Calibration with DigitalCreative.info's Guide to Digital Photography and Image Manipulation

Why doesn't my print look as good as the picture on my monitor / my friend's monitor / someone's digital projector / etc?

So often we take our image files and open them on the computer monitor and they look fantastic but then they are shown on a friend's monitor, printed out or displayed through a digital projector and the colours are all wrong or they look as if they've been dragged through mud! Why? In a nutshell, 'What you see isn't necessarily what you get,' when you move your files to other equipment. It's all to do with calibration. This can get very technical and, to many of us, mind bogglingly complicated. Unless you have an interest or a skill in these areas, work on the theory of adjustments by eye and, where there are obvious discrepancies, allow for these, and compensate, when preparing files for printing or other computer display. Everyone with an interest in digital image display is aiming for the same level of consistency so at least you'll be going in the right direction!

Begin by making sure that your monitor is calibrated properly. To check this, display the properties of your monitor (find these in the control panel under Disply/ settings. The colour setting should be 'true colour'/32 bit. If you have Adobe Elements installed on your computer return to the control panel and select Adobe Gamma, which will take you, step be step, through the procedure for creating a colour profile for your monitor; it's easier than it sounds!

You may find, now, that your pictures don't look as good on screen as they did before! Colours might be flatter and less vibrant. Learn to live with this because if you're going to show your images elsewhere or print them this is a truer indication of what to expect.

The next thing to consider is printing. The easy option is to take the image storage card from your camera to a high street outlet that will print them for you - just as they come out of the camera. This will give you the same mix of good, bad and indifferent as was obtained through taking your roll of 35mm film into the high street lab and then picking up your pack of prints the next day. If you want to get more out of this hobby of ours then start to take more control!

If you decide to print your own images then the finished results will only be as good as the printer you've used, regardless of how brilliant they were at the camera stage. Look for a printer that is designed to deliver the continuous tones that a photograph needs. Consider the size of the pictures that you will want to print; A4 is the norm but, consider an A3 (which will also print the smaller versions) if you might want them bigger at some time. Don't try to economise on cheap paper and inks. They might appear to be bargains but you might find that there are strange colour casts or the colours change, often unpleasantly, over a short period of time. Longevity in quality is to be aimed for, wherever possible. Today's printers for the photographer offer quality prints and longevity if the recommended paper and inks are used. It's worth it.