Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
▪
Use a program
. Whether you have a Windows computer or a Mac, you likely have some
kind of software that can help you improve what you see:
— —
Windows
: There's a good chance that the drivers (software) for your computer's
graphics card include some kind of calibration tool. Go to Control Panel→“Appearance
and Personalization”→Display→Calibrate Color to use the Windows calibrator.
— —
Mac
: If you go to System Preferences→Displays→Color→Calibrate, you can use
Apple's Display Calibrator Assistant to calibrate your monitor—sort of (see
Figure 7-5
).
You can also find lots of calibration programs online, but most of them aren't much, if
any, better than the Assistant.
Figure 7-5. Using the Display Calibrator Assistant is pretty simple. You can do a basic calib-
ration that sets your gamma and white point, or turn on the Expert Mode checkbox for a more
elaborate color-balancing process. In Expert mode, you look at a series of apples (of course!)
on a striped background and adjust things until the apples blend into the background. The
problem is that it's almost impossible to get accurate results from a visual calibration. The
Display Calibrator Assistant is better than nothing, but a colorimeter is a much better option.
If your photos still look a little odd even after you've calibrated your monitor, you may need
to turn on the Ignore EXIF setting in the Editor's preferences;
Figure 7-6
explains how.
