DETAILED GUIDE: HOW TO CALIBRATE YOUR MONITOR FOR PHOTOGRAPHY

Since the digital era came to the field of photography, the computer monitor has become one of the fundamental pieces when it comes to processing our photographic work. Whether to view, edit and even share our photographs, the passage through a computer is almost mandatory. Beyond all the benefits that this new tool brought together, so that to be able to get the most out of our computer, it will be necessary to take the work of configuring it correctly and thus being able to obtain the best results. Today in the Photographer's Blog we teach you to calibrate the monitor and not die trying. Why should we calibrate our monitor? More than one has surely happened to us that after spending many hours editing our photographs, when we take them to another computer or worse, after picking them up for the development service, the results we observe do not resemble those that we had originally achieved on our monitor and to whom we had dedicated so much time and effort. The monitor is one of the most unstable components of the process and is one of the main responsible for the results we get are more variable than we would like. This is why to achieve the best possible results, we must take our time and calibrate our monitor if we do not want to take an unpleasant surprise at the time of teaching, sharing or printing.

Calibration differences between different devices

THE MAIN CAUSES OF THIS PROBLEM ARE ...

The amount of ambient light where we are working.
The quality and type of monitor we are using (CRT, LCD, LED).
The marks and the color calibration of each of these.
The time that the monitor has been continuously on without rest.
The antiquity of it.
Etc.

In the case of prints, it is the color profile used by the development machines, the one in charge of translating the 0 and 1 that make up the computer files to the colors of our photographs and which we should also calibrate. Delving into this topic will surely be the reason for a future post. Both the monitor and its calibration are basic but fundamental aspects so that we can ensure that our photographs are displayed in the same way on two different monitors.

WHAT OPTIONS DO WE HAVE TO CALIBRATE OUR MONITOR?

There are several methods so that we can find "the sweet spot" to our monitor, but we can differentiate three great methods to carry out this task, without making us want to launch our computer through the window we have closest:

Through Software: There are a wide variety of applications that can help us perform this task, whatever the operating system we are using. Computers with Windows and Mac OS X have built-in default tools to help us calibrate our monitors, but if we want the best results there are many applications that will allow us to obtain them in a more professional way, if we take the time to configure them correctly. One of them is Quick Gamma , a free and simple application that will help us not get gray hair during this process. Later in the post we will explain how to use it.
Through Hardware: This type of calibration is the most accurate, fast and the one that allows true quality color reproduction for both processing and printing, but of course, we must pay a significant amount of money to get one. They consist of a color sensor (colorimeter) that measures the colors of the monitor, and software where we can enter the values ??we want for luminance, white point, brightness, contrast, etc. and this is responsible for making all the settings on the monitor and the computer to leave them ready for us to work with them. Some of the most used are: Spyder 3 of data color, Huey Pro and Xrite Color Munky.
Tailored to our eyes: This more than a method is an option that we can use those photographers who, or we are starting in the world of photography and we have spent our savings on becoming a camera and lenses, or those who do not need to access more advanced options, precise but expensive, to carry out this task. In order to do so, we need only the perception of our own eyes in front of the monitor. It consists of using images as patterns and making the necessary adjustments in the screen or monitor settings so that these photographs can be seen correctly.

LET'S DO IT

Now that we are more clear about what it is and what are the different alternatives to perform the calibration of our monitor, we will begin to perform a series of simple tests to assess whether or not our screen is properly calibrated for use in photography. Recommendations: Before starting the different tests that we propose from the Photographer's Blog, be sure to set the monitor's color temperature to 6500k. In order to do this, look in the configuration menu that the monitor brings integrated, the color settings. You will find several options (SRGB, 9300k, 7500k, 6500k, 5400k, User color, etc.) depending on the model and brand but all of them offer the possibility to do so. As we mentioned earlier, the light colors of the screen background, the exterior light that impacts directly on the monitor and even the ambient light where we are working, confuse our eyes. If we perform the following tests directly from the browser, we will not achieve an optimal result. For the following tests, it is best to download the calibration images (which I will provide in a moment) on the computer and display them with a program that allows you to modify the background color to black or neutral gray. Do not worry, at the end of the post I will mention some of the most used. Finally, we must configure our monitor in the native resolution, that is, in the resolution and the refresh rate of the screen where the manufacturer guarantees us the best results. Each monitor is different but as an example I leave the following example: Resolution 1440 x 900 and update frequency 75 Hertz. This configuration can be found in the screen properties of the operating system that we are using. 1. Contrast test: In the following image, we will see a series of bars that increase their intensity according to RGB colors and grayscale. If our monitor is well calibrated in terms of contrast, we can differentiate each of the levels in each of the colors. All levels must be differentiable from each other. In a monitor that is not calibrated correctly we will not be able to perceive any difference between the first values ??of the scale, nor in the last ones.

Contrast Test

2. Black Test: in the following image we can only appreciate the 10 black levels if our monitor is correctly calibrated. Ideally all should be differentiable and if not, we should modify the levels of contrast, brightness and gamma to optimize the blacks of our monitor. If we make the adjustments in a different order from the one proposed, we must be careful not to configure a previous setting while performing a subsequent calibration.

Blacks test

3. Gamma Calibration: gamma defines the luminescence of the screen, that is, the amount of light emitted by our monitor. Monitors should work under an RGB standard, that is, with a gamma value of around 2.2, but as we saw earlier there are many factors that can make our screens not calibrated as they should. This step is essential since gamma calibration is one of the most important variables when working with our photographs, so these values ??must be correct if we want to achieve the best results. In order to carry out this test we will use a free software that will allow those people who do not have the possibility to adjust the values ??for each of the RGB colors from the same monitor, do it using this software. ( Download Quick Gamma ) Once the software is installed, on its main screen we will select the Gamma option found in its top menu. Here we will proceed to adjust the levels of red, green and blue one by one to leave our monitor perfectly calibrated. If the calibration is correct, when looking at the following image with the eyes between open, we should not notice color differences between the semicircles. If any of the halves were darker or lighter than the other, we must adjust each of the colors more or less until the 3 can be observed, remember with your eyes closed, without differences. 4. Sharpness test: currently most LCD and LED monitors sold in stores have a sharpness control that will allow us to adjust this parameter more easily. If the sharpness setting is correct, when looking at the next image a few meters away from the monitor or squinting, the bottom lines and gray cubes should no longer be distinguished from the background. If the adjustment is not correct, we will not be able to see a large gray rectangle and we will notice each of the small lines of the bottom as well as the gray cubes that compose it. If we want the colors of our photographs to be appreciated by everyone as we do and if we do not want to stop enjoying the photographs of our colleagues, we should not fail to calibrate our monitors. In response to the way in which the contents are currently shared, where more and more of them are channeled through images or videos, the monitor manufacturers seem to have taken care to make our lives a little easier and began to include the main variables to calibrate our monitors in the menu of each screen. We can calibrate the color temperature, RGB colors, gamma, sharpness, contrast etc, just by looking for these options in the monitor menu and following the guide we propose below, we will have our monitor or TV calibrated without much effort.

OTHER TIPS

Using neutral black or gray backgrounds will prevent you from losing perception in the photo of your total tonal amplitude since the eye does not react in the same way to a light or dark background when viewing a photograph, but if we use a dark background, we will facilitate the task .
If your photo and image viewing software does not allow you to change the display background, you can try any of these free programs that do allow you to modify the background: Infranview and Fast Stone Image viewer .
If possible, prevent the light from directly impacting the screen as this will distort the results we obtain while calibrating our monitor, whatever method we are using.
If we work with laptops, the calibration task will become a bit more complicated since it is not the same to work in a square in broad daylight than in a dark room. Each environment will need a custom calibration.
Not only does the monitor lose performance as it stays on longer, our eyes also get tired and lose sensitivity and get used to color changes. It is recommended that every 30 minutes, we get up from the chair and take a break. Looking outside for a while focusing our eyes to a remote point will relax the muscles of sight.

As you can see, it's a matter of getting in and following the steps. I hope I have clarified your doubts a bit. You will find anything in the comments