Screen calibration question for Mac users

drabina · 04-09-2008, 06:44 PM

I have a Mac at home (MacBook laptop). I know that laptops are not the best tools for working with images but I just do not have the space for desktop and monitor. My Pentax DSLR is set to sRGB color space. If I set my MacBook to use sRGB color calibration, the screen looks too blueish and just hurts my eyes. When I post pictures on the website from my Mac, they look too dark on a PC screen.

So how do I set the MacBook to display the pictures same way as they would look on PC?

I know that Mac is somewhat better for imaging but all my friends and family members have PCs and I am done listening to comments that my pictures are underexposed. So the goal here is to match whatever the 93% of other people (PC guys) are using :-)

Thanks.

mitchkramez · 04-09-2008, 06:59 PM

drabina, i know exactly what you're saying. you're probably using "Color LCD" as your color profile on your MacBook. I've got a MacBook Pro, and have run into similar issues trying to use the sRGB profile in there.

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on color settings, I was able to get my photos VERY close to how they print at our local shop. My local shop (Harold's Photo) sent me their color profile for their printers and I use that to proof my photos in when i'm using Aperture2. I imagine Adobe Lightroom has similar functionality for proofing your images in a different colorspace.

I'm not sure exactly how iPhoto handles color spaces, since my images seem too look pretty decent in iPhoto, but still not quite right. So I'm not going to be of much help there... I do have a couple of profiles that match very well to what everyone else'll be seeing. You're not going to get at match for everyone (because everyone's color settings are different) but you can get it look the same on your screen and when you print it. Let me know, and i can post a couple of these color profiles for you to try out. If you're not using Lightroom or Aperture, give 'em a shot. These profiles can also be used with Photoshop if you're using that. Let me know if you have any other questions, I'll be glad to answer them! I'm sure there are other that understand more the technical stuff with colorspaces that will be able to help as well!

imadethis · 04-09-2008, 07:21 PM

Hello,

Are you using a colorimeter, and how are you calibrating your laptop?

All jpeg's or .PEF's are taken in either sRGB or Adobe's color space. Once you take a photo and open it in the computer, your photo editing software will read the color space built into the file and display it on Photoshop.

Now on the other hand, the monitor is a separate and different procedure. The monitor relies on a separate color space than from your camera, so matching the sRGB color space for on the monitor will not work because monitors and cameras are independent of one another. All monitors read what is called an .ICC profile, which is the color space your monitor will display. Since you chose sRGB as an .ICC profile, sRGB on your mac laptop means the sRGB .ICC profile, your monitor's colors went all blue and whatnot. You will need a calibrated .ICC profile for each monitor you use for each monitor to display the same kind of image/color/brightness/etc. I'm not familiar on the procedure on a mac, so maybe someone with a mac can chime in.

On a PC, the procedure is to Connect the Colorimeter, Open the software, Put the colorimeter onto monitor, The colorimeter will scan your monitor, the User will adjust the monitor's settings manually, and the software will complete building a custom .ICC profile that's calibrated.

In general, all screens should be calibrated for Contrast, Brightness, R, G, B, and Color Temperature to display an image correctly from one monitor to the next. You can try to do this by using software and eyeballing it, but the best practice is to get a colorimeter for consistent results.

A few different types of colorimeters are Pantone Huey, Spyder, etc. and range in price from $70-200+

Cheers!

mitchkramez · 04-09-2008, 07:23 PM

imadethis is right, however, in lieu of buying a colorometer, you should be able to find some color profiles thaf will get you pretty close, or at least good enough for government work

thear · 04-09-2008, 07:24 PM

I use the ColorVision Spyder2express colorimeter to calibrate my monitors.

imadethis · 04-09-2008, 07:33 PM

Originally posted by mitchkramez

imadethis is right, however, in lieu of buying a colorometer, you should be able to find some color profiles thaf will get you pretty close, or at least good enough for government work

You could try using Adobe Gamma? to manually eyeball the calibration, and there are other free softwares out there, but I haven't tried these myself. They will enable you to do government work ; )

Downloading profiles from other monitors will not work though unfortunately. Each monitor is uniquely different and the R, G, and B values and color temps will differ from one monitor to the next.

Here's a great site with more information:
Monitor Calibration and Profiling

johnsey · 04-09-2008, 09:05 PM

I've used that site and its worked wonders to help calibrate my pc monitor which was too dark. (which could be very possible that your friends pcs are too) Keep in mind macs and pcs use different gamma settings altogether. My g4 powerbook on the other hand has never needed any tweaking to calibrate, and i typically work with my images only on my mac with the adobe profiles already associated with the raw or scan files. I only use my pc as a storage archive.

drabina · 04-10-2008, 07:32 PM

Thanks to all for replying and all the helpful information.

What about the gamma? Should I change it to match PC? I am asking because when I get the brightness adjusted on the PC, my photo uploaded from Mac looks OK. Sure there are differences with the color but that's something beyond my control (will not be calibrating everyones monitor).

I guess another question is, when the gamma is adjusted during the screen calibration, does that affects lets say Lightroom application or it has its own settings?

christinelandon · 04-12-2008, 05:22 PM

The monitor's calibration file is passed by the OS to your image editor, which should use that information in adjusting the program's display of colors and brightness curves (gamma) on that monitor.

drabina · 04-13-2008, 09:31 AM

Originally posted by christinelandon

The monitor's calibration file is passed by the OS to your image editor, which should use that information in adjusting the program's display of colors and brightness curves (gamma) on that monitor.

What about my old images that were transferred onto the computer before I calibrated monitor with PC gamma? Will they adjust automatically when I launch image editing software (iPhoto, Lightroom)? If not, what are the steps I should take to convert them so they look decent?

Thanks.

04-09-2008, 06:44 PM	#1
drabina Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: NJ Posts: 525	Screen calibration question for Mac users I have a Mac at home (MacBook laptop). I know that laptops are not the best tools for working with images but I just do not have the space for desktop and monitor. My Pentax DSLR is set to sRGB color space. If I set my MacBook to use sRGB color calibration, the screen looks too blueish and just hurts my eyes. When I post pictures on the website from my Mac, they look too dark on a PC screen. So how do I set the MacBook to display the pictures same way as they would look on PC? I know that Mac is somewhat better for imaging but all my friends and family members have PCs and I am done listening to comments that my pictures are underexposed. So the goal here is to match whatever the 93% of other people (PC guys) are using :-) Thanks.

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04-09-2008, 06:59 PM	#2
mitchkramez Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: SD Posts: 61	drabina, i know exactly what you're saying. you're probably using "Color LCD" as your color profile on your MacBook. I've got a MacBook Pro, and have run into similar issues trying to use the sRGB profile in there. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on color settings, I was able to get my photos VERY close to how they print at our local shop. My local shop (Harold's Photo) sent me their color profile for their printers and I use that to proof my photos in when i'm using Aperture2. I imagine Adobe Lightroom has similar functionality for proofing your images in a different colorspace. I'm not sure exactly how iPhoto handles color spaces, since my images seem too look pretty decent in iPhoto, but still not quite right. So I'm not going to be of much help there... I do have a couple of profiles that match very well to what everyone else'll be seeing. You're not going to get at match for everyone (because everyone's color settings are different) but you can get it look the same on your screen and when you print it. Let me know, and i can post a couple of these color profiles for you to try out. If you're not using Lightroom or Aperture, give 'em a shot. These profiles can also be used with Photoshop if you're using that. Let me know if you have any other questions, I'll be glad to answer them! I'm sure there are other that understand more the technical stuff with colorspaces that will be able to help as well!

04-09-2008, 07:21 PM	#3
imadethis Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Fremont, CA Posts: 89	Hello, Are you using a colorimeter, and how are you calibrating your laptop? All jpeg's or .PEF's are taken in either sRGB or Adobe's color space. Once you take a photo and open it in the computer, your photo editing software will read the color space built into the file and display it on Photoshop. Now on the other hand, the monitor is a separate and different procedure. The monitor relies on a separate color space than from your camera, so matching the sRGB color space for on the monitor will not work because monitors and cameras are independent of one another. All monitors read what is called an .ICC profile, which is the color space your monitor will display. Since you chose sRGB as an .ICC profile, sRGB on your mac laptop means the sRGB .ICC profile, your monitor's colors went all blue and whatnot. You will need a calibrated .ICC profile for each monitor you use for each monitor to display the same kind of image/color/brightness/etc. I'm not familiar on the procedure on a mac, so maybe someone with a mac can chime in. On a PC, the procedure is to Connect the Colorimeter, Open the software, Put the colorimeter onto monitor, The colorimeter will scan your monitor, the User will adjust the monitor's settings manually, and the software will complete building a custom .ICC profile that's calibrated. In general, all screens should be calibrated for Contrast, Brightness, R, G, B, and Color Temperature to display an image correctly from one monitor to the next. You can try to do this by using software and eyeballing it, but the best practice is to get a colorimeter for consistent results. A few different types of colorimeters are Pantone Huey, Spyder, etc. and range in price from $70-200+ Cheers!

04-09-2008, 07:23 PM	#4
mitchkramez Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: SD Posts: 61	imadethis is right, however, in lieu of buying a colorometer, you should be able to find some color profiles thaf will get you pretty close, or at least good enough for government work

04-09-2008, 07:24 PM	#5
thear Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 83	I use the ColorVision Spyder2express colorimeter to calibrate my monitors.

04-09-2008, 07:33 PM	#6
imadethis Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Fremont, CA Posts: 89	Originally posted by mitchkramez imadethis is right, however, in lieu of buying a colorometer, you should be able to find some color profiles thaf will get you pretty close, or at least good enough for government work You could try using Adobe Gamma? to manually eyeball the calibration, and there are other free softwares out there, but I haven't tried these myself. They will enable you to do government work ; ) Downloading profiles from other monitors will not work though unfortunately. Each monitor is uniquely different and the R, G, and B values and color temps will differ from one monitor to the next. Here's a great site with more information: Monitor Calibration and Profiling

04-09-2008, 09:05 PM	#7
johnsey Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Fargo, ND Posts: 113	I've used that site and its worked wonders to help calibrate my pc monitor which was too dark. (which could be very possible that your friends pcs are too) Keep in mind macs and pcs use different gamma settings altogether. My g4 powerbook on the other hand has never needed any tweaking to calibrate, and i typically work with my images only on my mac with the adobe profiles already associated with the raw or scan files. I only use my pc as a storage archive.

04-10-2008, 07:32 PM	#8
drabina Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: NJ Posts: 525 Original Poster	Thanks to all for replying and all the helpful information. What about the gamma? Should I change it to match PC? I am asking because when I get the brightness adjusted on the PC, my photo uploaded from Mac looks OK. Sure there are differences with the color but that's something beyond my control (will not be calibrating everyones monitor). I guess another question is, when the gamma is adjusted during the screen calibration, does that affects lets say Lightroom application or it has its own settings?

04-12-2008, 05:22 PM	#9
christinelandon Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Seattle, Washington, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 812	The monitor's calibration file is passed by the OS to your image editor, which should use that information in adjusting the program's display of colors and brightness curves (gamma) on that monitor.

04-13-2008, 09:31 AM	#10
drabina Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: NJ Posts: 525 Original Poster	Originally posted by christinelandon The monitor's calibration file is passed by the OS to your image editor, which should use that information in adjusting the program's display of colors and brightness curves (gamma) on that monitor. What about my old images that were transferred onto the computer before I calibrated monitor with PC gamma? Will they adjust automatically when I launch image editing software (iPhoto, Lightroom)? If not, what are the steps I should take to convert them so they look decent? Thanks.