How does color calibration work?
Color calibration is like an agreement between
your software and hardware to represent color accurately.
At Laser Light, we use ColorVision software to control
our calibration process, and an X-Rite or Spyder colorimeter to
verify the color output of our monitor.
The colorimeter used depends on the type of monitor.
For CRTs, a colorimeter with a suction cup is applied directly
to the glass of the tube. For
our Apple Cinema Displays (or other LCD flat screens) we must
use a specially designed colorimeter that will not put pressure
on the LCD. (Other software
and hardware options, as well as expert color workflow consulting,
are available at Rods and
Cones, and the other resources listed here.)
The process of calibration goes something like
this: First, we start up the software and follow
its instructions for the brightness and contrast settings on our
monitor. Next, it asks us for two important settings
– gamma, which we set at 1.8, and color temperature,
which we set to 6500 K. If
you are using calibration software and want to match the Laser
Light workflow, it is important that you set your gamma and color
temperature to match ours. Setting the color temperature to 6500 K is critical for best results.
Next, the software asks us to use the colorimeter
on the monitor, then commands the monitor to display specific
colors to the best of its abilities.
The colorimeter reads what the monitor actually displays.
The software compares this reading to the expected color,
and then creates a calibration profile so that the color the monitor
displays most closely matches the color expected by the software.
Color calibration is fairly simple once you have
the right software and hardware.
It only takes about 15 minutes for the initial calibration
process, and only about five minutes to refresh your color calibration.
Monitor color can shift with time.
We recommend that you refresh your color calibration every
two weeks if you have a CRT monitor, or every month for an LCD
monitor.
Of course, what you see can be limited by the
capability of your monitor to display colors.
The better your monitor, the more accurately it displays
the colors in your file. Laser
Light’s color workflow ensures the best possible match of the
colors in your ready-to-print file to the colors in your Laser
Light print.
