Monitor set-up

AnimalBones

AnimalBones

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Hi, I would like to set up my display (MacBook M1 2020-lacking XDR display) so that my soft proof in Lightroom will print exactly as I see it on the screen (brightness, contrast etc). I have brightness set to 5/16. I hope I can avoid buying monitor calibration hardware! Can I go with the standard Colour LCD colour profile (under Settings>Displays) and I’m good to go? I will only be printing b+w. Thanks.
 
Colour profiles don't make a difference when printing B&W as far as I'm aware. There are some obscure videos on YouTube regarding creating B&W profiles which get extremely in-depth.

The biggest factor will be paper choice, but using a manufacturers colour profile won't help with B&W printing.

You don't mention what printer you have, what paper you're using, or what the lighting conditions are in your printing area so it's very tricky to advise. My advice would be to get a box of A4 of whatever you want to use (or a test pack of different papers if you don't know), do a basic print with no calibration to see how it looks. When you compare to your monitor, do it in good light. A monitor is backlit, whereas a print is lit using reflected light. I use my conservatory for it.

Make notes on the print of areas that have issues. Usually it's very deep shadows and bright highlights. Adjust your monitor so that it looks like the print. Try again. If it works, and your monitor is capable, save it as a monitor profile for that paper. Rinse and repeat as neccessary.

I have found Lightroom's soft proofing to be next to useless because it uses the paper *colour* profile which isn't representative (in my experience) when it comes to B&W. I have found screen calibration systems also great for colour work, but not great for B&W. My options were "make the screen look like the print", or "go down the rabbit hole of building B&W profiles".

As for Printer choices, my Epson has a dedicated B&W mode which is excellent for reproducing what's on my screen. In my case, I can get away without adjusting the screen, instead relying on the fine tuning in the print module, and making a preset for that paper which I can reuse with confidence. I am extremely satisfied with my B&W prints.

Hope that's helpful, and I'm sure others will chime in with different replies.
 
Harlequin565 said:
You don't mention what printer you have, what paper you're using, or what the lighting conditions are in your printing area so it's very tricky to advise. My advice would be to get a box of A4 of whatever you want to use (or a test pack of different papers if you don't know), do a basic print with no calibration to see how it looks. When you compare to your monitor, do it in good light. A monitor is backlit, whereas a print is lit using reflected light. I use my conservatory for it.
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Many thanks for your response. I don't have a printer, I will be using an external provider and sending them files. My understanding is that I want to have my screen set up such that what I see on the screen is an accurate reflection of what the digital file will print. For example, if I set my screen to maximum brightness and edit in LR, I will get a dark print as my screen does not match the "reality" of the digital file. I hope that makes sense. As I am only printing b+w I don't need colour calibration, however screen white/black, contrast, brightness will need to be correct so I am "seeing" what I print.
 
Ah right. That's out of my wheelhouse I'm afraid. Good luck though!
 
I think that if you set your monitor to max brightness then that is a start, that's is how most people profile.

However, you might want to look up Soft Proofing and see how that is done in Lightroom (I don't use Adobe) and get a "paper profile" from the place you are sending your image to be printed. Then you will get very close to how your image should look.

I think Colour Profiles do have an impact on B&W image because unless you are using a monochrome sensor camera, your image will a colour one retain the RGB profile and the printer will probably be printing out on a colour printer as well.

Bear in mind that you on your monitor you will be looking at and image with projected light where as on a print it will be reflective light so the ability to have a like for like is very difficult to achieve.

Might also be worth dropping the printers an email and just ask how they would like to receive the image as that may help in getting a good result.

Good luck.
 
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Knikki said:
I think that if you set your monitor to max brightness then that is a start, that's is how most people profile.
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Maybe I'm not understanding properly, please forgive me if so. But my understanding has been that the prime cause of "my prints are way too dark" is that they've been edited on a monitor that's way too bright...
 
The answer is to calibrate it with hardware to a known profile, anything else is trial and error and guesswork I'm afraid. On the plus side it's nearly black Friday so getting something for well under £100 should be easy pickings. Look at Spyder or Calibrite.
 
Even if printing in B&W you need to calibrate the monitor for gamma (greyscale midpoint) and brightness; but brightness is relative to the ambient light. AFAIK, there are no B&W calibration tools/methods as the monitor is an RGB device; so you still need to calibrate it in color. Hardware calibration is best. However, for B&W a basic visual calibration may be adequate; both Mac and Windows have that capability built in. There are also resources available online to help.

The other half of it is softproofing during/after editing using the printer/paper profile... IMO this is even more important when printing in B&W because the tonality of a B&W print is very dependent on the paper used. The appropriate paper/printer profile can be obtained from any good print shop/service.
 
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ChrisR said:
Maybe I'm not understanding properly, please forgive me if so. But my understanding has been that the prime cause of "my prints are way too dark" is that they've been edited on a monitor that's way too bright...
Click to expand...

All of the calibration tools I have used it always wants the monitor brightness turned up to full and from watching some YouTube chanels, they always seem to do the same thing.

The image on paper is never going to be 100% the same as on a monitor so will always appear a little on the 'darker side'.

As for the "image is to dark because my monitor is too bright" I have had that issue in the past but that was down to me not understanding the way digital printing works or how to prep and image before you send to print. I think many who say that simply load up and image and then just hit the print button without doing much if anything to the print, and end up with a darker image than they expect.

I am not printing guru and I am still learning and only going off what I have seen, heard and done myself :)
 
There's also an issue of using a lab. If it's a high street type printer they are just running everyone's files through the printer without checking anything which means your B&W image will get printed with colour profiles and (in come cases) colour inks. If you use a specialist (which is often more expensive) especially for B&W prints, they will likely use a B&W print mode for the printer which will likely give better results.

Another link to Keith's site which, although you don't print your own, has some good information.
View: https://youtu.be/dSHWLOYV3OQ?si=ODiEvFiM5ZPmhk0G
 
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