Calibrating your Monitor to match your Output

Welcome To Cora’s Corner, where every month I am going to help you with your artwork issues.

This month I’m going to talk about Calibrating your Monitor to match your Output (Screen Printing).
Calibrating Your Monitor
Let me explain a few things before we get into the calibrating information.

Closed System:
Ok, we calibrate monitors to press results to create an accurate method of adjusting colors so we have predictable results on press (any press). Most commonly computers are calibrated using device such as the EyeOne calibrator by XRite, but you can only do this a printer with controllable repeatable results which is what we call a “closed system”. Color copiers and digital presses are good example of “closed systems”, meaning their ink lay down results are very controllable and repeatable. Their ink supplies are also develop using strict tolerances.

Open System:
Then there are “open systems”, which includes the screen print press. Since palettes get out of shape and alignment, we use heating elements, alter squeegee durometer, change angle and pressure, change mesh counts and tensions sometimes from screen to screen and then there is the inks. There is a way to get more consistent results by creating pre-press standard operating procedures (SOP) and sticking to them.

Color Profiles:
Color profiles are created and loaded into a graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw etc. That file controls the color displayed and print outputted to a “device”. You can create a color profile for a closed system, but not for an open system. Printing a color chart from the calibration software then reading using the calibration device, saving the file and loading it into the application is the way to calibrate the system. However, it’s nearly impossible to print on a screen print press a color chart that will become your “standard” measure of results for every job due to all the variable listed above (open system).

Monitor Help and Special Devices:
Devices such as the X-Rite Eye-One LT, Datacolor Spyder or Pantone Huey are helpful and inexpensive. They handle monitors unlike the X-Rite Eye-One that cost closer to $1,000.00 and creates exact loadable print profiles.
Software like Adobe Gamma and Apple’s OS built in monitor calibration (system preferences) can be helpful to achieve a better result.
Software developed especially for the screen print industry such as Spot Process take special care to develop standards that closely match industry ink performance are is known to be the industries best result software but its not all about the software, you monitor has to display the color accurately too. All monitors are adjusted at the factory to be “bright and colorful” so you will be attracted to them when first viewed, but that is for average user use surfing the web, playing with personal pictures and writing documents.
You can also do a lot with nothing at all. Every monitor has a control panel that allows you to set the temperature, brightness and contrast. The lower the temperature the better the color will match your print. All the devices will attempt to bring your monitor down as close to 5000 Kelvin. Look for a monitor with a low kelvin rating when buying a graphics monitor. The contrast can stay way up close to 100 but the brightness needs to drop down to nearly 20 if not lower. By default most monitors are factor set to 80 or higher and this is where the color get way off.

Handling “print” graphics on a monitor screen (backlight technology) and comparing its results to a real work print (reflective technology) takes a little adjusting. Ambient office lighting and such makes your print appear duller than what is on screen so the key is adjust (dumb down”) the screen. A backlight RGB computer monitor will always outshine a press (any press) so we calibrate. Understand that calibrating a system is reducing the color range of a computer monitor bringing it “down” to the level of the press you are using. Once the print and screen match it’s called calibrated.

Now we already discussed that the screen print press can not create an ICC profile so the best we can do is adjust the monitor down to show colors as close to what we will see on a print.

What to Expect:
When a monitor is first calibrated for graphics all user say, it;s too dark, I don’t like it, but after a day or two and certainly after they see how it “actually represents their prints and how much faster their art is approved on press they embrace it. Yes, it’s darker than all other computers in your life, this is a graphics work station not your internet surfing toy.

By the way, neutral gray walls and indirect lighting is a professional graphics room setup, ambient light is a color killer which is why color examining boxes like the Gretag MacBeth exist.

Just remember everyone monitor is probably set up differently depending on what their needs require. So explain that what is seen on the monitor is just an approximation of the final printed piece. What happens on the press with it’s inks is the most important part of the printing process.
I would also like to hear from you about your most pressing issues about artwork. Your question may be used in a future issue of this newsletter. If you have questions, please email me at cora@qdigitizing.com. And please reference this newsletter.
Looking forward to sharing an exciting journey of discovery into the world of Art.

Sincerely,

Cora Kromer
cora@qdigitizing.com