Do you ever edit a photo in Lightroom…then see it on your phone or a friend/family members computer and it’s darker with a white balance (too blue, orange, green, etc) you didn’t intend?? Maybe it’s not as sharp or the contrast is completely different?
You probably need your computer screen/monitor calibrated.
I remember the first time I ever noticed a calibration issue. It was early 2015 and I decided to try working on two monitors. Having barely launched SJP, I had an fairly new cheap monitor and another random one I found in my inlaws garage. I plugged in the second monitor and nearly cried when I saw the color difference from one to the other. I remember bringing Clynn up to see, “WHICH DO I TRUST??? I don’t even know what to do!” You know what we did? We figured it was because the monitors were cheap and not “professional grade” enough for photography. We were kinda right…but this definitely wasn’t our main issue. We went out that same day and purchased the nicest monitor we could find at Fry’s. If only we had known it was a calibration issue the new monitor would easily have within a few months as well (and I wouldn’t notice having written off the issue).
After the craziest wedding season that will EVER occur in SJP history at 40+ weddings and a LARGE handful of portrait sessions….the storm finally calmed. I took a step back. And realized it was that time for my laptop I had purchased brand new for the previous season.
There is a national standard for computer screen colors and the makeup of your monitor causes it to shift over time, no matter how nice or expensive your monitor is. The creators at Spyder (a screen color calibration company) actually recommends professionals who depend on color from their monitor in their every day job should recalibrate ONCE A WEEK.
You can’t control your clients calibration, but you can at least know you are as right as possible when it comes to your color display.
If you’ve been following along on my Insta-Story or my recent live in Sincerely The Seasons, you’ve seen me talking about my Spyder 5 Elite. The first time I calibrated my screen my jaw dropped. The colors and contrast were literally night and day difference and I can’t believe how long I went without this product!
Why not send it to a computer repair shop for color calibration?? Oh. I’ll tell you why. This could be area specific, but here in Auburn, Washington I called THREE local computer repair shops. Each of them had no clue what I was talking about or ended my request with an answer like “uuuuh….yeeeeah. We can do that.” –Not exactly confidence building. THEN, come to find out they wanted to keep my monitor/laptop for THREE WEEKS. I don’t know about you guys, but as a small business owner I can’t exactly take a three week vacation out of the blue….not yet anyway. Also, it is recommended your laptop/monitor be calibrated in the same conditions/environment you will be editing in….so unless you decide to go edit in the computer repair shop back office every time you shoot, you should probably not be going to them (or anyone) for calibration. I know some areas offer this service by coming to you, so if you’d rather leave the work to someone else, it may be worth checking in with some local FB groups to see who has “a guy for that”.
Now that being said, using this product was SO EASY. I am so happy I didn’t insist on finding someone else to do it for me. Now, I can calibrate to my hearts content!
There are three versions of the Spyder. One for “professional photographers“, one for “serious photographers and designers“, and one for “hobbyist photographers“.
Follow each link above for pricing/ordering!
So excited to spread the word on this awesome little device and eliminate the worry from screen to screen knowing you are at your best!
