| Have you ever been disappointed with the | | | | (START-SETTINGS-CONTROL PANEL). Using this |
| quality of the prints you received from your | | | | type of colour-calibration wizard will allow |
| local photo laboratory? Or wondered why you | | | | you to achieve far more accurate colour |
| can spend hours tweaking your digital images | | | | calibration settings. |
| and still get them back with strange colour | | | | |
| tones or too much light? Welcome to the often | | | | |
| frustrating world of colour calibration! | | | | |
| | | | For a free alternative to Adobe Gamma you |
| | | | should take a look at this program. |
| | | | |
| Problems with colour calibration occur | | | | |
| because every computer screen has a different | | | | |
| way of showing a particular colour. Even | | | | Hardware calibration: |
| primary colours can be shown very differently | | | | |
| if you view them on a different monitor or | | | | |
| computer. To see this in action, try looking | | | | |
| at the same image on both your own computer | | | | The best possible calibration results are |
| and that of a friend or colleague. | | | | achieved by using physical calibration |
| | | | devices. By placing the device against your |
| | | | monitor, it can adjust your colour profile to |
| | | | a recognized standard. Although expensive, |
| The frustrating thing is that the problem | | | | the Spyder 2 ( is used by many professional |
| gets worse over time - as your computer | | | | design and printing companies. |
| screen ages it becomes less precise in the | | | | |
| way it displays colours. What this means is | | | | |
| that while an image may look great on your | | | | |
| screen, it will look different and be printed | | | | Colour Profiles |
| differently at the printers. Some printing | | | | |
| labs will try to adjust your photos for you - | | | | |
| unfortunately this can often make them look | | | | |
| even worse. | | | | To achieve as perfect as possible a match |
| | | | between the image you see on your screen and |
| | | | the one you get back from a printing lab you |
| | | | should ask for a copy of the colour profiles |
| Calibrating your computer and a printing | | | | used to calibrate their printing machines. |
| facility can be difficult - but in this | | | | This is a small file that will tell your |
| article we outline some simple ways to | | | | computer exactly how to display each colour |
| achieve greater consistency. | | | | for the greatest accuracy. Large photographic |
| | | | laboratories may be unwilling to provide you |
| | | | with this information, but many smaller |
| | | | agencies will be very amenable. |
| Basic calibration: | | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | A final word |
| There are a number of free online options | | | | |
| you can use to achieve better calibration of | | | | |
| your monitor. | | | | |
| | | | Taking photographs is an important part of |
| | | | capturing and preserving the important |
| | | | milestones and events of our lives. Many |
| Easy RGB has a simple step-by-step guide | | | | people will often spent hours in front of a |
| that will assist you to adjust a number of | | | | computer editing their images before sending |
| settings. | | | | them off to be printed. Making sure your |
| | | | computer monitor is properly calibrated is |
| | | | one way you can make sure that your passion |
| | | | and effort is rewarded with stunning |
| Software calibration: | | | | photographs.Dylan Tovey works at the |
| | | | Australian canvas printing company He gets |
| | | | to see the good, the bad, and the ugly when |
| | | | framing and printing customer photographs. |
| The Adobe Photoshop image editing suite | | | | His own keen love of photography has turned |
| automatically installs a program called Adobe | | | | him into an evangelical spokesperson for good |
| Gamma into your control panel | | | | photographic habits. |