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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
January 10, 2010
Q.
Why doesn't the color of my pictures look the
same when I print them as they look on the
screen?
A.
Most likely this is not the
fault of your computer but the calibration
of your monitor. This is a very common
problem and unfortunately, Microsoft didn't
include an easy way to calibrate the monitor
in Windows. That is up until Windows 7,
which has a very good monitor calibrator
built in.
Most
photo editing applications include a color
calibrator of one kind or another with
varying degrees of ease and acceptable
results. The more elaborate programs like
Adobe's Photoshop have very good calibrators
while lower end applications may offer very
little. Professionals may use a colorimeter
that is hung in front of the monitor for
comparison. These may cost several hundred
dollars so are rarely used by anyone other
than the pros.
So, this
column will apply more for those using
Windows 7 than other operating systems since
it is the only OS that offers this facility.
Click the
Start orb, and then open the Control Panel. If
this is the first time you have opened the
Control Panel, it will display in the
"Category" view. I find this view to be very
counter-productive and recommend that it be
changed to Large Icon view. Within the Large
Icon view, click on the Display icon.
In the
left side panel, click on "Calibrate Color".
Click on the Next button in the lower right
of the screen and read the instructions on
the screen. In most cases, you will not need
to do anything there so just click Next to
get to the Gamma adjust screen.
Briefly,
Gamma is the relationship between the
brightness of an image and the numerical
value of the pixel. Too large a gamma
setting will cause oversaturated colors, and
too little gamma will cause washed out
colors. Move the slider and follow the
instructions to set the recommended gamma.
If you need to backup to check the samples,
click on the back arrow at the top left of
the screen.
After the
gamma is set, click Next to get to the
Adjust Brightness screen. There is a option
to skip the brightness adjustment if your
monitor doesn't have this adjustment or you
just cannot find it. Adjust the brightness
until you can distinguish the dark shirt
from the black background. There is also a
large X that can be used for comparison.
Click Next.
Adjust
the contrast as high as possible without
losing the wrinkles and buttons on the
shirt. Then click Next
This
brings you to the "Color Balance"
adjustment. Adjust the red, green and blue
sliders until you get a pure gray as
possible. This may be accomplished with the
sliders to the full right side. Click
Finish.
Now you
are presented with the ClearType Text Tuner.
Click to turn it on and click Next.
ClearType is a font smoothing technology
that Windows uses to improve the appearance
of text displayed on a monitor, of
particular value on flat panel monitors.
It tends to reduce the jagged edges that can
sometimes appear.
Follow
the instructions selecting the text that
looks best to you on the next three screens.
When all these calibrations have been
accomplished, your screen should look
better, and more accurately print colors
that agree with your monitor. |
