From amateur photographer to professional graphic artist, anyone who cares about color should calibrate their monitor regularly. This is the only way to guarantee that you are working with the right colours. Not sure where to start? Calibrating your monitor is within reach with these tips.
It may sound strange, but no two monitor models show the same red (or green or blue or any other color). The colors shown depend on the monitor technology. The type of LCD panel (IPS, VA, TN…), the type of backlight (CCFL, LED, even the type of the LEDs), the choice of color filter materials used, it all has an influence. Even two identical models may have slightly different color rendering due to variations in manufacturing process and aging.
This variation is often small and unimportant for the average consumer, but anyone who works professionally with color must be sure of the colors he sees. Or maybe you notice that the colors are just not as beautiful as you would like, even then it is worth checking the settings below.
Calibration ensures that when you ask the computer to show rgb 255,0.0 (red), you know that the displayed red is as close as possible to the chosen standard against which you are calibrating. Calibration also gives you control over how bright the image is and whether different gray steps correspond to that same predefined standard. This way, your work can be reproduced correctly on other monitors or in print. We help you on your way with the tips below.
Under what circumstances do you calibrate?
The image on your monitor looks different depending on the ambient light. For example, if there is a lot of incident light, you will see fewer shadow nuances. If you use fluorescent lamps, incandescent lamps or daylight, you perceive colors differently. Whoever carries out color-critical work must keep his environment under good control.
That means not too much, or avoiding well-controlled ambient light and reflections in the screen (graphic monitors are often equipped with a hood). Calibration is therefore done in the same circumstances. Avoid calibrating in high ambient light; that can affect the results. Finally, every monitor needs time to warm up and stabilize. For a good result, wait 30 minutes before starting the calibration work.
Monitor settings explained
Before you can get started, you need to know a minimum of terminology.
Brightness: this setting determines the maximum brightness of the screen, in other words: the white value. On some monitors, this setting may determine the black value. That is unfortunately a relic of the past.
Contrast: this setting determines the contrast of your monitor, in other words the ratio between white and black.
Color Temperature: white is not just white. The ‘white’ light of an incandescent lamp is more orange, while daylight is much bluer. Color temperature not only determines how white looks, but also affects all colors. Just think how your girlfriend’s cute dress looks completely different in the store light than when she’s out in the sun.
range: the electrical signal that the video card sends to the monitor is not linearly converted into light. The conversion is done with an exponential curve, so that the steps in dark tones are smaller than those in bright tones. Our eye is more sensitive to small changes in dark tones. The exponent of that function is called the gamma value.
Color space: our eye can see an enormous amount of colors, more than a monitor can display. A color space determines which colors a monitor displays.
Calibrate colors
To adjust the basic settings of your monitor, it is best to use a number of test patterns, like this one from Lagom. If accurate color is not vital to your work, it is often sufficient to tinker with the settings of your monitor. Remember to do all of these tests under the same conditions you work in.
Brightness: most monitors are set way too bright. Activate the light sensor if your monitor has one. If not, lower the brightness until a white screen looks something like a white sheet of paper. That is much quieter for your eyes and more energy efficient.
Contrast: too high a contrast will hide white detail. Put a white detail pattern on the screen (Lagom: White Saturation), and lower the contrast until you can narrowly see the 254 detail. If you have to lower the contrast too low and the image becomes too dull, choose an acceptable compromise.
Color Temperature: choose a color temperature of 6500 K. This corresponds to daylight. (for photographers, this is the color temperature of the D65 white point). Lower color temperatures make the image redder, higher temperatures make it bluer. If you read a lot in the evening, you can opt for nightwear with a somewhat lower color temperature. Some monitors offer gain settings per color so that you can accurately adjust the color temperature, but without a color meter you can’t really do much with that.
range: choose a gamma value of 2.2. Higher gamma values ​​make the midtones and dark tones slightly darker (better contrast, and therefore useful in low ambient light), lower gamma values ​​make the midtones and dark tones slightly brighter (useful with a lot of ambient light). There is also an sRGB gamma curve, which provides a little more black detail. You can evaluate the effect of the monitor setting on the Lagom and EIZO gamma test.
Color space: if your monitor offers this option, select sRGB (or Rec.709). More expensive monitors sometimes offer a wider color space (AdobeRGB, or DCI-P3), but these are only useful for specific photo or film work. When in doubt, stick with sRGB; this way you guarantee the right colors.
Complete: Finally, go through the full Lagom tests, especially those for Black Level. Try to set your screen so that you can just see the darkest black detail (1 and 2). If not, try adjusting Contrast and Gamma. With some monitors you can adjust the black detail with Brightness.
For whom?
Everyone benefits from at least choosing the right monitor settings. After all, they provide natural colours, sufficient white and black detail and a pleasant, quiet viewing experience. If you just surf, email and with office works that is enough.
Gamers often go one step further and check brightness, contrast and gamma so that they see all shadow details neatly. With the help of some test patterns they can perform a minimal calibration.
If you work in the graphics sector, photography, layout, design and so on, then regular calibration is actually mandatory. If not, your accurately edited image will often not look the way you expect on the customer’s side.
Text: Eric Beeckmans
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