Is there a standard way of ensuring the colours I prepare are the colours other people see on their screens?

I'm using the Adobe Gamma Loader that came with Photoshop Elements. I wondered if there is another system that might be more popular or effective.

actually avi was wondering about something similar...along the lines of contrast.. images look completly differen on his monitor and on mine.. due to how we have our levels set up... we were thinking of the idea of setting up a special base image like many computer games now have... take a look at this mock image i have created....HERE

Im fairly certain the contrast part will work allowing you to set you contrast to the same level as mine.. however im also fairly certain that the colour one wont work.. but maybe something like that might.. im sure a more computer teched brain on caedes will have an answer to that!

yeah, Robert I've been wondering about this for a while & i was gonna post an image to 'sychronize' contrrst levels just yesterday, then i thought better of it. But what Grim has linked to is great for contrast levels but I'm stumped about how to synch colour levels.

I had Klas & Darryl i think who accidentally adjusted their screen to see a grid pattern that i had included in an image, but again that was to do with contrast. u can see the effects of this synching here

Thanks for responding guy's. I have got both those links thanks. I think I have the contrast worked out OK.

What got me thinking was my picture Dawn's Blush. It has very delicate tones. The camera gave something quite different to what I saw when I took the picture. It had adjusted the colour to suit tungsten light, which blew the dawn colour away. Changing the colour back to daylight fixed it for me, but what are other people seeing on their monitors?

Its reassuring to know I’m not the only one wondering about this. Thanks again.

It might be a good idea for the website to have a "standard monitor setting" defined so that images can be made to look the same on all monitors using the setting. What would be the easiest way to do that?

I think you would need some sort of graduated tone and color scale? I recall reading about this where a graphics company set a network of computers to a common setting.

This might not let you balance your screen, but something like this makes for a good start:

http://www.visibone.com/colorlab/

17FEB04: Thanks, trisbert, for the site you recommend (below). Some really cool free programs!

I think all the respondents understand the dilemma. Caedes you have hit the nail on the head.

I have found a very small (71 kb) freeware program by Johannes Wallroth called TestScreens. It allows you to test eight monitor functions including colour quality. I tried it on 3 computers here and the colour match improved markedly.

I think we could use it as a recommended tool and perhaps link to it. Could you guy's check it out? See if you think its suitable? The URL is: http://www.programming.de/

PS you might find a few other goodies there too.
Thanks all for you input.

What I was thinking is that everyone could get a pantone color-swatch thingie and then hold it up to the monitor when they adjust the settings. Last night I also made a little brightness/contrast calibration image that uses a checkerboard pattern to set grayscale levels. I'll try uploading it when I can.

now we r getting somewhere : ) i will def chk those links out

I'm using a hardware colorprofile maker, the LaCie Blueye. Beats using my own poor judgement regarding what are the right hues. By the way... If you intend to have a global solution for all caedes.net users, then I think it would be proper to have both PC and Mac compatible versions. I'm not the only Mac user around. ;-)

Caedes i'm looking forward to see your patterns, it could be the universal solution.

Avi. i'm keen to hear what you think after you check those links.

Klas. The Blueeye is perfect, (i'm jealous) but I think beyond the financial scope for most people.

Don't be so jealous Robert. I'm merely borrowing it from a friend in the graphics design buisness. :) My wife work in that field too that's the only reason I can have a desent monitor to begin with... I get her "old" screens and such when she upgrades her gear once in a while... ^_^ I'm really glad she's doing so fine. I get to use much better stuff than I ever could afford otherwise. After all I'm just a student.

I'm pleased for you Klas, lucky man.

still having probs with the colour matching progs, i had a look at the links I it didnt really lead me anywhere precise or didnt appear to be cross platform either.but i'm limited in my search capabilities at work so i will look into it when i get home : )

ok I have found some interesting links click here still reading but i havent found any cros platform software solutions to the problem as it highlights. i will continue looking : )

Thanks Avi. I’m looking too. I will admit when I gave those links I was forgetting we need cross platform.

I have found several greyscales we can use freely but haven’t found anything we can use for colour yet. I might have to create one in photoshop if I can find the specifications somewhere.

yeah I'm working ona test image too but that would be configured to my screen settings

I think that if it’s made with percentage values it should work on any system, but what values to use?

I had a brief look at your link. It’s interesting and will examine it when time permits.

Well maybe crossplatform is not a must. I do realize I'm in minority. But I'm not having trouble with my settings really. It was more that if you were thinking global solutions then I might not be able to use them if they are PC only...

Avi. That's a big problem with creating test images. I could never trust my settings so much that I would let others adjust their monitors after an image I made. I checked that image Graeme did and it only helped a bit on my not so perfectly set old monitor. My new blue eye adjusted screen can't get any darker 'couse it's calibrated with max contrast as it's supposed. I can't make my screen darker. ^_^

So there we go again. GRiMs screen might need adjusting before making the image in question or my hardware might be screwed somehow... (Or I managed to misuse a foolproof hardware / program... Not impossible at all.) ^_^ Don't windows have some tools for basic mointor adjustments? A tool for that is built into the Mac OS system. (I'm running 10.3.2 aka Panther but it's been there in similar forn since forever) Macs are widely used in the graphics industies and have not the same troubles as PCs in this regard...

(Hehe... Evil though: If you all got brand new Macs instead there would not be such a big problem maybe. :D Just kidding. I guess we have some problems too. (But most oftenly not of that kind.))

Hmm. Robert, I think you are right. I took too long to write my post (as usual...) but I still think you should give it a PC only approach for the moment since it's too hard to make it work for both sides at the same time.

u r right, macs have been the industry stardard in multimedia for a while, PCs are just catching up, & i read somewhere about a colour synching program for windows but i havent really come across it as yet. & yes i am aware of the differences in screen settings. i did however notice monitor colour matching systems but they required u to buy an external device(the cheapest of which was $199) which calibrates ur monitor to industry standards. this was obviously meat for a more commercial/office environment where the colour synching is essential.

It's that program you got to find... I'll ceep a look out too and see if I can find it. :) It's just as important for me that you guys have the right monitor adjustments so I can get to enjoy your art to it's full. ^_^

Try this link regarding monitor calibration:

epaperpress.com/monitorcal/download/%20MonitorCalibration.pdf

It looked rather useful to me.

ok Klas, i tried & it didnt work...but im at work so there might be restrictions that i'm not aware of thats hindering me. i also tried it with www added to it.

My bad I copied from the Google text. It should have a http:// first (google leaves that out):

http://epaperpress.com/monitorcal/download/MonitorCalibration.pdf

But you can go to this URL too: http://epaperpress.com/monitorcal/index.html

woohoo...i got access to it but the restrictions on this computer prevented me from looking at it, so i gotto wait till i get home. : ) thanx Klas

More useful links:

http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html

There seems to be some links to softwares there too. I can't check how they work of course... I did look on an old Mac software version (WiziWYG) and it looked ok. :) What I have allready in my system is much better IMHO but it's the same principles I guess.

this is what i call a group effort & true team spirit :D on the ball solving problems while we r at it : ) i will chk it out at home.

Seriously though. Get a Mac... :D Hehe. Couldn't resist it. ^_^

well macs arent bad at all, i've used them & i understand where u r coming from but I've grown up with pcs & thats like the proverbial taking a horse to a stream but u cant make it drink. : ) just too comfortable with the limitations/problems with pcs, knowing those i can work around them, which i couldnt do with a mac. :p

It's quite easy to understand where you come from too. It's usually something like that.Everybody uses PCs because everybody uses PCs... That's the way it will probabaly allways be too. ^_^ I'm sticking with macs though as long as it's practically possible. I just like the way they work and there's such small things like that I never had a virusproblem ever with a mac... plus I really don't like Microsoft. :D (But who does?)
I just had to mock around. ^_^ ( You know there are no limitations to work around with Macs. :P Sorry... I'm at it again.)

Anyway, I hope the links I found are of any help. I thought they looked good. :)

Cheers,
Klas

will chase them when i can : ) nice one Klas agree with u on MS. : )

You guys have been busy. The "normankoren."site is very useful for all things photographic. He has the best test pattern I have found yet, but its not public domain.

I still like the idea of a cross platform solution if possible.

Avi if you like, send me a PM with your e-mail address and I will send that program to you.

I know what Klas means when he won't trust his settings for others to use. That’s why I think we should stick to percentage values.

Still looking, still learning (I think I’m learning something).