Colour profiles

[LewisM]

Is there a good standard for monitor colour calibration? I set my laptop and my desktop to Adobe RGB colour profiles, and yet the images on the laptop are MUCH lighter and contrasty than the desktop regardless of how many times I try to match profiles etc. So, what may look like nice processing on my laptop looks dull and dark on the desktop, despite same profile management. I know not all monitors are created equal...

[RickS (Rick)]

To get accurate colour you need to use a calibration device (X-Rite i1, Spyder, etc.) to build a specific profile for each of your monitors.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

X Rite colormunki from www.imagescience.com.au is a great tool. Calibrates monitor as well as printer, so your prints come out looking like what you see on your monitor.
Geoff

[sil (Steve)]

Even colour calibration won't give you exact colours as monitors don't generally even support the complete colour gamut. Colour calibration though will get you as close as is possible for your monitor. Printer calibration is a huge problem taking an RGB based illuminated image and trying to get it perfect in a CYMK reflective format...which then looks different depending on lighting conditions.


Also be aware that not all software will display correctly, some might obey the monitor profile you are using, some might ignore it to display using a colour space preference or embedded profile in the image itself. Never embed a monitor profile into an image. sRGB is a smaller gamut but more universal, AdobeRGB is better but even expensive monitors might not support 100% gamut.

[RickS (Rick)]

Originally Posted by sil

Also be aware that not all software will display correctly, some might obey the monitor profile you are using, some might ignore it to display using a colour space preference or embedded profile in the image itself.

For example: http://www.petapixel.com/2012/06/25/...color-managed/

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by sil

Even colour calibration won't give you exact colours as monitors don't generally even support the complete colour gamut. Colour calibration though will get you as close as is possible for your monitor. Printer calibration is a huge problem taking an RGB based illuminated image and trying to get it perfect in a CYMK reflective format...which then looks different depending on lighting conditions.

That's right--advertising hype to "get your print to perfectly match your monitor display" is just that; advertising hype that goes against the laws of physics. However, colour management will produce a close and consistent match, so that with a bit of experience you can use the display as a pretty accurate predictor of the final output.
Geoff