Monitor Calibration - What you see isn't always what you get

The beauty of the ShootDotEdit workflow is partnering with trusted quality professionals. We take care of the laundry list of quality measures (listed below) so you don't have to! 

The following article is FYI and for those wanting to establish high quality proofing environments in their studio or home office. 

Today there are literally hundreds of monitors and video cards out on the market. Add to that mix different ambient lighting conditions: window, night, day, tungsten, or fluorescent, and you get countless different variables that could affect what your images look like.

Calibration is the best way to ensure what you see is what you get with ShootDotEdit, print labs, and album companies! Since every individual monitor can show colors a bit differently, we rely on calibration to get them in line with a single pre-ordained standard.

How to set yourself up for most accurate color

Your Monitor

Not all monitors were made equal, and consumer panels simply are not designed or tested for color proofing. The best option for color correction is an IPS-Panel, as these will represent the most colors, the most consistently, and at the most angles - A list of IPS panels can be found here.  note: avoid Glossy and E-IPS panels

Your Eyes

Acclimate your eyes: if you've ever walked out of a movie theatre in the middle of the day, you know it takes your eyes a minute to adjust to new lighting conditions. Giving your monitor a few minutes to "wake up" is also a plus.

Your Environment 

If you are near a window, the light changes throughout the day. A good pair of blinds or curtains will work wonders to remove this variable. If you are looking at color, keep those blinds or curtains closed. 

Your Lights 

White balance on camera is just as important as white balance in your computer environment. Tungsten lights are yellow, Fluorescent lights are green, and window light is blue. The best option is to use Daylight balanced bulbs between 5200k and 6500k. The calibrator will take care of any minute differences left!

Get a calibrator and Calibrate

ShootDotEdit use's X-Rite's i1Display series. Using a different calibrator may cause the color to appear differently on your monitor, when compared to ours. 

When calibrating, we rely on the following settings:

• Medium White Point set at daylight 6500K (Industry Standard)
• Gamma setting is at 2.2 (Industry Standard)
• Luminance is set at 120 (also known as Monitor brightness - LCD Industry Standard)

Your Color Space

ShootDotEdit works in the sRGB color space. Setting your camera for sRGB, and using print and albums labs with sRGB support will help ensure color consistency throughout your entire workflow.