Dan Harrod Photography
GETTING THE BEST FROM YOUR MONITOR
Your monitor creates all the colours it needs to display an image by mixing red, green and/or blue. In a perfect world, black, grey and white, are in theory an equal mix of red green and blue.
Alas, no monitors are ever made the same, not even from the same brand, or even the same supply line. This is due to fluctuations in manufacturing, minor differences of physics and chemistry from monitor to monitor.
This can mean some monitors will be more or less blue, green, or red. To get the best from your computer monitor I recommend you calibrate your monitor. This can be done to a very approximate level of quality using simple software. Try Adobe Gamma on the PC or try Supercal for the Mac.
A much more accurate way of calibrating your monitor is to use specialised software and hardware. Calibration kits are available from a number of manufacturers including the Huey Pro from Pantone and the Spyder 3 Pro from datacolor.*
Once calibrated you should see a grey scale below featuring 26 patches of grey, from black to white. If you cannot distinguish any of the patches form it’s neighbour then your monitor may need attention. The grey tones should also appear neutral and consistent in terms of colour, with no patches being more or less red, or blue, than any other.
Copyright Dan Harrod 2008 ~ Site Map
Grey scale chart. 26 shades of grey.
Again, once calibrated, your monitor should also display the center image below more accurately in terms of brightness, than the other two images. If you’re not sure what too look for, the center image should have a well exposed tone to the face and to the whites of the clothing.
This image should look correct.
This image should look too dark.
This image should look too light.
This image should look correct.
This image should look blue/green.
This image should look too red.
Also, once calibrated, your monitor should also display the center image below more accurately in terms of colour, than the other two images. Again, pay close attention to the skin tones, the one on the left looks green and almost muddy, and the one on the right seems too rich and warm.
* I am not endorsing these products, simply informing the reader of some of the options currently available. I take no responsibility for using third party applications or hardware.
W019 - Great Tit Lands
After calibration you should notice a distinct improvement in contrast and colour fidelity.