Confusing color issues

[far2canadian]

Anyone who can lend a hand with this with be my new hero.....

I've recently installed a new monitor, and before I downloaded and installed the drivers and calibrated the display, I had no problems other than the fact that it wasn't calibrated and so the colors were a bit off. AFTER I installed drivers and calibrated, however, LR seems to be incredibly warm in its color tone. I'll import from my memory card, the photo will be *noticeably* warm(even when I know the WB is right), i'll correct, but when I open a copy in photoshop, or export to jpg, the photo is very very cool.

The colors across photoshop, IE, firefox, windows fax viewer and even PAINT are reasonably consistent, in this case showing a very blue image. Only lightroom is showing a way way off warmed up image........I've looked everywhere for solutions........

Does anyone know what's going on??????

Thanks a ton in advance!

Lee

 

[far2canadian]

Apparently I didn't exhaust all my resources before i frantically posted. Just found this brilliant solution. Ken, if you find yourself reading this, know you are my hero for the day.......
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Got to your desktop. Right clik on the mouse, and select Properties. In the Display Properties window, click on the Settings tab at the far right. Then click on the Advanced button on the right at the bottom. This will bring up a new window. Look for a tab that says Color Management. If present, clik on the tab and change your monitor's profile. If sRGB is not currently set, choose that from the choices if it is available. Appy the setting and close the windows. See how LR now behaves. If no change, reboot the machine and see how LR behaves. If there is still a problem, check to see if the change that you made to the Color Management tab is still in effect. If so, report back here for more suggestions.

Also, if your monitor has OSD controls (On Screen Display), make sure the color temperature is either set to sRGB or 65''k. These somehow might have been reset, but I doubt it. If your monitor has control software that installs on your machine, re-install it. Good luck.

--Ken

 

[Braders]

Couple of questions..

How are you calibrating the monitor?

What are your system specs?

 

[far2canadian]

Using Quick Gamma to calibrate, if anyone knows of a better program to use, I'd love to be let in on the secret...can't afford an external calibrator right now

System: Sony Vaio/3.2Ghz/1.5GB RAM/Dell19"19'5FP Monitor...soon to be dual display system with a Dell 2'" widescreen

Any particular reason you're asking?

Lee

 

[Replytoken]

Apparently I didn't exhaust all my resources before i frantically posted. Just found this brilliant solution. Ken, if you find yourself reading this, know you are my hero for the day.......

You are quite welcome, Lee! Now my day has a bright spot in an otherwise rainy/snowy mess here in Puget Sound. Regarding calibration, there are a couple of good free programs out there. I believe that Norman Koren's site has one or two useful tools, and there are other programs as well:

http://www.quickgamma.de/indexen.html

http://www.hex2bit.com/products/product_mcw.asp

I recently purchased Spyder2Express for about $6'US and it was a good investment. My CRT was actually quite close to thier recommended target profile, but both of my LCD monitors were quite cool and I could not easily eyeball the needed corrections.

Good luck!

--Ken

 

[Braders]

Using Quick Gamma to calibrate, if anyone knows of a better program to use, I'd love to be let in on the secret...can't afford an external calibrator right now

System: Sony Vaio/3.2Ghz/1.5GB RAM/Dell19"19'5FP Monitor...soon to be dual display system with a Dell 2'" widescreen

Any particular reason you're asking?

Lee

I am not familar with quick gamma.

A more acurate solution would be an external calibrator which is not that expensive in the scheme of your other photography expenses i would have thought.

For simple monitor calibration Eye one display 2 is excellent and reasonably affordable. $2'' from amazon at the moment.

http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?ID=788

If you are looking for a more complete calibration/profiling option to include your printers etc,. then the price starts to increase according to the level of package you desire.

Its worth the money having your monitor calbrated as best you can....so as to ensure more accurate color.

 

[Braders]

If you need in depth info on color management may i recommend

http://www.digitaldog.net/

 

[far2canadian]

Thanks Brad I'll have a look into it. You're right, color management is key....I just have to find justification for the expense!

 

[Replytoken]

....I just have to find justification for the expense!

I was feeling the sme way until I purchased the Spyder2Express. I really enjoy looking at screens that are calibrated, or as close to calibrated as they can be on my budget. Look at it this way - you are training your eyes, or further refining them if you already have good sense of color. The more they see things as they should be, the more you will recognize when things are off. Its not unlike listening to audio equipment. Yes, you get used to what you have, but if you spend some time with equipment that "floats your boat", in this case a color corrected monitor, you quickly notice the lack of those features when they are not there. Why not enjoy a bit of automated color fidelity if the budget allows?

--Ken

 

[Braders]

Thanks Brad I'll have a look into it. You're right, color management is key....I just have to find justification for the expense!

Justification for the expense is color managed environment leading to consistancy in the images you wish to produce...no brainer really.