5elitemac-23

[Damien Symonds]

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Consider your light

I know I’ve said this before, but I have to hammer it home again. NEVER underestimate the effect your surrounding light has on the way your photos appear. You’re on this page because your screen and prints differ in colour. Before proceeding, I need you to make a frank appraisal of the light in your room. If it’s too yellow (which is the most common problem) it will make your prints appear yellow, and therefore cause you to conclude that your screen’s calibration is too cold.

If you think, or even suspect, that your light is the culprit, take steps to rectify it. Get whiter bulbs if you can, or at least try assessing your prints in daylight. I would hate to be wasting your time with all of these calibration adjustments if the calibration wasn’t actually the problem.

If you’re sure the light is ok, read on …

Let’s try again.

Pull down the little menu in the bottom left corner of the screen, and choose “Calibration”:

That brings you back to this screen:

If it happens to take you to the “Advanced Calibration Settings” page, just hit the “Basic Settings” button at the bottom.

Make sure it’s set to “FullCAL“, then turn your attention to the settings.

First, brightness

What setting to choose

• If your screen is presently darker than your prints, you need to choose a higher number than before.
• If your screen is brighter than your prints, please, I beg you, consider the light that you’re in. 80 should be as low as you need to go if your light is good. However, if you’re sure your light is good, or you simply can’t make it any brighter, choose “Other” and try 70.

Then, colour

What setting to choose

• If your screen is presently warmer than your prints, you need to choose a higher number than before.
• If your screen is colder than your prints, you need to choose lower number.

For example, if I’d calibrated to 6500K the first time, and found that my screen was a bit too blue compared to the prints, I’d choose 5800K this time. If I had come around to this screen a second time, because the screen was still too cool, I’d go to 5000K.

Once you’ve chosen your new target, press “Next“.

Calibrate again >>