So that print job you just received didn’t look the way you expected it to and you’re wondering who dropped the ball.
Printers are always suspect and that designer you talk to might have been thrown off by the yellow tint in his Buddy Holly glasses, but I have a better guess. Look at your monitor! No, I’m not coyly pointing out your reflection. I’m talking about your screen. Many people don’t know that monitors need to be calibrated to give a decent approximation of what the person on the other end of the job is showing you. You need to set your black point, your white point and your gamma. Then there’s the whole color thing!
Macs come with pretty good monitor calibration software (assuming it’s used), but you may need to step outside of the basic Windows suite in order to straighten out your PC. At the very least, your monitor should be adjusted so that a gradient of black to white, running across your screen, does not clip at either end. If your dark end is pure black for a bit or your light end is pure white, then that means you’re getting clipped and your contrast is probably set too high. Take a look around online. There may be some freeware that can get you in shape.
“Gamma” is the term for where the middle grey falls. One would intuitively think that duh, it falls in the middle. 50% right? Well, here’s a nice little quirk for you. This point is adjustable, making your screen have a lighter or darker feel without clipping your endpoints. On top of that, there’s one gamma that’s used for the web (PCs are set for this point) and another for print media (where Macs are), giving PC screens a darker feel than their Mac counterparts. And hello Mac users, your latest OS (Snow Leopard) now sets it’s gamma to be the same as PCs. Print may not be dead, but the web and video are demanding more and more attention!
Once you do get your monitor calibrated, take notice the next time you send something to your printer. Does it match what’s on screen? If it does, consider yourself lucky! You really need to calibrate and match your entire workflow, from the monitor to cameras, printers, scanners, etc. It’s enough to make you see red! (Or is that orange?) - j
