Warm prints

[S. Roberts]

Not at all. Honestly, I thought I had too much light.

I'm thinking of getting a lamp to use when viewing prints. The monitor image doesn't change in a perceivable way with the window open. So I'm thinking it's the way light is distributed in the room, and maybe wall color (ochre -yellow). I can't change the warm wood everywhere. 

Let me ask, do my images look warm or cool on your monitor? 

[Damien Symonds]

No, the monitor won't change with the windows open.  It's its own light source, so it won't be affected greatly by another light source.

It's the PRINTS that will change.

6 minutes ago, S. Roberts said:

Let me ask, do my images look warm or cool on your monitor? 

I can't answer that, because you haven't posted any for me.  Not any actual files.

[S. Roberts]

I will post a few then in this thread tomorrow. Thank you, Damien. 

[S. Roberts]

Here are a few images with different tones. Do my images look cool or warm on your monitor? These files were edited in RAW, then some editing done in PS, however no color toning was done at this stage. Thank you.

[S. Roberts]

If I now understand, I need a better light for viewing PRINTS. I have good light for editing. Will this type of lamp accomplish the goal? https://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlistore/galileo.html 

I had to special order my DVI-D cable. So I'll be on hold for a bit.

[Damien Symonds]

8 minutes ago, S. Roberts said:

If I now understand, I need a better light for viewing PRINTS. I have good light for editing.

No no no no no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  They must be one and the same.

[Damien Symonds]

11 minutes ago, S. Roberts said:

Here are a few images with different tones. Do my images look cool or warm on your monitor?

Inconsistent, but not wildly bad either way.  Looking at these images, there's nothing to suggest your monitor is badly calibrated.

[S. Roberts]

On 5/12/2017 at 6:52 PM, Damien Symonds said:

No, the monitor won't change with the windows open.  It's its own light source, so it won't be affected greatly by another light source.

It's the PRINTS that will change.

This is what led me to conclude that I needed an extra lamp to add light to the prints. But now I understand I may need a floor lamp to go with my in-ceiling flood lights. I need to bring up the overall light in my workspace to mimic the temperature (4000k-4700k) and strength of daylight. 

[Damien Symonds]

Right.

[S. Roberts]

13 minutes ago, Damien Symonds said:

Inconsistent, but not wildly bad either way. 

Once I get prints matching I'll post these in raw (SOOR) to learn how I can improve consistency. 

[S. Roberts]

16 minutes ago, Damien Symonds said:

Looking at these images, there's nothing to suggest your monitor is badly calibrated.

With bright daylight added, the color is still off. I'll come back to this once I've got the DVI and added light. Do you recommend any fixtures? 

[Damien Symonds]

58 minutes ago, S. Roberts said:

With bright daylight added, the color is still off.

Screen still colder than the prints?

[S. Roberts]

Yes.

[Damien Symonds]

Then let's cross our fingers for a DVI miracle.

[S. Roberts]

While still waiting on my DVI cable, Datacolor got back to me. They had me disable my nVidia graphics card from the start menu, then reset to factory settings, and full calibrate to 2.2, 6500K, and of course the 120 cd/m2. When I open the same file in Spyder cal software at the end of calibration, and open the same file scaled to about the same size, is it me -- or do they look different?

Also, last night I was loading a slip-mat with one of the black and white prints I got back from ProDPI --which prompted me to begin this thread-- and noticed a magenta stripe running the length of the print (middle of her forearm). I KNEW this batch looked pink. 

After following Datacolor's recommendations, as compared to actual prints (not the last batch, obviously) my screen is now too bright. I'm sitting at a brightness level of 30 on the Dell monitor / 117 cd/m2. So, I will go in and bring it down until it matches my prints then recal.

[Damien Symonds]

4 hours ago, S. Roberts said:

When I open the same file in Spyder cal software at the end of calibration, and open the same file scaled to about the same size, is it me -- or do they look different?

No, I just overlaid them in your screenshot file, and they look the same.

[S. Roberts]

The DVI cable came in. With the VGA still in, I laid out a collage, saved a screen shot. Plugged in the DVI-d (thinking I could do another screen shot) and it reset the monitor to factory settings. 

My thought is that my prints now match pretty close. Some prints are off by slight shades. I wish I could tweak the Kevin color between 5000-5700k, but I can't. 

[Damien Symonds]

To clarify - have you calibrated with the DVI yet, or not?

[S. Roberts]

Yes, I calibrated with the DVI. Mostly, brightness has been affected. I had to increase brightness to match prints.

[Damien Symonds]

It's better than with the VGA, though?

[S. Roberts]

I think so, but without a comparison it's hard to tell. My memory of color is imperfect. If I sent you a screen shot of "as best calibrated" with VGA and the same image "as best calibrated" with DVI -- can you tell me?

I will say, what has made the most impression on me was disabling my graphics card from the startup menu. That made me think my screen looked really quite dark.

[Damien Symonds]

10 minutes ago, S. Roberts said:

I think so, but without a comparison it's hard to tell. My memory of color is imperfect.

Without comparison??  Memory???  What are you talking about?  Aren't you comparing the prints???????

10 minutes ago, S. Roberts said:

If I sent you a screen shot of "as best calibrated" with VGA and the same image "as best calibrated" with DVI -- can you tell me?

No.

11 minutes ago, S. Roberts said:

I will say, what has made the most impression on me was disabling my graphics card from the startup menu. That made me think my screen looked really quite dark.

I'm worried about that.  It really shouldn't have been necessary.

[S. Roberts]

58 minutes ago, Damien Symonds said:

Without comparison??  Memory???  What are you talking about?  Aren't you comparing the prints???????

I though you were talking about the monitor color being better (monitor to monitor). Yes, the prints compare better now.

 

1 hour ago, Damien Symonds said:

I'm worried about that.  It really shouldn't have been necessary.

Datacolor said this, " Very often this a problem forced by the graphic drivers
Their control panels need longer to boot than the SpyderUtility start-up which gave them the chance to overwrite the data we just wrote to the lookuptable of the graphic adapter.
Depending on your graphic card you can disable the control panel."

I suppose I could reactivate it and see how it goes.

[Damien Symonds]

Oh, if that really is the case, then you simply need this.

Yes, it's an X-Rite program, but works fine with Spyder profiles too.

[S. Roberts]

Hi Damien,

I read through the link. I don't think this is the problem. I noticed immediately when I installed the DVI cable and the monitor was reset. It was crazy bright and very blue. This does not happen when my monitor goes to sleep or when I get security alerts. It never happens.

So, I've looked at these prints and feel that the colors are so similar. I notice small tone or shade differences, but no one else does, unless I go to great pains to point them out. Generally, the prints are a touch more yellow especially in whites, skin tones, and are a bit more - green (maybe) in the blacks. Pinks/reds/blues don't seem to be affected.

Should I move on to RAW?