Expert: LizaL - 5/12/2006

Question
Dear LizaL

Firstly, a little about my system config :

I use a P4, XP machine with an HP monitor ( pavilion m703 ) set to 1024x768 ( colour quality 32 bit )
I use a canon 350D digital slr, and photoshop CS2 version 9.

Now, let me try to describe my problem as best as I can to you.

I find a noticeable difference in brightness / contrast / saturation when i view my jpeg or any other images thru windows picture and fax viewer ( its the standard picture viewer application that gets invoked if you double click an image file ).

i find the PShop work window or navigator window displays the image with a little LESSER contrast and saturation but higher brightness.

whereas the image viewer application shows it with MORE contrast and saturation but lower brightness.

although i'm a "non-professional" in that sense, i can assure you its not a subjective view, or something unique to my eyes, as i've validated it with atleast one other person.

is there any kind of re-calibration / montior settings to be done ?

i mean i can understand a minor or imperceptible difference etween applications, but this shows me in my opinion, roughly a 6-8 % variation.

could you please help me with a lay-man's solution ?

thanks and regards

kevin

Answer
Hi Kevin,

Judging by the camera you have, I can tell you take your work very seriously! And I'm sure onscreen display is important to you. That said, remember that onscreen display can never be perfect, nor is monitor calibration an exact science. But there are ways to make your monitor produce pretty accurate color.

I would definitely trust the likeness you see in Photoshop over the one you see in the default picture viewing program you get with Windows. Just by the very nature of the program, Photoshop will do a far more powerful job of interpreting color information than the default viewer. Plus, you can then use Photoshop for color correcting, based on the color information it gives you.

So if I were you, the first thing I'd do is calibrate your monitor. You can take this process as far as you like -- that is, you can do it for free if you don't need really precise color viewing of your images, or you can buy software (and hardware) that will nearly guarantee the most accurate color viewing for your machine.

First the free stuff:

1. Adobe Gamma is a freebie that ships with Photoshop, and should have installed when you installed Photoshop. I'm running CS, not CS2, but as far as I know, Adobe Gamma installed with your CS2. Go to this link on the Adobe site for more information, and instructions on how to use it. Although this might be an earlier version and an older page, Adobe Gamma has remained the same throughout the years, and the process is pretty simple.

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/321608.html


2. I found this sort of "layman's view" of Adobe Gamma here -- it might be easier to follow:
http://www.ephotozine.com/techniques/viewtechnique.cfm?recid=12


3. Here's an online calibration wizard -- don't know how accurate it is, but it's worth a try and can't hurt anything!
http://www.easyrgb.com/calibrate.php


This article also looked interesting -- it has a lot of links about color management, and talks about matching your prints to your screen, etc.:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/what_is_colour.html

In particular, I liked this link from that page:
http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/match_prints_to_screen.html

Here's another article on color management from PC World:
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,110070,00.asp


-- Now we get into purchasing hardware to ensure accurate color matching. One product in particular I know of and have used is the Spyder:
http://www.colorvision.com/profis/profis_view.jsp?id=101

This product really does work well -- I worked with a professional photographer who swore by it, and it's a nice tool.


-- There's also a freeware product I found, but I can't vouch for it:
http://www.hex2bit.com/products/product_mcw.asp


Well, I hope this helps, and didn't overwhelm you! Bottom line, I'd trust Photoshop in viewing and color correcting, but first I'd calibrate my monitor.

If you have any problems, just post back and we'll figure it out.

Lisa