Calibrating Your Monitor the Right Way


Hardware calibration is definitely the preferred method of monitor calibration (in fact, I don't know of a single pro using the freebie software-only method). With hardware calibration, you're measuring your particular monitor and building a real profile for the real world, and it makes a huge difference. I use ColorVision's Spyder2PRO hardware calibration, which is popular with many pros because it's easy to use, works well, and it's affordable. Although I personally use the Spyder2PRO, other hardware calibrators I would recommend are GretagMacbeth's Eye-One Display 2 and Monaco Optix XR.

Step One

After you install the Spyder2PRO software, plug the Spyder2PRO colorimeter sensor into your computer's USB port, then launch the Spyder2PRO software. Like the freebie calibration software, it will ask you a series of questions (like do you have a tube-CRT monitor or a flat-panel LCD monitor) and a host of other boring questions, similar to what the freebie software asks. What separates the two is the hardwarethe Spyder2PRO colorimeter actually reads your monitor to create a custom profile for your real monitor (not a hypothetical monitor).

Step Two

Once you've answered all their questions (including a series of probing personal questions about your arrest record, previous marriages, etc.), it then instructs you to position the Spyder2PRO sensor directly over the actual-size image of the Spyder2PRO that appears onscreen. Drape the sensor over the top of your monitor so it sits flat against your screen (there's a counterweight attached to the cable so you can set it to any length you want).

Step Three

Once the colorimeter sensor is aligned with the one onscreen, click Continue, and it will conduct a series of tests, starting with reading your monitor's black point. It will continue by reading samples of red, green, and blue. The window onscreen (directly under the sensor) will start measuring each color while appearing nearly black, but then slowly each color will get brighter and more saturated until each reaches its full intensity. Once it reads the gray point, the process is done.

Step Four

When all the measurements are done, you'll be asked to remove the hardware sensor and give your new profile a name (it suggests a name, but the name it suggests is too close to my existing canned profiles, so I usually rename it so it will be easier to find). Now click the Next button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

Step Five

The final screen is important in that you get to see how your monitor looked before calibration and how it looks now after being hardware calibrated. Click the Switch button at the bottom of the window to toggle between the before-and-after view. Chances are you'll gasp when you see how "off" your monitor was before calibration. You don't have to do anything else at this pointit will automatically tell Photoshop about your new monitor profile.



    The Photoshop CS2 Book(c) for Digital Photographers
    The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)
    ISBN: B002DMJUBS
    EAN: N/A
    Year: 2006
    Pages: 187
    Authors: Scott Kelby

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