# Editing on a calibrated monitor



## Jesse17 (Apr 3, 2016)

What good does a color calibrated monitor do if no one else has one?

I shared a sunrise photo where the foreground was nearly black on my calibrated screen. I even increased the exposure at one point to see if it would look better if you could see the foreground. I posted the original photo with the black foreground and got a comment that they would prefer the foreground to be black... So I viewed it on my laptop monitor instead of my calibrated screen, and the foreground looks more like the version where I increased the exposure, where you can see the foreground.

Am I limited to only having other photographers with calibrated screens, liking my pictures? Why did I spend all this money on a decent monitor if pictures only look good on other calibrated monitors?


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## 480sparky (Apr 3, 2016)

Don't get too concerned with those who don't calibrate their monitors.  There's nothing you can do about them.

You calibrate your monitor so you have better control over how your images are displayed there, as well as how they are printed.


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## pixmedic (Apr 3, 2016)

480sparky said:


> Don't get too concerned with those who don't calibrate their monitors.  There's nothing you can do about them.
> 
> You calibrate your monitor so you have better control over how your images are displayed there, as well as how they are printed.




this^^


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## Ysarex (Apr 3, 2016)

Your lament would be more meaningful if all the non-calibrated monitors out there in the hands of the unwashed masses were all non-calibrated the same. Then you could adjust your photos for them if you wanted. But that's not the case. They're not all non-calibrated the same, they're all over the place.

Joe


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## table1349 (Apr 3, 2016)

pixmedic said:


> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> > Don't get too concerned with those who don't calibrate their monitors.  There's nothing you can do about them.
> ...


This this^^


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## Jesse17 (Apr 3, 2016)

Ysarex said:


> Your lament would be more meaningful if all the non-calibrated monitors out there in the hands of the unwashed masses were all non-calibrated the same. Then you could adjust your photos for them if you wanted. But that's not the case. They're not all non-calibrated the same, they're all over the place.
> 
> Joe



Yeah, I guess that's really the issue isn't it? Just quite frustrating to put your work out there and have half the people think it looks like crap because they're not seeing it correctly.

Maybe I'll just post a message "This is a really good picture of a sunset, in order to control the perceived quality, I don't post pictures. Please PM your address and I'll mail you a print to view." Then hope it doesn't get shared a lot, because that could get expensive. LOL!


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## Ysarex (Apr 3, 2016)

Jesse17 said:


> Ysarex said:
> 
> 
> > Your lament would be more meaningful if all the non-calibrated monitors out there in the hands of the unwashed masses were all non-calibrated the same. Then you could adjust your photos for them if you wanted. But that's not the case. They're not all non-calibrated the same, they're all over the place.
> ...



Like Sparky said -- nothing you can do about them. So get your monitor calibrated and keep it that way. You win in the long run.

Joe


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## 480sparky (Apr 3, 2016)

Ysarex said:


> Like Sparky said -- nothing you can do about them. So get your monitor calibrated and keep it that way. You win in the long run.
> 
> Joe



And as for everyone else, oh well.... they lose.


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## snowbear (Apr 3, 2016)

Or educate those people about calibrating, even the basic built-in methods.  I bet a lot of computer users have not even heard of it.


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## spiralout462 (Apr 3, 2016)

I calibrate for the final prints sake.   I am not concerned how my pics look on the screens of others.  Most of them are probably viewing them on a cellphone anyway.


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## Jesse17 (Apr 3, 2016)

Just for entertainment value, here's a cellphone pic showing the difference between the laptop (bottom) and calibrated monitor (top). The resolution get's all weird using it at my desktop photo and displaying both screens at the same time, but you can still see the difference in color, even when viewing this pic on the laptop screen. LOL.


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## Ysarex (Apr 3, 2016)

I think you may have more than just a calibration discrepancy in play there. Looks like you may also have a problem with the photo's ICC profile causing trouble. Your photo for use on the internet should be saved using the sRGB color space and that ICC tag needs to stay attached to the file when it's uploaded.

Joe


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## Jesse17 (Apr 3, 2016)

It was exported from LR in sRGB. I assumed LR adds that info to the file when it exports it. Is there something I should do or check to make sure?


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## Ysarex (Apr 3, 2016)

Jesse17 said:


> It was exported from LR in sRGB. I assumed LR adds that info to the file when it exports it. Is there something I should do or check to make sure?



Post the photo here and we can check it for you. LR uses the ProPhoto color space for all editing and then yes, when you export to a TIFF or JPEG you have to assign a conversion color space -- sRGB if it's going to the internet.

The discrepancy you show seems extreme to just be monitor calibration.

Joe


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## Jesse17 (Apr 3, 2016)




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## KmH (Apr 3, 2016)

And here is the knuckleball:
Not all electronic displays are the same display technology.

Most of us that edit photographs using a color managed workflow use an IPS-C type display that has very broad color accurate viewing angles.
Most of average computer/laptop user has a TN type display that has severely limited accurate color viewing angles.
If the ambient light falling on a calibrated display has changed since it's last calibration, it's no longer a calibrated display.


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## Watchful (Apr 3, 2016)

You calibrate a monitor to accurately reflect the colors of an image as it will be when printed to eliminate any surprises.


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## table1349 (Apr 3, 2016)

No, you calibrate a monitor to accurately reflect the true colors recorded in the image.  You calibrate a printer to accurately reproduce in print the true colors recorded in the image.


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## Ysarex (Apr 3, 2016)

Jesse17 said:


>



The photo is tagged sRGB as it should be. What we're seeing is a closer match to the top of the two photos you posted earlier. The discrepancy in the bottom photo still looks to me more substantial than I'd expect from just display calibration.

Joe


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## KmH (Apr 3, 2016)

Watchful said:


> You calibrate a monitor to accurately reflect the colors of an image as it will be when printed to eliminate any surprises.


Calibrating a display is only half the process of making sure a print will look anything like what you see on your display.
The second half of the process is to soft proof in your editing application using the ICC profile of the machine that will be making the print.


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## Watchful (Apr 3, 2016)

KmH said:


> Watchful said:
> 
> 
> > You calibrate a monitor to accurately reflect the colors of an image as it will be when printed to eliminate any surprises.
> ...


Naturally. The question was about calibrating a monitor, not calibrating a press.
The press should be calibrated in the color space the original file is saved in to reproduce the intended colors.
Xrite has good software for that step.
Its a matter of print, scan, analyze, and calibrate.


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## Ysarex (Apr 3, 2016)

Watchful said:


> KmH said:
> 
> 
> > Watchful said:
> ...



Presses are not calibrated to or in a device independent color space or any color space. A press and paper combination are profiled and a device dependent profile is created. Monitors are both calibrated and profiled.

Joe


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## GHK (Apr 8, 2016)

Jesse17 said:


> What good does a color calibrated monitor do if no one else has one?
> 
> You calibrate a monitor for yourself so that you will see the colours in the digital file accurately displayed on the monitor.
> If someone else wants to view your files on their monitor and it isn't properly calibrated, they won't see the colour from the image correctly, and that's their fault.   Look after your own monitor properly for your own reasons (expansion below may be almost hidden).
> ...


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## table1349 (Apr 8, 2016)

If you are interested a good tutorial on the entire subject:  Making fine prints in your digital darkroom: Getting started


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