Camera Labs

I've had the opportunity to see my photos on 2 different screens recently (one being crt and the other lcd) and I noticed that not only the picture quality is better on LCD but the colours are brighter and more vibrant also.

My home computer has a CRT screen and this brings up an unsettling question to me, by me having a crt screen will this affect the end result of a photo? Meaning, if I do the editing with a CRT screen, when viewing on an LCD can it make the images appear over saturated or to vibrant?

I ask because I have to present a folio of photos to a University for an interview. I'm going to get professional prints made but I'm not sure if they'll come out too rich and vibrant because of me editing on a CRT screen, and in post processing adjusting colours too high.

The photos on my flickr seen on my monitor appear fine, but on an LCD some I thought were a little too vibrant. Am I losing my mind? or am I sane?

Hope this made sense to some of you hahaha.

Your thoughts?

J...

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Nikon D80+Nikkor 18-200mm VR f/3.5-5.6, Manfrotto tripod-190XDB/Head-804RC2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hero_of_the_jay/

Hi Jay, welcome to the nightmare of displays and colour matching!

The simple fact is your photos will look different on almost every screen you view them on. It's not just the technology, but also the settings and the surroundings.

The only way to present images in the way YOU want them to look is to either have them printed to your satisfaction, or to take your monitor with you to the presentation. But remember if the lighting is different, they'll still look different to how they do at home!

.
Yes, and when you have them looking just peachy on the screen you print them and they look totally different.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Yep, and when you print them out and they look okay under one lighting you may be very dissatisfied under another lighting (e.g. daylight vs. incandescent light)
This is why invested a little more in my monitor, after reading in a test that he could reproduce colors quite true.
You've got to have at least one reference that you can rely upon...

So this is not just your personal nightmare, Jay

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

There are definitely good and bad monitors and good and bad monitor settings to go with it.

All monitors have one quality/characteristic that is really hard to ignore: every pixel is back lit.


Anything you see on a print is reflected light, whereas anything you see on a monitor is backlit - like a light-box.

It' hard for any print to compete with a back lit monitor or a large slide with a light-box behind it (like those big advertisements they have in the malls).

This dynamic makes a mess of the whole equation. However, with a some careful and frequent tinkering and calibration, you can at least establish a somewhat predictable relation to what you see on screen and on a print.

And we haven't even considered the printing process and the calibration of that equipment - which you have little control over...

Cheers

That's why I print everything by myself!

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Ahh Thomas, my envy knows no bounds!

I wish I had a photo-quality plotter that could make me the movie-sized posters the pictures I will take in the future, so deserve!

In fact, I wish I had the equipment to print out similarly large slides so that I could make my pictures as light-boxes..like those back-lit advertisements we see in the malls.

Are you happy with your own printing?

Cheers

Head over here to see my comments on "self-printing"

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses