Print colours match monitor colors. WhooHoo!

Geoff45 (Geoff) · #1 07-02-2007, 07:13 PM

I've finally got my prints to come out looking like they do on my monitor. After a lot of messing around, I finally nailed what is a fairly simple 3 step process.
1. Calibrate your monitor. This is the expensive bit, because you really need a hardware solution, rather than something like Adobe Gamma. Colorvision's Spyder 2 Pro is simple to use and costs about $200 in the States, so you need to go there or know someone going there. It's about 3 X that cost in Oz. Basically this tells Photoshop what a particular RGB display on the monitor means in something called Lab colour (Google this).
2. Profile your printer. The expensive ($US600+) way is to buy hardware. The cheap way is to decide what printer and what paper you are going to use. Don't use generic inks (they vary) and don't just buy whatever paper is on special. You then download some test sheets from one of our Oz company's website, print them off under specified conditions using your printer and paper and mail them to the guys with a cheque for $75 (+ $60 for each additional paper type). Within 24 hours they email you the printer profile. This is software that converts the Lab info in step 1 to the correct RGB settings for the printer to use. (I can let people have the name of the company I used if they contact me privately, but if you Google "printer profiles" and select the company with initials IS, you'll get there. They also have a good explanation sheet)
3. Make sure you have the right settings in Photoshop when you print. (Just about any Photoshop book will give these).

It's really great to spend hours processing your image knowing that you can print it off and get a very close approximation to your monitor display. You can even use Photoshop's soft proof option to give you a preview of what the printed image will look like.

iceman (Mike) · #2 08-02-2007, 07:35 AM

Very interesting, Geoff, and I can definitely see the value in it.. especially when you're printing images for entry into the astro-imaging competitions around the place.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #3 08-02-2007, 02:28 PM

I've been looking at the spyder for a few weeks now, but the price keeps scaring me off.

rogerg (Roger) · #4 08-02-2007, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

I've been looking at the spyder for a few weeks now, but the price keeps scaring me off.

I hired one from the local camera store. They rent it out for some small amount - $45/week or something? It took me a few nights to run it on all my PC's. Starting from scratch (never having used one) it took me a bit to work the whole process out and make sure I was getting correct results.

That was a little while ago and since then my setup has changed and so I don't use the configurations anymore, but I often think I should hire it again.

Anyway, I'd definitely recommend hiring one. If no camera store near you does it, a pro lab should.

snowyskiesau · #5 08-02-2007, 03:39 PM

What brand of monitor are you using? LCD or CRT?

BTW, you can get the basic Spyder 2 for under $200 locally, RRP is $299

iceman (Mike) · #6 08-02-2007, 03:40 PM

Hiring sounds like a great idea, thanks Roger i'll check them out.

fringe_dweller · #7 08-02-2007, 05:05 PM

dont need to, got colorsync - get a mac!

(altho it could be tweeked still with the spyder)

Geoff45 (Geoff) · #8 08-02-2007, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snowyskiesau

What brand of monitor are you using? LCD or CRT?

BTW, you can get the basic Spyder 2 for under $200 locally, RRP is $299

LCD, so you have to be sure to look straight at it and not on an angle, although it's not all that sensitive.

I'm not sure how good the basic Spyder 2 is. I've heard that it may be not quite good enough for astroimages.
Geoff