descriptions of what you see.
I went with an ASUS VX238H. It's a 23 incher.. Got it on sale for $20 off regular price, and also will get a $20 rebate.
It's been looking pretty good so far. Contrast ratio is 80000000:1, with a rated 1 ms response time.

 

[Sven]

Bought a ColorHug set-up to calibrate my monitor for my Linux operating system. http://www.hughski.com/index.html
After about 5 hours of fiddling around on my gaming monitor it works and doesn't work. Which does have 11 customizable display modes.
I always seem to end up with a greenish cast on the screen. Searched the web for possible monitor settings
for precalibration etc. . Made the adjustments and recalibrated, now was down to a slight green cast.
Probably have about 12 hours into adjusting my monitor at this point to get it just right.
I am at the point where what the camera sees is what displays on my computer in the picture viewer.
My photo editor GIMP displayed the picture it had a very slight green tinge, you wouldn't notice until you placed the picture viewer image next to the image GIMP displayed.
Interesting. Then came across another website regarding photo editing programs regarding color management. Found the color management preferences in GIMP and just had to click a box.
Wala, the Gimp image matched the picture viewer image.
The nice thing now is the image right from the camera matches the image in GIMP and needs very little if any editing, providing your camera settings were correct. Then after posting the picture on the web as a test,
it looked great. Turned on my wifes computer and her daughters and the pictures look just fine even with theirs adjusted a bit different.
I am happy now with my monitor adjusted and set-up in the sRGB display mode, set strictly for photo editing.
Now I can play again.

On my monitor the picture below, now looks like it does in reality. And pretty close on the other monitors in the house.
[attachment 319971 earr.JPG]

 

[NM5K]

With default settings mine seemed very slightly on the green side. But I just use my eyeballs to adjust for the most part.
My desktop itself is solid gray, and after looking at the same color on various displays, I pretty much know what it should
look like. I also use mostly white pages for content..
And also B/W content is good for adjusting out any noticeable color. Particularly if you use the saturation control and turn the
color totally off for a pure B/W image when adjusting the monitor itself.
Anyway, I used the actual monitor adjustments to cure the slight green. And for it to be accurate, I need to be at the same
brightness and contrast. Which for now, I've been using 60 and 60.. But that gives me a pretty pure B/W, and no noticeable
color tint with gray scale. And my windows color tint is neutral as I prefer it to be.
From there, I use the usual Windows monitor adjustments to fine tune. And ditto for videos, except that is done in VLC player.
Most of the time, I can use default, but some movies can be off a tad, so might have to tweak a bit for some.
I've had this monitor I guess a couple of months or so now, and so far been real happy with it. Bang on wood..
BTW, I have to use the "User" setting on the monitor to cure the slight green tint. If I use "sRGB", I get a greenish tint.
So "User" is all I use.. All the other custom settings are fairly useless, as they all have issues..

 

[Sven]

Good to hear your monitor is set how you like it.
My monitor was designed as a gaming monitor and used by the top gamers. So it has specific gaming modes that can be set-up to a particular game. I recently played around in those modes playing Urban Terror and a few others, and can tell you the game play is a whole lot different than in the other modes.
I settled on sRGB mode for photo editing and web browsing, after totally adjusting it, its close to being perfect as I can get.
For movie, video watching I can switch monitor modes and adjust those as well.
What's nice is my monitor can be custom taylored for a number of applications.

 

[NM5K]

I wish I could save custom settings, but unless I'm missing something in the OSD, there is no way to save and load custom settings.
I can only use the single "user" custom settings. All of the others are factory preset settings like "games", "scenery", theater", etc.
And they are all useless to me as they have problems like green tint for sRGB, too color saturated on most the others, etc..
Most of the time I'm good with my normal settings with 60 bright, 60 contrast. But when I fly at night, the backlighting seems
a little bright, and I like to run the bright at about 10 or even 0, and contrast 100. This lowers the backlight, but still looks fairly decent.
I wish I could save that setting so I could switch back and forth real fast, but so far see no way to do it on this one.
So I have to adjust manually.. Which is not too big a deal I guess, but kind of a hassle.