Spyder 3 help

Seajay

Seajay

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Cathy
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Hi all,

As suggested I have managed to get a hold of a Spyder 3 Pro to help make sure my mac is the right colours.

Well i have tried it and honestly I can't get a good result.
My last try made my screen have a green cast.What am i doing wrong?
I have updated the software to the latest version.
Cathy
 
Hi Cathy,

Did you let the screen warm up? Any direct light falling on they spyder ?
 
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Mac been on all day and closed the blind at the window which makes the room dark.
My Mac does sit at the window though.
 
Sorry cannot think of anything else. Try and redo to see if it improves.
 
I will do it tonight when it us dark that may help.
Thank you for trying :)
Cathy
 
Cathy,

Had a quick look on the phone and on the laptop (uncalibrated screen) I seem to see a hint of blue. Will check on the calibrated screen later and report back.

Regards

Kev
 
Cathy,

Just check on my ipad and also on my calibrated ips monitor and does have a hint of blue. Don't know if that is because of the sky or calibration. Please wait for other to check and confirm to be on safe side.

Not sent anything to print to DSCL so cannot help with that.
 
Cathy,
I presume you set your mac to the default colours before using the Spyder. Just a thought!
 
Another thing to consider (though i know nothing of macs) is that if you use a wide gamut monitor then certain browsers, Internet Explorer being the worst example, do not recognise monitor calibration so force you to view in sRGB which tends to over saturate rather a lot.
 
Tony I never changed anything as I have never
Done this before so thought my mac would
Be on default settings
How do I check or where do I go on a mac to do that

Steve I only ever use Safari so not sure
That there would be a problem here or not

It would be nice to get it sorted as all my prints
we're coming back darker than I see them on
my screen.
I am off to the isle of Lewis in a week so want
To get it sorted before I go,
Cathy
 
The linked image does have a bit of blue, but I honestly think that's "right." The pic was taken in the evening and on the shade side...
I thought I saw a color shift in the image when it loaded...the embedded color space just says "RGB" which generally means something other than sRGB. Yo want to be using/embedding the sRGB color space for most printing.

With the spyder, you'll get different results changing the gamma, black/white point settings... but none of that will help w/ the dark prints. That's usually due to having your screen set too bright or editing in the dark.
 
ive got the exact same problem a green tint no answers sorry
 
Ok Steven thank you and Iwols

I will have to google to see how to make sure I embed the sRGB my guess is it is done in the software used to edit.

Steven you may be right about brightness I do have my brightness full on at all times.

I have just asked another group member who fixed his colours after turning the brightness down how he did it.He too used Syder 3pro so I am waiting to see how he managed this.
I think now maybe my mac has been ok and the brightness is the issue. If it is how do I get it back to where it was?

Thank you everyone!
Cathy
 
If you mean the original colour profile.on my Windows 7 laptop there is a small red triangle in the bottom right of my task bar click that and there is an option to turn the spyder profile off,I too am dissapointed with the profile the spyder makes,good luck
 
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its a semi known issue :-(, you could try doing it in total darkness, that sometimes works
 
The image was just a trial to see how someone who has a calibrated screen views the colours.
On my screen I see it as it looks ok not too bright or too dark and wanted an opinion of how someone else viewed the colour.
It would mean that when I post a photo to the group or send to printers you would see it the way I do or nearly enough.
Cathy
 
Don't forget though that you have no control over how an image is seen by any viewer without a calibrated monitor, which means the vast majority of online users excluding (I hope) most photographers and of course your print lab.

For what its worth the image online looks fine to me
 
Steve this is very true and thank you for looking at the image colours.
I think I just need to get my Mac back to the way it was but not sure yet how to do that.
Cathy
 
Seajay said:
Steve this is very true and thank y hou for looking at the image colours.
I think I just need to get my Mac back to the way it was but not sure yet how to do that.
Cathy
Click to expand...

Does post 18 help any
 
Just downloaded the image, and it looks a touch blue, but as sk66 said, it is more likely the time of day, and everything facing the camera is in shadow, and shadows are generally blue.

I opened the image in Photoshop and took a measurement of the Lighthouse, which I assume is meant to be white, and it has a blue cast on it, but you would expect that because the Sun is going down and it is in shadow. :shrug:

I said to Cathy in a PM that when I did my first calibration with the Spyder 3, it gives you the option to see before and after calibrations of a test page, and my after images appeared cooler. I paid for the thing to calibrate the screen, and I assume it is doing its job. Nobody has said any the images I post online have had a blue cast.

The main reason I bought the Spyder though was because of dark images that were printed, the result of a bright monitor, which most people have, and the Spyder seems to have fixed that too.

There is the possibility that you just need time to get used to the calibrated monitor unless it is a very noticeable cast.
 
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Well fingers crossed as my brightness is now on auto and I used the Syder this evening in complete darkness and all seems to be ok.YEAH! I will see how it all looks tomorrow during the daylight but I think it is now working well. I will need to choose a photo now to send to the printers to see if it comes back lighter this time. However I think my images are coming back darker due to the fact I had my brightness fully up. Thanks everyone this has all been very helpful :) Cathy


Should have mentioned that the before and after button makes my before images look a little brighter than the calibrated look but the tones are much better.
 
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To get your original profile, or select between others on a Mac it's system preferences>display>color. There should be a table of options to choose from. There should also be a button to begin manual/visual calibration. You could do the manual calibration then switch between them and pick the one you like the best... of course, the point is that prints match.

Embedding color space...it matters more if using a color managed system, which Macs are. And it's more about viewing than printing. Most windows users won't see any difference since everything web is always displayed in sRGB. Even most of the other browsers that do recognize color space have it turned off by default. But sending adobe RGB to the printers will give bad results (flat/darker). Very few printers (shops) are actually "color managed." In LR it's in the export dialogue, in PS it's in the color working space preferences, or "convert to profile" before saving, or in the save for web dialogue. Using/saving in the right color space (as opposed to embedding it) is the important part for printing.
 
Steven this is just what I needed to see about sRGB I had no idea about that to be honest and I think my photos are all just RGB.
I will get myself acquainted with these settings today as this could be another reason my prints are not right.

Calibration - I saw the one where you do it yourself but did not feel confident about getting it right as I can always see the apple symbol it never disappears .
I see there is a huge list of presets to choose from like use Adobe etc but what would have been the original on a Mac. The one I changed with the Spyder is called IMac 1 so I am thinking I have changed the original file.

Had a look again this morning and I think I have cracked it as all looks well. There is no green tinge so I am going to leave well alone lol!


I will get one of my photos printed soon and see if I have made a difference.

Thank you so much Steven
 
Thanks Steve great explanation,so to recap are we saying that when saving a picture for printing we convert to profile while saving,then just send the picture to the printer as normal,thanks
 
Seajay said:
I have changed my colour profile to Adobe 1998 as when "saving as" I always get the Pro Photo option.
Used this link to do it.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/color-settings/
Click to expand...

Most printers work in sRGB so I would advise that for most compatibility unless you know that the people you intend to print your images work with Adobe 1998. Also, images not in sRGB may not look correct in some browsers, and so people may not see your images how you expect them to. Them not having a calibrated monitor aside. ;) :lol:

The advice people normally give is to use sRGB until you know why you should use another colorspace, and are comfortable in outputting a sRGB file correctly having worked in a different colorspace while editing/processing. ;)
 
I think Adobe 98 is Srgb oh! I best go and read it again lol!
All back to original settings now and I will keep it this way.
 
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iwols said:
Thanks Steve great explanation,so to recap are we saying that when saving a picture for printing we convert to profile while saving,then just send the picture to the printer as normal,thanks
Click to expand...

Essentially yes.
My workflow is LR>PS>LR>export. In this workflow LR uses ProPhoto (can't change it) and I have my working space in PS set to ProPhoto; the files are converted to sRGB on export from LR for web or print.

Sometimes I will want to export directly from PS, the "save for web" dialogue includes "convert/embed" options for sRGB but complains about larger files (it still works though). If not using the "save for web" and using "save as" instead you need to use edit>convert to profile to change the image to sRGB before saving (DON'T use "assign profile").
Or you can just use sRGB as your PS working space (it's sRGB-iec61966 I think, it's not "adobe" anything). The only negative is you are loosing information that may be useful at some later date.

In both LR/PS you can "proof" your images for different print media/color spaces. Sometimes CMYK is better for print media; if that's the case you should know.
 
Hi cathy, I would strongly advise you to download this ebook by Rob griffith...

http://www.nativedigital.com/practical-colour-management-v4-ebook-pdf/
it is a very comprehensive of the whole subject.

It is so easy to waste a lot of time getting your head around colour management, you really need a clear understandable guide that starts at the beginning.

Rob Griffith's book was the best book I found.

Steve.
 
Steve thank you. I will do just that .

I have no idea about any of it really. I was hoping the Spyder would just cling on and sort it all at the click of my mouse. :)

Mind you I think my screen is ok since my last try everything appears to be ok.

Off to get the book thanks again
Cathy
 
You may choose to work in Adobe RGB for your own purposes, and also in 16-bit colour depth, but for export to other users you may have to convert to what they use, according to their instruction, and this is often 8-bit sRGB. So just to go with sRGB throughout in your own work processes is simpler & can avoid confusion.

Adobe RGB is different to sRGB!!
 
Rog I just put it all back to normal until I understand it all a bit more.
Thank you for your welcome advice
Cathy
 
same here the profile the spyder made is turned off its worse than my default setting
 
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