Calibration

[Kate00]

Afternoon...very new to all of this as learnt photography the old school way. Negatives and dark rooms and lots of stinky chemicals. SO reading your articles re Calibration...I am assuming the calibration is a software program and therefore how do I know of the ones you have listed which is the best or correct one for my specific Laptop? I already know it needs to be calibrated as I have had some photo books done through one of the online companies and yes I know they aren't exactly professional printers but results were disappointing as colour and brightness etc looked very different to what I had infront of me on the Lap top. Though also reading through about the ambient light in the room that I am editing in was also useful.

Also what do you consider to be the best place to get photos printed. I am located in Brisbane Australia and not sure who or what is available either. I studied photography full time over 20 years ago in Melbourne and did work briefly in the industry. I do want a professional result though I consider myself an amateur revisiting my original passion (just wasn't very good at it..LOL)

[Damien Symonds]

5 minutes ago, Kate00 said:

I am assuming the calibration is a software program

Not software, no.  Hardware.  An actual device, roughly the size of a mouse or a small point-and-shoot camera, which plugs in to your computer and takes readings from your screen.

6 minutes ago, Kate00 said:

how do I know of the ones you have listed which is the best or correct one for my specific Laptop?

Have you read this page?

7 minutes ago, Kate00 said:

Also what do you consider to be the best place to get photos printed. I am located in Brisbane Australia and not sure who or what is available either.

I really like Frontier Digital.  Some reviews here.

Lots of people talk about RGB Digital, but I found their quality a bit disappointing, to be honest.

However, I strongly recommend you get test prints from both places, and make your own decision.  Remember that you need to do that BEFORE you calibrate your screen.  You can't calibrate until you have pro lab prints in your hand.