monitor calibration?

[supertackyman]

what's the best way to calibrate one's monitor so that it accurately represents colors produced at printing (say from a photo lab)

I understand the whole Gamut issue. that some colors cannot be accurately printed but look ok on the monitor. but what i want, is for most of my colors to look the same, from screen to print.

I was thinking of making a test pattern of basic colors and black and white. taking it to the photo lab at wallymart and having it "developed" and comparing. but that seems like a pain in the ...

the reason I want to know is that my old monitor was a bunch on the bright side so when i printed, the pics seemed darker than i expected and the pics out of my camera looked washed on the screen.

I have used the adobe gamma but is there anything that is a bit more accurate and possibly have a more in depth wizzard?

[turvas]

I just got one of those things that photographers use sometimes (a piece of paper with some base colors on it), made a digital copy of it in ps (the paper provided color codes) and then compared the paper and the screen until I was satisfied.

[tamlin]

Hi STM:
Unfortunately, monitor calibration is only the first step towards reconciling what you see on your screen with what comes out of the printer. You need to venture into the wonderful and frightening world of...colour management!

Check out these two links for more info:
Monitor calibration and gamma
Making prints match your screen

[QuebecGuy777]

In Photoshop, use the Proof Color mode, available in the View menu. Use the Working CMYK with Simulate Paper On. It looks weird at first, but we use this method at my job and it work !

[NikonErik]

I know a lot about this topic . . .
The ONLY way to accurately begin the process of ensuring the colors reproduce accurately is to use a device that measures your monitors color output across it's gamut. These are called colorimeters. They range in price from $75.00 to several thousand. If you run more than one monitor and want to calibrate both to they are consistent with each other, then you can expect to pay a few hundred. The very expensive bundles will also calibrate your printers and scanners too.

Anyway, monitors change, and room lighting conditions change. They change more than we can tell with our eyes considering how our brains adapt to these things very well . . .

If anyone tells you that Adobe Gamma, or some other "Soft Proofing" method works without using a properly profiled monitor, then they are simply not looking to achieve accurate color reproduction.

Links to this topic:
Dry Creek Photo (great place to get started)
Luminous-Landscape
Earthbound Light
A good technical discussion I had

Articles from the guys who wrote the book, the International Color Consortium