General calibration question

[Teekay]

I am after some clarification about calibrating as I am still a little confused.

In your Info it states 

Quote

 

A brief history of monitor calibration

Up until not many years ago, we used a rudimentary “closed loop” color management system. That is, we clumsily adjusted our screens in a vague attempt to make them match the print. And if we switched to a new lab, or if our lab got a new printer, or hired a new operator, or whatever, then we’d have to get more test prints made, and start adjusting again. Needless to say, this was a futile and frustrating process. Surprisingly, some people still persevere with this.

The modern system is infinitely better. Now, we all adhere to a central standard, as I mentioned before. We don’t match our screen to the lab, we simply match it to the central standard, and expect the lab to do the same.

 

But we are told to calibrate to prints, which makes perfect sense, as you want to be sure that the prints you are ordering are going to look like what is on your screen but in a photography group I am in, people keep saying they 'calibrate their screen' but don't match to prints so I'm confused. 

Someone posted a pic today and to me, it is obviously too green, even viewing on different devices. She insists she calibrates to 'world standard'. I don't even know what that means. 

Can you enlighten me? Please ?

[Damien Symonds]

Hi @Teekay,

6 minutes ago, Teekay said:

But we are told to calibrate to prints, which makes perfect sense, as you want to be sure that the prints you are ordering are going to look like what is on your screen

That's correct, but there's a little more to it than that.  You must only compare to prints from a reputable pro lab, whom you can trust has calibrated THEIR equipment to the "world standard" that your correspondent mentioned.  Yes, there is a world standard.

If you calibrated to get a match to prints from a cheap lab in your local shopping centre (or even worse, a home printer), you're likely to be in trouble, you see?  It's difficult to trust the cheaper labs, and impossible to trust home printers.

As you probably know, even the very good labs print a tiny bit differently from each other.  The "world standard" is genuinely hard to comply with.  But they do their best.

When you're calibrating and comparing, remember that your room light plays a heck of an important role.

9 minutes ago, Teekay said:

but in a photography group I am in, people keep saying they 'calibrate their screen' but don't match to prints so I'm confused.

They are reckless.  They definitely should be checking against prints to confirm their calibration.

10 minutes ago, Teekay said:

Someone posted a pic today and to me, it is obviously too green, even viewing on different devices.?

This might not be a calibration problem.  It's more likely that she is editing in the wrong colour space.  If she's editing in Adobe RGB, or even worse in ProPhoto RGB, this can happen.  Do you know, or can you find out?

However, it could also be a viewing problem at your end.  Which web browser do you use?

[Teekay]

I'll find out about the colour space.

I use Chrome as my web browser usually

And yes, It is a pro lab I use for prints 

[Damien Symonds]

Oh yeah, you mustn't use Chrome!  It's not colour-managed.  Only use Firefox, or Safari is moderately ok too.

[Teekay]

Ok thanks for that. I'll use Firefox in future. I'm not brand loyal ?

Just checked and still looks green to me on Firefox. Have asked her what colour space she uses. 

[Damien Symonds]

Firefox needs its colour management to be turned on: https://www.damiensymonds.net/2012/01/web-browsers-and-facebook.html

[Teekay]

Thanks so much Damien, have done that. ?

Looks like the photo poster is not going to be forthcoming with her colour space so I've linked her your FB and Browser article, and reiterated the importance of editing in Srgb. Not much else I can do, but glad I asked the question,  because I learnt about Chrome ? ?