In which I kindly request your help

[mistress_elaine]

Lately I'm getting the impression I may have some monitor calibration issues. I could launch into a lengthy explanation here of why I believe so, but I'll spare you the details (until you ask for them, anyway). Suffice it to say I'm aware that things aren't quite as they should be and that I'm now trying to determine how bad the situation is.

Comments

[6ft5]

my two cents (viewed on a calibrated LaCie screen)
1. A+E a mix between the two
2. A
3. A+C also a mix
4. C not too black but alittle too dark at the bottom
5. C
6. A
7. C

the problems you are encountering could be due to rgb and cmyk spaces. adobe rgb doens´t do too well when saved for web for instance. it´s a djungle but I can elaborate more later if you like.

[mistress_elaine]

Thanks, G. Your two cents were among the most eagerly anticipated ones, as I sort of expected you to have a fancy, well-calibrated screen. You didn't disappoint me

[6ft5]

can you set the kelvin value? if so try 6500 which is close to daylight, then try a range between 5000 to 6500 and see what happens.

Samsung monitors, as far as I know, are good but not totally acurate. Meaning you won´t´be able to fully calibrate it. If you know that your screens whitebalance is off, try and set the whitebalance on the actual photo in photoshop. then print a copy and a make a save for webcopy and then make a copy of that picture work with saturation and selective colors and print those and compare. After a while you know where your levels should be in order to make printable and on screen pictures the way you intend.

Evry screen is gonna interpret alittle differently so your gonna have to opt for being content with your workflow.

I´d also suggest that you work with sRGB or if the Samsung comes with one, use that and see if that better does what you want.

[6ft5]

sorry. I´m so discreet at times. above was me. :-)

[coeursaignant]

Wow, it's kind of difficult to answer your questions.. mostly because I fear my monitor is not calibrated correctly.. (Then again, it could be that it's actually my monitor at work which isn't calibrated correctly.. Uhhh..) Problem is also that I work on a notebook, and the contrast of photos changes with the angle I look at them. Hmm.

Anyway:

1: I would've said A, but all the other answers mention a certain colour cast, so uhh.. I don't know. There is no specific colour cast. The upper half of the picture is turquoise and green and the lower half is yellow/beige. (And all the colours are very vivid!)
2: A+B, but B is more because I, personally, feel 'irritated' by patterns like the one(s) we see here. ;)
3: A
4: A
5: C (A is a close second, but it's missing the green; plus, I think the colours are subdued, not really "bright" [like the ones in the first picture].)
6: C
7: C

[mistress_elaine]

Thanks for your input. Much appreciated! Judging from your answers, your screen is rather like mine was when I edited these photos, which is a bit different from the way it looks now. That means you roughly got to see the pictures as I intended them. Phew. :-)

You're right, question 1 was a bit unclear. I've rephrased it in such a way that it only refers to the bottom half of the photo now. That should make things a bit clearer.

I know what you mean about the contrast of photos changing depending on the angle you look at them. I'm working on a desktop computer rather than a notebook at the moment, but it does have an LCD screen, meaning the overall colour, darkness and contrast are very angle-dependent. Most annoying, that.

Thanks again!

[belimah]

First, my apologies for occasionally not having an answer that fits those you listed

[mistress_elaine]

Wow, that's detailed! Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your taking the time for this

[minn]

My two cents:

1. A
2. A
3. C
4. A
5. C
6. C

My iMac in Manhattan is very differently calibrated than my PC here in Bombay, and my choices were based on what I saw on the monitor of my PC. Hope it helped! (As an aside, loved the ferns and the solitary tree!)

Also, I so owe you an email. Will get to it soon. xo

[mistress_elaine]

Wonderful. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this, Minnie. I appreciate it a lot.

Judging from your responses, your Bombay monitor is much like mine was until last weekend. You saw the images pretty much as I wanted them seen, which is nice. I'm getting the impression my new calibration should be somewhere between what it was last week and what it is now. So here comes another round of calibration games. As if I'm not quite busy enough without all that technical stuff distracting me... Aaargh. :-)

I look forward to getting your e-mail!

[silverclear]

1: A: It's bright yellow. Wow!
2. B: It's so contrasty it hurts my eyes. Ouch!
3. A: The highlights have a mild orange cast and the midtones appear to be somewhat blueish/greyish.
4. C: Sorry, no. I appreciate what you're trying to do here, but the trees at the bottom are far too black to be subtle.
5. A: The ground has bright orange and bright yellow touches.
6: A: The picture is a bit oversaturated.
7. C: The picture is just right.

I'd modify my answers slightly to say that I /do/ like what you've done with pic 4 but the trees are very black on my screen, and while I say that the last pic is oversaturated I think it's oversaturated in a good way!

I tend to find that my screen shows photos darker than other screens, but I've never really needed to calibrate so it remains slightly out of touch with the world.

[mistress_elaine]

Now this is getting interesting. Judging from the above answers, I'd say your monitor is very similar to what mine was like until last weekend, meaning that my original calibration may not have been so far off as I thought it was. Colour-wise, you got to see the pictures exactly as I wanted them to be seen, which is to say, with a strong yellow cast in the tree photos. Contrast- and saturation-wise, your monitor appears to be very similar to my original calibration, as well. I deliberately oversaturated the solitary-tree image; I'm glad you got to see (and enjoy!) it like that. It looks rather drab on my current screen. I also deliberately upped the contrast on the fern picture, although it wasn't supposed to hurt anyone's eyes. :-) Where your monitor appears to be somewhat different from my original calibration is in brightness. But then you seem to be aware your screen is rather dark