Learn why and how to calibrate a monitor? Calibration of the monitor is a process during which the configuration of our monitor is adjusted correctly to achieve an accurate representation of the image that our computer sends to the monitor.
Learn why and how to calibrate a monitor?
Unless you set the monitor correctly, you do not see things as they should be shown on the screen!
By monitor configuration, we are not talking only about the basic settings (brightness, contrast, color temperature), nor exclusively about the parameters exposed by the OSD (On Screen Display, also known as the menu) of our monitor and perhaps the hidden “Service Mode.” We’re even adjusting things via software.
Calibrating the monitor also corrects the gamma curve, widens the color gamma and improves color reproduction, something technicians call “LUT software.
The monitor is your gateway to a world of color and digital data. What you see on your screen is the only link you have to what you are creating.
Without proper color management, it is impossible to see images with their “real” colors. Therefore, we cannot trust what we see. Our eyes and brains are bright to deceive us as they adapt to the situations around us. Our perception of color can vary greatly depending on our environment or even our mood. You can’t trust your eyes.
Why calibrate a monitor?
Most of the time, these reproductions of images are inaccurate. To aggravate this problem, by changing the color spaces between different devices, much can be lost in the conversion. Fortunately, however, with proper calibration, we can obtain a detailed color conversion for our systems that are printed on our screens.
Think of calibration or profiling as an interpreter that translates the language of your image into something that your computer hardware can understand and communicate with your screen.
Without this link, it is chaos, and important color information would be misunderstood. With this, you can guarantee clear communication between all your devices.
how to calibrate a monitor?
Proper calibration allows your images to be accurately displayed on other calibrated/profiled screens, and the possibilities are endless. We can’t begin to tell you how amazing it is to be able to trust what you see on the monitor truly.
If you’ve ever been to a TV store and watched the same movie that’s playing on an entire wall of TVs, you’ll know how color can vary from screen to screen, model to model and brand to brand.
Calibrate your monitor to a central standard. So, the color you see on your screen (mark “A”) should be the same as the color you see on your monitor (mark “B”), and the same as the color another photographer sees on his or her screen (mark “C”); and most importantly, of course, the same as what your print lab sees on your screen.
One of the big misunderstandings about color calibration is that people think it’s only needed for printing. Something wrong. It’s necessary for everything from viewing your own and other people’s work to processing your images when you work in Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, or any other software.
If your monitor is not correctly color-calibrated, chances are you do not see everything in the images. For example, a soft, beautiful sunset may appear pale, and a black and white image may seem too dark or too bright.
Many people do not pay attention to color calibration for a long time and later suffer from the result. That causes images to often end up with saturated colors and strange tones, and without having any idea of things like the ICC color profile, users usually end up removing all the metadata from their images, including those color profiles.
What do you get when calibrating the monitor?
- You can see the exhibition, the colors as they are and not as your monitor used to think they are.
- You can send your photos to any printing company, and never see them again over-exposed, the colors will be very close to what you saw on your monitor. For correct printing, you need to use a printer and ICC profile paper.
- In this way, you know that your photos are post-processed correctly, the colors are accurate, and each person with a calibrated monitor will get to see the same image as you did when editing it.
- No more flat-looking photos, no more underexposed or overexposed photos, no darker or brighter making the images lose their magic.
But those same people, when they have the opportunity to see images on a color-calibrated monitor and after seeing how poorly the photos looked on their screens, they realize it’s time to change.
At first, you might think you could use some free color calibration tools that are already built into the operating system you use to get more accurate colors.
However, over time, you will realize that selecting a suitable monitor and calibrating it in color is critical. Especially if you want your picture to be taken seriously.
If you have never calibrated your monitor correctly. You will be surprised to see how different your images. And other people’s images will be after a proper calibration, especially if you have a low-end monitor.
Fortunately, suitable colorimeters make it very easy to calibrate any monitor,
More benefits of calibrating a monitor
The benefits don’t stop there. With a calibrated monitor, your movies and TV shows will look their best; you’ll see what the producers did with so much effort to make the skin tones look natural.
By modifying the manufacturer’s presets, your calibrated monitor will reduce the power consumption of the monitor and extend its lifespan. It will have a longer service life because the LED or CCFL lamp will now operate at a lower setting and not at the maximum setting.
Default Monitor Settings
Some monitors come with a flexible preset configuration, while others have very inefficient presets. In general, with very few exceptions, all stock monitors will display your overexposed images, and the colors will be undoubtedly
Limitations, advice, and recommendations
If you already have the right knowledge and tools to calibrate, the limiting factor will always be your monitor. The capabilities of the monitor will shape the playing field in terms of the color accuracy you will achieve.
There is also another factor, aging. As your monitor becomes obsolete, its performance will decrease. However, you should not go crazy about this. Because if you bought a good quality monitor, it will still work properly after 4-6 years of good use.
Chances are, by the time your monitor’s performance drops significantly, you’ve already been tempted to buy a newer model. As each new generation of monitors expands its horizons. We now have monitors capable of producing very wide color ranges. So, more accurate color reproduction and much more.