Do you REALLY NEED to CALIBRATE your MONITOR?

[@davidtran9944]

Awesome thoughts on this subject Mark and honestly you're the only person I've found to have shared solid and unbiased points on color calibration. Most people (especially non-photographers) owning a laptop/desktop computer don't calibrate their displays - they're just regular folks who appreciate great pics. For sharing on social media I feel like calibrating could backfire as those who view it on non-calibrated displays will see a much different photo. After my macbook calibration, I had a similar experience like you - colors became noticeably warmer. After editing and exporting and sending the pics to my iphone, all of them appear much cooler. For printing, that's obviously a different story and I'll keep my monitors calibrated. I do find a bunch of other channels BSing how crucial/life-changing calibrating your monitor is (very true if printing and making money off photography is key) - too salesy about those calibrators and they don't point out the drawbacks. Thanks for sharing your unbiased thoughts and for your honesty.

[@bereantrb]

Printing is obvious, as is working in an industry in which you share your images with other design professionals; you all need to see the same thing. But it's interesting to read some of the comments about others viewing your images on un-calibrated monitors. It doesn't matter. Calibration can still help produce the best source image possible that will look its best to the widest range of people. Perhaps it's helpful to think about how music is produced. Audio engineers need to hear what was actually recorded as accurately as possible in order to do a proper mix, and to hear the final mix as clearly as possible to know they're producing the best sounding track. The listener doesn't have to have the same audio quality as the engineer. If a listener has a great audio system, sure, they can hear the track in all its glory. But it doesn't matter if someone is listening on lesser speakers or earbuds, the song still had to be properly recorded and mixed. Likewise, the better and more accurately you can see the colors and dynamic range that are actually present in the image data, the better your final image, and the better it will look to everybody. One final example: photographers still do everything they can to get their images as tack sharp as possible even though Instagram reduces the image quality. The same is true for other image attributes.

[@anastasiiastepanyan8368]

+++

[@normstangl3499]

I’m new to your site, nice work! Calibration is of course useful for printing references. For consistent image processing of your own work, calibration sets a standard reference point for you regardless of it being displayed on the internet or for print. What happens to the image on other people’s monitors is irrelevant. Calibration helps when using outside printing services since you can establish a standard for the accurate output of your work through a provider. I prefer to be calibrated for my workflow knowing that I’m seeing a consistent colour view of my work.

[@rontz]

About color calibrating for web: yup, you're totally right, there's a big BUT though: a huge chunk of people is looking at your photos through mobile Apple devices and maybe also on Apple computers - what they've got in common is, that they're using the P3 color space on similarly calibrated devices. So, even though you're not exactly controlling the users devices, you can use Apples big marketshare to your own advantage to get a relatively good impression of what your images will look like :)

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Thats a great point! Maybe I should have just kept my iMac display at the factory settings:) I must say though, after working on the calibrated screen for a few days now, I really do like the slightly new look. Seems a bit more natural.

[@mohanpugaz]

Oh my good. This answers my biggest questions. Thanks a lot!

[@paulm8157]

Points taken! Calibration works best when viewers standardize or calibrate to a close set of values. Viewing light levels, individual color perceptions that vary and viewing under back or front lit light sources can alter what we see. Slight variations won’t be a big deal, but significant shifts matter. My educated hunch is that most major color calibration devices work much the same way - they load the calibration profile settings into a PC’s video card at boot-up, meaning you can disable that process if need be, thus solving the “non-reversible color shift of death” syndrome you referenced. From my days of analog print evaluations at a camera club, I remember we had a special “calibrated” light box for print judges to use during our competitions - don’t know what’s used today by on-line viewers. OK, I’ll bite ... what’s with the inhale/exhale tee shirt?

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Very interesting, Paul! Appreciate the info! The t-shirt is made by a company called American Yogi, so the inhale/exhale is play on yoga:)

[@suzanne3t]

Hey Mark have you made any changes to your calibration process since this video was posted?

[@benalexanderbengtsson1926]

thank you for this. Im working as a professional photographer, and ive hav the exact same point of view of calibrated monitors. Ever since i started working, everyone was so scared of not using a callibrated screen. But i never understood why. No one ever sees it the way i did. After a few years i decided to quit all the bullcrap of callibrated screend and just optimized it so it looked close enough to what an imac did. I find mac to be the best Reference feran

[@adokool6400]

Ive been thinking the same thing! You always hear people talking about how important it is to calibrate your monitor but I dont print my work atm I just share it online, so like, what the image looks like to the person viewing it you cant really control. Im 99% sure not a single person has viewed my work on a calibrated monitor as the vast majority of my work is on instagram where people view with phones.

[@CynicalWilson]

Well, yes, I agree.. you can't control what your client might actually see, but I'd think you should still aim for producing the "most accurate" representation of what is "intended to be seen", or even a step further to produce what the client ultimately could bring to a printer and have printed what is supposed to be printed...

[@Pvince73]

Very interesting but i have a dilema… i upload my pics to a print on demand website, so they are displayed online but the same files are used to deliver prints to clients; what settings should i use? Should i calibrate my screen for online vewing or for printing?

[@jefrilay]

Hello Mark, Greetings from Indonesia, I know it was a long ago video but I need help, I have the same xrite like you have and I calibrated my imac 5k late 2015 and also m1 macbook air, but both have the ugly result, the black is not black anymore but look like matte finish, any idea why I get this ugly result? anything I did wrongly? PLease answer Mark, don't know where to ask again, Thanks a lot.

[@ajaynair4024]

Do all monitors do calibration? What would you recommend when buying a monitor? Love your contents 😊

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Yep, you can calibrate any monitor for the most part. I've never purchased a stand alone monitor, it's always been a monitor and computer combo. Thanks Ajay!

[@ksnmurthy4476]

Thank you Mark for the illustrative video. I have a question. Can’t we do monitor calibration through system preferences and do by ourselves? Does tilt require an external calibrator? Please suggest. Thanks again.

[@michaeltrue]

Enjoyed the flow of this video. Calibration is good, may not help in every instance, but valuable tool for quality consistency, especially with printing workflows. Even though you can't control the online viewing of your work, you can at least provide a consistent product to be viewed!

[@Mohammedalammadi]

Thanks for such a quick and fruitful review

[@Tiffany-RemoteOfficeGirl]

Hi Mark, thank you for the helpful video. Is it important to still calibrate an iMac desktop screen when you are sending to a printer instead of printing yourself? Also, you said the program asks to set device in front of your screen after. Do they suggest the lights be on or off in the room? Wondered if that interferes? Thank you!

[@Philip1652]

If you are doing stock photography calibrating your monitor is essential. The reviewers will almost certainly be viewing your images on a calibrated monitor and will reject anything with “off” color. I also agree, every Apple monitor I have used definitely is quite cool until calibrated.

[@heshenga]

I plan to buy a monitor, but, do all monitors can show white after calibration? I don't want it looks yellow.

[@mikan1089]

Should you use this product if you buy a monitor that’s color Collaborated from the factory?

[@rknonk]

Hi Mark, thank you for the information, what is your suggestion on buying an iMac 27" or 100% adobe rgb monitor (VP2785 4K) and Macbook pro 16 for photography?

[@EdiUtomoPutra]

I remembered, some day it is regarding photo of my client i i use color accurate screen then when i sent the picture to my client she doesn't like it she said it is dark, and 5 min later she figure that her display brightness isn't bright enough 🤣. I think calibrated display is needed only when you are in a team or you have multiple display so you can match the display color of each team/display . But when you only has one display and only share the online i don't think we need 🤣 since in online stuff every display is different 😅 we can't control everything. Another think when we want to print our photo, we need to calibrate the printer also. The idea is to make what we see is similar to what we print.

[@mactastic144]

This is why you should stick with the default profile. Most people use the default profile. The problem comes when you're printing. You'd have to have two versions of the work. They did this on purpose, so that people can buy into monitor calibration.

[@nyjeterss]

Also for printing at home or at a shop where printers themselves too need to be calibrated

[@simoneposteraro]

Thanks man, very interesting video!

[@L.Lyubomirov]

I calibrated my monitor with Xrite i1,and removed the calibration...because when i edit my photos in Photoshop,after that they look with very black shadows in all across devices and instagram and facebook,so i prefer my manual calibration method from my video card,adjusting the proper white balance by eye is not difficult,and adjusting the right contrast -there are plenty of charts in internet and its not difficult.

[@brittanysanders2377]

Can you please tell me how? Im new to all of this and my photos look different on my canon then on my laptop!

[@L.Lyubomirov]

@@brittanysanders2377 I ended up again using calibration with Xrite 1,it was my mistake...you should install Firefox browser and enable Color Manegement options,and you should install IRfan photo viewer or similar photo viewer that suports ICC profile,and thats all.

[@iComplainer]

I always wonder what if you have your signature look down and that's what you post to Instagram and that's the look that people who follow you like to see from you and then you go and calibrate your monitor will they see A shift and all of your images will they still like it is it extremely subtle? Is it subtle enough to even bother doing.? You ask the same questions that I've always had in this video but I don't know that I've heard an answer yet

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Right! I've always wondered the same exact thing. Once I applied the new profile it seemed like a fairly substantial change, but after working on that computer for the past few days I really don't even notice the difference anymore.

[@hannaminsky]

Hey Mark, great shout, your video was really interesting. I've been curious about calibrating my monitor lately for better continuity between editing and printing but have a lot of the same doubts as you did. I still wonder whether using a physical color checker (like the Spyder checkr from datacolor) is good enough on it's own or if it's better to calibrate my laptop and then not have to worry about using the color checker. Do you have any thoughts on that? Thanks!

[@ranjithnalaka7477]

Hi sir i got benq pd2700q monitor for my editing. It is nice and perfect. But when i am printing album page images are little dark. But while viewing the monitor I can't see that dark. I tried deferent printers but still same dark problem. Do you have any idea or suggestions for this sir? Or do I need to calibrate my monitor (benq pd2700q)?. Please help thank you. How can I caliborate without calibrate meter

[@runcmd1419]

Check out the ArtisRight channel, he is a benq ambassador and goes over how to load printer and paper profiles.

[@raytreat6599]

If you are calibrating your computer to match the output of your printer then I see calibration software/hardware being useful. That’s s closed loop system. But if you’re taking your images to the local photo print shop it’s not going to be particularly useful and of course for online sharing of images either. Basically, calibration works best in a closed loop environment.

[@Roger-rp8jm]

Do you ever use a online Photo Lab? If so, who do you recommend

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

Roger Brown I used to a couple years ago, but not anymore. I used Fine Art America in the past - they did a pretty good job for the money.

[@Roger-rp8jm]

thanks I will check them out.

[@brunomartelli8163]

Probably you can judge your own work really good when it is printed right. Every Photographer should print his best work. Calibrated workflow is key.

[@MarkDenneyPhoto]

100% agree! This is where I'm able to see the biggest difference.

[@MatthewBrandon1]

I think even if we cannot calibrate for everyones devices, It would be nice to have your own devices match. Im shooting raw on a nikon z6, I import to Lightroom, make modifications based on my 5k iMac monitor then usually post to Instagram. When I posted what I thought was a vibrant image on my iMac looked darker and less vibrant on my iPhone XS. I feel like being in one device family should give at minimum similar images that aren't drastically different.

[@L.Lyubomirov]

Thats the reason i removed my calibration...we are living in digital era,everybody has now smartphone and i want my images to look great in all possible devices,with calibrated monitor its no possible,there is big difference !

[@charleshein4477]

All devices on the web aspire to standard color by a range of means - from eyeballing it to hardware calibration. If you correct on a color calibrated monitor, your stuff will look accurate (and in your opinion, as the artist, best) to the most devices possible. If you choose not to, then your stuff will look wrong on more devices than it otherwise would. Think of it as a bullseye on a dartboard. For those who hit the bullseye (a color calibrated monitor), they should be rewarded with your true artistic vision. Why rob those who care just because there are so many who don't? People who think you meant to make the clouds pink on purpose shouldn't be factoring into your decision process.

[@AliZaidi]

so in the end you never answered the main question - Do we need to calibrate our monitors... since most of the work is viewed online on (probably) uncalibrated monitors?!

[@bentonmaxton7812]

Pro tip: watch series at flixzone. I've been using them for watching all kinds of movies recently.

[@jettdexter6719]

@Benton Maxton Definitely, I have been watching on flixzone} for since november myself =)

[@CurtisGabrielMusic]

I agree with you on this. I'd rather just edit a picture and then check to see that it works ok on a couple of other devices.. I've never had to go back and tweak as yet.

[@pjp967]

A print is in a way the same as a screen. Imagine you print in 5500k controlled environment like a guide lighthouse or special lights in your studio. You don't know where the people that bought your art are gonna put. If they put the frame next to a window all goes out of it :) as far as color accuracy that you worked so hard to accomplish in your studio and changing all day long as a matter of fact 😅

[@bachirmessaouri4772]

Very strange arguments I read from professional photographers or designers. Of course calibration is paramount, even for on screen purposes. If your monitor is calibrated, the fact that someone else's isn't is fine because that person is accustomed to their screen color/brightness/contrast shift. They will consider your work as balanced. But if your monitor shifts too, it can look weird to them. The offset might add up. You can't control their monitor but you can control how large the delta can be. The narrower, the better.

[@MrMiles-gi1hl]

I edit on Mac then look at it on my iPhone... export tiff to iPhone and make adjusts in mobile Lightroom if necessary. Prints are kinda going the way of the dodo... err on the side of caution with saturation because of vivid Android devices etc.

[@nyjeterss]

Yoouuuu knowww there’s free way to do this without getting a spiff right???!!

[@mohammadrezashirazi3271]

How?

[@GodfreyMann]

You posed an interesting question, but didn’t even attempt to answer it...or is your conclusion that we shouldn’t bother calibrating for web? If that’s your answer then you’ve been had by the relativism trap. The proper answer can be said in at least two ways: (1) if one cares about putting out high quality work then (pro or amateur) one should always calibrate. (2) The highest praise comes from the best in our industry and they will be calibrating and they’re the ones whose opinions I care about. Finally, you’re only half right about printing, although we control the medium, we don’t control the display lighting where the print will be viewed, and if they’re using tungsten or cold lights, then our calibrated prints will look off. But this doesn’t matter, the same answers above still apply to prints.