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DISPLAY PROFILING
X-Rite Color Services 800.248.9748 x2685 [email protected]
INTRODUCTION
Monitor previews that match the print can save a
considerable amount of time and money for anyone in
the photo and printing industry. Photographers and
designers who need to adjust images fnd that a color-
calibrated monitor is indispensable for previewing
edits. Anyone who prints color-critical images, such
as photos or corporate colors, will beneft from the
ability to view colors on-screen as they will look when
they are printed.
So, how can you be sure that the colors displayed on
your monitor are the same colors that will appear in
print? The answer is simplecalibrate and profle.
Ambient lighting and colors around your monitor
will affect your judgment of color. The lighting
should be set low and the monitor should be brighter
than the surrounding light. The colors surrounding
the monitor should be low key and neutral.
Print viewing conditions are also very important. To
learn more about viewing conditions, please see our
Viewing Conditions Need-to-Know document.
CALIBRATION SYSTEMS
Although the Adobe Gamma (Mac/Win) and Apple
Display System Preference (Mac OS X) can be used to
visually calibrate a monitor, it is more accurate to use
a color measurement instrument such as an emissive
colorimeter or spectrophotometer to read color values
from a monitor.
X-Rites monitor calibration systems include
the Eye-One Display 2 and ColorMunki
Create colorimeters, as well as Eye-One
Pro, ColorMunki Photo and ColorMunki
Design spectrophotometer systems.
HOW TO CALIBRATE A
MONITOR
Monitor calibration is a four-step process. Although
the steps are diffcult to distinguish, they follow a
hierarchy known as the 4 Cs of color management.
For the most accurate and stable color profles, follow
each of the steps.
4 Cs of Color Management
Conversion
Characterization
Calibration
Consistency
Step 1: Consistency
This is a critical frst step. Is your monitor providing
consistent, uniform color across the screen? If it has
areas that show different color casts, calibration and
profling will not improve your display. If it randomly
fuctuates in color or brightness, calibration and
profling will not make it more stable.
Step 2: Calibration
Calibration means achieving a known standard
of performance. For monitors, the standards are
contrast (gamma) and color balance (white point).
Calibration includes optimizing the hardware
settings (if available) for contrast, brightness, and
color temperature. Optimized settings provide the
best image reproduction on-screen.
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DISPLAY PROFILING
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White point on monitors usually ranges from 5000
9300 Kelvin (K). Lower values are more red and
higher values are more blue. When the white point
is set to Native, the program uses the monitors
current white point without changing it.
Graphic artists who plan to print on offset presses
may prefer to use 5000K, which is the ISO standard
for the graphic arts. However, viewing standards were
written for fuorescent light bulbs. CRT monitors are
generally dimmer, especially when adjusted to match
5000K. Many users fnd that 5000K is too warm
and dull and prefer to use higher settings like 5500
or 6500. LCD monitors can be brighter and can
be calibrated to any value between 5000 and 6500
without diminishing the brightness, but we still
recommend 6500K for general graphics use. Some
advanced users try different values (always between
5000 and 6500) to fnd the one that best matches the
look of their paper under their viewing conditions.
Monitor Luminance values describe how bright the
monitor appears. The monitor should appear brighter
than the room lighting. Luminance is measured in
candela per square meter (cd/m
2
), sometimes called
nits. Your CRT monitor should be 100 cd/
2
or
brighter; otherwise you might want to consider a
replacement. LCDs are capable of higher levels, as
high as over 300. Values between 120 and 160 will
provide enough brightness to see details in shadows
without being uncomfortable to use for long periods
of time. Some monitor calibration software will allow
the user to set desired settings. This can be useful to
get multiple monitors to match more closely. Another
option available in some software is to automatically
adjust the luminance relative to the room brightness.
Monitor calibration creates a curve that adjusts
the monitors behavior to match your selected white
point and gamma. The calibration curves are saved to
the computers video card. As part of the calibration
process, some software also includes advanced
options to assist in adjusting the monitors front panel
controls to attain even better results.
On Windows, the calibration curves are downloaded
to the video card upon startup. If you switch profles,
Gamma values in monitor calibration software
can range from 1.003.00; the higher representing
a darker appearance with more contrast. The native
behavior of most monitors today is 2.2. Calibrating
to this setting will provide the smoothest gradients.
Selecting a value that is very different than the native
gamma of the display can introduce banding or
posterization in the gradients.
Monitor Calibration
Monitor profling occurs automatically after calibration as
the instrument measures a series of color and gray patches
on-screen.
Calibration Settings
Monitor calibration settings include color balance (white
point) and contrast (gamma).
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DISPLAY PROFILING
X-Rite Color Services 800.248.9748 x2685 [email protected]
the display wont change because the new calibration
curves wont be loaded until you restart the computer.
Macintoshes dynamically load calibration curves
each time a monitor profle is selected; so when you
select a new profle, the displays contrast and color
balance will change right away.
Step 3: Characterization
After calibrating, the monitor calibration program
will create an ICC profle. Most monitor profling
software will then assign this new profle as the systems
default profle for this monitor. Characterization, or
creating an ICC profle, is the third step in the 4
Cs.
To help keep track of your profles, it is recommended
that you create a monitor profle naming convention.
It is a good idea to use a name that you will associate
with this monitor, especially if you have multiple
monitors on the system.
Step 4: Conversion
The fnal C in the calibration process is converting
the fle from the standard working space, such as
Adobe RGB or sRGB, to your monitors profle. This
fnal step will confrm that what you see is whats in
the fle (WYSIWIF).
A couple of points to remember:
Be sure to convert images captured on a scanner
or digital camera to a standard working space
profle, such as Adobe RGB, instead of to the
monitor profle.
Do not select the new monitor profle as your
RGB working space in any of your applications.
Graphics applications that are ICC compliant,
such as Adobe and Quark, will automatically
convert the display.
Do not select the new monitor prole as an
RGB working space in any graphic applications
or print drivers! Your graphic applications
will automatically use the prole for screen
previews only.
HOW TO CHECK A
MONITOR PROFILE
After you have completed each of the steps in
the 4 Cs of color managementconsistency,
characterization, calibration and conversionyou
should verify the profle you created is accurate.
Evaluating color. The best way to do this is by
comparing a test photo displayed on the monitor
with a printed sample of the photo. Ideally, the
print should be viewed in a 5000K viewing booth,
and printed with a printer profle that you know is
accurate. It is actually best if the viewing booth is not
directly next to the monitor, but rather, put a little
CAMERA, SCANNER
PROFILE
MONITOR PROFILE
PRINTER
PROFILE
RGB to RGB
RGB WORKING SPACE
PROFILE
RGB to CMYK
R
G
B

t
o

R
G
B
Color conversion takes place when color values are
changed to match between one device and another.
Conversions for preview to the monitor are done
automatically in the background in Adobe and Quark
applications and many other ICC aware applications
Conversion
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DISPLAY PROFILING
X-Rite Color Services 800.248.9748 x2685 [email protected]
distance between the two or even put them at right
angles to each other. This way your eyes have a little
time to adjust for the different in the whiteness as
they move from print to screen. The photos should
also represent the type of work that you print, such
as portraits with feshtones, products with memory
colors such as reds, greens, and blues that people
know how they should look, gray scales, highlights,
and shadows.
H
o
t
T
i p
To help you print the most accurate
colors, we also offer Need-to-Know
documents on printer proling. Select the
one that matches your type of printer.
Evaluating shadow reproduction. To check your
monitors ability to render shadow detail, create the
following documents in Photoshop:
A square with three gray levels: RGB = 0 0 0, 8
8 8, and 12 12 12. Check that your monitor can
resolve all three gray levels.
A blend from black to white. Make an empty
document 6 in. wide 1 in. high at 72 ppi. With
the blend tool, create a blend from black (RGB 0
0 0) to white (256 256 256). Check that shadows
and highlights can be resolved and that the
gradation is smooth with no breaks or banding.
To check that your monitor profle is working, view
these test images with the profle turned on and off.
To turn off the monitor profle, select View >
Proof Setup > Monitor RGB. This shows the
image with the calibration, but not the profle.
To view with both the calibration and the profle,
uncheck Proof Colors.
If you see problems in any of these tests, try setting
the monitor back to its factory setting from the front
panel, then recalibrate and profle.
ADVANCED FEATURES
Several advanced monitor calibration features are
available with X-Rites Display Calibration products.
These advanced features might be valuable if you
use multiple monitors in the same studio, or if you
regularly compare screen previews to printed samples.
Ambient Light Measurement. X-Rite has a couple
of Ambient Light Measurement options.
Luminance Adjustment - ColorMunki Display,
Photo, and Create include the option to
automatically adjust the monitors luminance
based on the measured room ambient light level.
Viewing Conditions Qualifcation - i1Pro, when
used with i1Share or i1Match, can be used to
RGB 0 0 0 RGB 8 8 8
RGB 12 12 12
To check your monitors
ability to render shadows,
create these images in
Photoshop and compare
with and without the
monitor profle. Turn off
the profle by selecting
View > Proof Setup >
Monitor RGB.
Evaluating Shadows
X-Rites Eye-One Pro, Eye-One Photo, Eye-One Proof,
Eye-One Design and Eye-One XT instruments are
equipped with ambient light heads that can measure the
ambient light of your viewing conditions.
Ambient Light Measurement
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DISPLAY PROFILING
X-Rite Color Services 800.248.9748 x2685 [email protected]
measure the quality and intensity of the light to
confrm that the ambient light and viewing light
conditions are acceptable.
Luminance adjustment. If you want all of
the computers in your studio to display the same
brightness, you may fnd the ability to set monitor
luminance valuable. Most ColorMunki, Eye-One
Match and ProfleMaker products allow you to adjust
the monitor luminance in candelas per square meter
(cd/m
2
) so that multiple monitors can be set to the
same brightness. This will provide a better match
between displays.
Profiling Dual Displays. If you use more than
one monitor on the same computer, you may want
to profle both displays. Keep in mind that monitor
calibration values are stored in the video card, so if
your video card only supports the calibration of one
monitor, you can only calibrate one of the displays.
There are a few options for overcoming this. You
can calibrate one color-critical monitor and use the
uncalibrated monitor for tool palettes, use a separate
video card for each monitor, or use a video card that
supports calibration of multiple displays.
H
o
t
T
i p
Todays Macintosh Powerbooks and iMacs
support separate calibrations for built-in and
external displays. G4, G5 and Intel desktop
Macs support multiple monitor calibration.
Some combinations of PC video cards and
Windows operating systems will not support
multiple monitor calibration. Check with the
manufacturer to conrm support for yours.
Paper white point. If you work in graphic arts,
having the white on your monitor match the printing
paper may be a useful feature. With ProfleMaker,
you can enter the papers colorimetric readings and
set the monitors white point to that of the paper.
If you prefer to actually read the paper, you
can use a spectrophotometer such as X-Rites
Eye-One Pro. Be careful, many papers have
UV brighteners that will measure more
blue than they appear to the eye. If you
use measurements from a paper with UV
brighteners, your display will appear too blue.
Network monitor calibration. In a network,
it may be necessary for the colors displayed on
all monitors to look as alike as possible. With
ProfleMaker monitor calibration, you can calibrate
multiple monitors to each other by saving target
values (white point, gamma, luminance) as a reference
fle. This fle can be loaded on both Macintosh and
Windows platforms and used to make sure that all
displays are calibrated to the same target values. This
will help get the monitors to match as closely as they
can. However, keep in mind that calibration cannot
change the range of colors that a monitor is capable of
displaying, so some colors still will not match.
CONCLUSION
Taking the time to calibrate your monitor so that
what you see on the display matches what you will see
when you print can save you a considerable amount
of time and money. Visit www.xrite.com for more
information on the display profling tools that can
make monitor calibration fast and easy.
Classroom
Training
eLearning
Training
On-Site
Training
For information on a variety classroom, custom on-site, and
highly interactive on-line training options, see X-Rites Color
Services web site at http://www.xrite.com/top_services.aspx
Contact us at:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 800.248.9748 x2685