Screen settings for photo editing

[KimC81]

I just got a new computer with a new fancy monitor at work and while picking a new desktop image, I noticed that many of the photos I'd edited at home look way too cool on the new screen. My screen at home is just the standard monitor that comes with Dell computers. Does anyone have any tips for getting the most realistic colors out of this monitor? A new computer monitor is most definitely not in the budget, but do you all buy nicer monitors for photo editing?

[BCampbell]

There are monitors specifically designed for digital imaging that display a wider color range than consumer-grade, but they're pretty expensive.

What you're probably best off doing is picking up a monitor calibration tool -- most of them have something that you stick to the monitor and software that automatically sets your color settings properly, search around -- and using it on any machine you do editing on.

At least that way, even if your monitor is not high quality, you know you're starting from a solid foundation.

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by KimC81

I just got a new computer with a new fancy monitor at work and while picking a new desktop image, I noticed that many of the photos I'd edited at home look way too cool on the new screen. My screen at home is just the standard monitor that comes with Dell computers. Does anyone have any tips for getting the most realistic colors out of this monitor? A new computer monitor is most definitely not in the budget, but do you all buy nicer monitors for photo editing?

I will not use an LCD flat screen for my editing because the brightness, contrast, and saturation of LCD"s tend to be very different than CRT's. I use a standard CRT that I calibrate, and it provides the most consistent results matching the images I get back from my lab. There are high end LCD's available for photo editing, but they're very expensive. As for me, I'd much rather spend $1200 on a new lens than to buy an expensive monitor....but that's just me

Vinnie