Rocco Ancora: EIZO Monitor calibration for Photographers
- How do I create a monitor calibration target for my EIZO?
- Which settings should I use?
- Why don't my prints and monitor match even after calibrating my monitor?
In this video series, Professional Photographer and Fine Art Printer Rocco Ancora, will answer questions such as this.
Rocco shows you how he set up his own EIZOs with the new ColorNavigator 7 calibration software, focusing on three requirements:
- Image Editing
- Printing (called SoftProofing)
- Specific Printing (for those who work in a closed-loop workflow)
With some practical colour theory thrown in, this video is well worth watching for both new and long term EIZO ColorEdge users.
PART 1: Photographic Editing Calibration [13 mins]
Viewing conditions, colour gamut and calibrating your ColorEdge to ISO 3664: Photographic Editing. For the cleanest & most neutral view in to your image files. This is a must for all photographers, some will only ever use this calibration target (eg, if you don't print very often and simply need to be confident you are viewing and thus editing your image file accurately).
PART 2: Soft Proofing Calibration [8 mins]
For those who print or use a trusted print lab, this is a good general calibration for previewing your printed output on your EIZO. You may choose to edit in "Photo Editing colour mode" then switch over to "Softproofing colour mode" to check and make some final edits. Or, edit in this mode from scratch if you know you will be directly printing the image. These suggested calibration settings are recommended by many fine art print labs.
PART 3: Advanced Softproofing Calibration [4 mins]
Fine-tuning your EIZO ColorEdge Soft-proofing target (tweaking the calibration result in Part 2) for an even closer match, taking in to account your own workflow / environment. ONLY for those who run a closed loop colour managed workflow (print your own images in-house, or use a colour managed lab). This method delivers the closest print match, BUT, print consistency is paramout for this 'closer match' method to work.
Note re Part 2 and Part 3 - remember that we are trying to match light and transmissive colour (monitor) to cmyk ink / reflective colour (print). While is very difficult to achieve a 100% perfect match, you can get it very close with ColorNavigator, in a ColorEdge monitor.
Note re terminology: The difference between an ICC Profile, Colour target, Colour mode and Calibration - see below.
FULL VIDEO [25mins]
Rocco Ancora's full calibration class - the above 3 videos in one
TERMINOLOGY
Colour target: The target colour settings that you will set your monitor to (eg, 6500k/2.2/100cd/0.4cd black/native gamut)
Colour calibration: The process of sensor measurement and setting the monitor to your target
ICC Profile: A file that describes the monitor's colour settings, ie, how the monitor is translating the colour numbers. This is automatically saved in your system folder at the end of a calibration. Your software such as Photoshop will refer to the ICC profile in the background.
Colour mode: You can set up multiple colour targets, calibrate to each, save them in ColorNavigator, and press the MODE button on the front of the monitor to jump between each one. For example, you may have a mode for each of the calibrations Rocco goes through in his videos. Some common colour modes: Editing, Lab softproofing, Matte Fine Art Print Proofing, Internet Posting View, HD Video)