Do you do any kind of graphics work? Maybe you just like to “pretty up” your photos at home but can never get the image to look on paper like it does on your computer. Calibrate Your Monitor. Most people are not aware that every monitor looks different, and that over time your monitor will look even more different than others as the screen pixels wear over time.

So how does this effect you? Let’s say your screen is getting darker and slightly more green. This happens so slowly that you are never going to notice, but you may notice that your family photo you printed looks very overexposed and that pretty new blouse your wife was wearing seems to be the wrong color. That’s because you were making those “perfect adjustments” to you photo with a screen which was too dark. Thus when you make your photo “just right” you are in fact making it too bright. When you offset that green color cast in you photo editor, you are in fact changing the actual colors to something new (the green cast was from your monitor not the photo itself).

So what to do? Easy, Calibrate. Your system should come with a simple calibration tool which will allow you to subjectively make changes; however, my experience is that you can end up doing more harm than good with these. In addition this will do nothing to help standardize your monitor since the changes made are completely subjective using your eyes and perception. (even room lighting and wall paint can effect your end result).

The solution is to purchase a hardware/software calibration tool. This is a small light meter which you place onto your screen, press a button and in combination with it’s software, will perfectly calibrate your monitor to the proper brightness, color, gamma and contrast. You will see a huge difference.

The first time I did this to my own computer was a revelation. Not only were prints coming out as seen on the screen, but light and dark colors and gradients appeared that were not there before. Websites which I had frequented suddenly had background colors where there were none before, different colors, even watermarks on objects which previously had none.

As a layperson, this would be considered a purchase of choice, but if you do any graphic work for a living. You are doing a disservice to yourself and your clients if you don’t have one.

(I use the “huey” by Pantone retail $80. Works like a dream)
Huey Monitor Calibration Tool