Set up your monitor and be prepared to see the light

by Terry Lane
July 6, 2006 LiveWire

Back in the olden times - say five years ago - when the standard method of sharing photographs was to hand around prints, we all saw the same thing.

These days, when the preferred method of sharing photographs is through the internet and by display on computer monitors, we are all seeing something unique. It would be rare to find two monitors calibrated alike. In fact it is rare to find any monitor calibrated at all. Brightness, contrast and colour are all over the place.

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A new monitor needs immediate adjustment of brightness and contrast. To do this go to dpreview.com and click on any camera review. Near the bottom of the first page of any camera review page there is a greyscale image that shows 26 tones between white and black. A properly adjusted monitor should show differences between all 26 blocks.

Anyone with Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements installed also has Adobe Gamma adjustment installed. It is located in Control Panel on Windows PCs and can be run as a simple step-by-step wizard. It's a bit like going to the optometrist in that it involves making choices between slightly different images - the adjustment is subjective.

Some questions have to be answered to which the correct answers are not obvious. When Adobe Gamma asks for the gamma number, the right answer is 2.2. When it asks for the monitor phosphor (for CRT monitors) the correct answer is probably P22. And when it asks for the hardware white point the correct answer is 6500o K. There may be some arguments about these variables, but these numbers are a good starting point.

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