On 8/30/07, fire-eyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm using xorg 7.2.0 with open source drivers on an ati card. How would > I calibrate my monitor? i.e. what a photographer or graphics person > would want to to, do ensure I'm seeing accurate colors on my screen?
Well, it sort of depends on how you define "accurate colors." Are you trying to match what things look like in daylight? Or match your printer colors? The Pantone colors? There are lots of different things that come into play, such as what kind of light is over your monitor (if it's fluorescent, forget it!), different programs may have subtly different colors, do you have an LCD or a CRT, etc. There's no privileged RED(tm) or BLUE(tm) or PURPLE(tm) (unless you're looking for Pantone accuracy, or talking about pure monochromatic light) Remeber also that emitted light (slides, monitors) is very different from reflected light (pictures, wallpaper, etc). I can tell you that in design for the stage, for instance, we're concerned mainly with how colors look when reflecting the light from tungsten-filament lamps, so scenic paint shops will often be equipped with lighting that matches the color temperature[1] and CRI[2] of tungsten filaments. But we don't usually spend much time calibrating monitors to printers to lights, we just either hand-paint a rendering, or do a trial-and-error printing cycle. A quick google search will turn up a lot of calibration software and tutorials. There are also standards such as sRGB[3], they're known as "color spaces," and are designed to make colors the same from input stage to output stage, regardless of what those stages are, or how many there are. The ICC[4] is another place you could look. Some of it comes down to training and experience: if you aren't a pro [photo|video]grapher or graphic designer, you probably wont notice any improvements in "accuracy." If you have a specific application that you need color accuracy for (image creation to web, image creation to print, photography to print, scanner to print), color spaces are probably a good start. But don't forget that it can all be torn down in a second if your room lighting is inaccurate (i.e. most of us). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_rendering_index [3] http://www.w3.org/Graphics/Color/sRGB [4] http://www.color.org/ -- Ryan W Sims -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
