The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Please Help-Monitor Color Temperature

Mitchell

New member
I have been trying mightily to get a match between what I see on my Apple Cinema monitors, and what comes out of my Epson 3800 printer.

I bought a Colormunki to calibrate my monitors and printer. With some help from X-rite support (they were great, actually answered the phone 3 times, and suffered this computer fool), I've got pretty close. But, the white balance of the print is always warmer than the screen.

Then I had a eureka moment when I held a print on Epson Premium Glossy Paper up to the screen. The white border of the paper looks yellow next to the white border on the screen. So I've since set my Cinema displays to D50 instead of the default D65 which helps, but the paper, indeed all papers still appear yellow, and prints appear warmer than on screen.

Is there a solution to this?
Thanks for any help.

Best,

Mitchell
 

pfigen

Member
What kind of light are you viewing your prints under? That can and will drastically affect your perception of the whiteness of your paper base, particularly when comparing it to your screen.

Standard viewing lights are nominally D50 with popular lights like the Solux being a few hundred Kelvin warmer. The perceptual translation between screen and print normally requires that the screen be set to D65 rather than D50 to match the print, but any given monitor can be different.

The overall luminance of the screen can also have big effect on how the color is perceived. The higher the cd/m2 luminance of the monitor, generally the lower the monitor Kelvin needs to be in order to create a perceptual match. It can take some trial and error to get it right, but you should be able to get there.

Then there is also the possibility that there could be a problem with your Colormunki...
 

Wayne Fox

Workshop Member
As mentioned the color of the light in your viewing station should be decent quality, and it should be consistent.

To get a good match it almost always requires setting a custom white point when creating the profile. I'm not sure the color munki can do that, so you may just have to go with the one that gets you closest.

I recommend you don't have the print and monitor so you can see both at the same time. Your eyes will adapt quickly to the white point of each which is what will be happening with those that view the prints.

Finally you might find soft proofing helps you with the "paper white" issue, as it will simulate the paper color for you.
 

Mitchell

New member
Thanks pfigen and Wayne,

Much appreciated. The greater warmth of the prints is noticeable well away from the monitors.

My studio has some sort of full spectrum florescent lights installed by my artist landlord. I don't suppose any florescent light is suitable?

Best,

Mitchell
 

Wayne Fox

Workshop Member
My studio has some sort of full spectrum florescent lights installed by my artist landlord. I don't suppose any florescent light is suitable?
I'm not an expert but have read from those that should know that fluorescents really never can obtain full spectrum ... they will almost always have issues in certain colors. Also I believe full spectrum can vary in white point.

I have some daylight balanced full spectrum fluorescents and find they tend to make the prints look cooler than my viewing station, which is more tightly controlled lighting using Solux 4100k bulbs and find them a better way to judge. Depsite the 4100k rating, these bulbs are very close to natural daylight in spectrum and white point, and in fact many advocate the use the their 3500k bulbs, which are warmer.

The key to me has always been getting a good color rendition that isn't overall biased, but results in an image that looks good in whatever light the final image will be viewed in. The solux seems to be a good compromise to accomplish that. Personally I don't trust the fluorescents because they really can be all over the place, and I don't know which brand/model can be trusted (although I'm sure there are some that work well).

But as mentioned, to get the white point to match you almost always have to dial in a custom white point. In my case on my MacBook Pro I have to set it to 6100, on my apple cinema display it's set to 6300. We use Eizo's at my shop, and they tend to match more closely (not sure what they are set to, but staff deals with them) but again we are using solux 4100k bulbs to judge the final prints by.
 
Top