Dolphins & a little bit about monitor calibration

We had been planning a trip to see the moray dolphins in their environment but the long range weather forecast is making a sailing highly unlikely for our planned trip and several days either side of it.

We'll keep and eye on it and contact the skipper the day before just incase its come in early and blown itself out by the time we are free to go.

I calibrated my laptop yesturday and have to recommend this action to anyone involved in photography whether they are professional or not. The difference is quite striking and my pictures look even better than before (which is great) but I can now see that some of the simplest applications of photoshop that appeared to be enhancing the image weren't in fact doing anything like it. I may have even sabotarged one or two of my own pictures!

I had always argued that you could use the Gamma wizard in Photoshop to calibrate the monitor - well trust me on this - it doesn't come close. Your eyes are not suitable for this, whoever you are or however well you think you can match colours etc.

Its a bit like using cheap print film and getting your prints made by machine and then using Fuji Velvia slide film and for the first time seeing what you've been missing.

The downside? Well, you can see flaws in lenses more but conversely you also get to see just how good the good ones are. The only other downsides are that you need to repeat this calibration at least once a month and if you do a lot of work on your PC/Mac then once a week even. And you have to buy the calibration equipment in the first place. When digital first started out, and yes, I was there right at the beginning. Cameras were £35,000 for less pixels than you get your phone, monitors were designed for office use and proper ones for photographic or design work were very serious money. Calibration devices were also running into several hundred pounds and so very very few people operated on any more than the "it looks ok when I print it" or "I'll make the final changes when I see the proofs" and a lot of guesswork.

The good news is that now you can get a Spyder Express (or similiar) for around £55. Now this may still seem a lot for people who only do this as a hobby but think about it for a minute. If you were a film using that less than 10 rolls of film (not including processing). Not exactly a big layout in the scheme of things anyway.

So I'll leave you on that note and head out to try and capture some shots of Ben Rinnes' snow capped top before the snow on the top turns to rain again.

Take care,

Jan