Before I write in detail of the second step in the digital workflow process I thought I’d write about what I feel are the two most important decisions to make when building a photographic computer workstation. These would be the choice of monitor and the process of calibrating it.

As LCD monitors have all but replaced the old CRT type, one has to be careful which LCD to purchase as there are a few different types of panel technology. The three main types are TN, VA and S-IPS. As I’m not a tech junkie, currently there may be other types available or variants of the ones I mentioned.

What is most important are the horizontal and vertical viewing angles as well as the color accuracy of the monitor. S-IPS panels are superior in both aspects being true 8 bit panels with great viewing angels while TN panels are the worst. The TN panels are only 6 bit and thus are not able to display 16.7 million colors without using a process called dithering, which has its drawbacks. LCDTech provides information on the type of panel that is in each major LCD monitor.

I purchased a highly rated TN panel (Samsung 226BW) as I was on a strict budget. The color quality never presented a problem though the extremely poor vertical viewing angle has. When working within Photoshop, I need to reduce the size of my image to fill a small section at the middle of the screen to get an accurate representation of brightness, contrast and color rendition across the entire image before my final save of the image file. There is just too much variance between contrast and brightness from the top of the screen to the bottom.

Are the vertical and horizontal viewing angles of my TN panel horrible? No. Do the poor viewing angles make my image processing difficult at times? Yes. Would I rather have an S-IPS panel? Yes.

So my advice is to do your research. Go online and gather information on the plus and minuses of the different panel technologies. And if you have the opportunity, go to a local computer store and view the different types of screens in person.

Once you purchase your monitor you will have another issue to deal with. If you think you will be able to match the image you see on your new LCD panel with its default color settings, with the print that emerges from your inkjet, you are mistaken. And if you think Adobe Gamma, the software provided with Photoshop, will calibrate your monitor to a useful state you are mistaken once again.

Nothing short of using a colorimeter will give you an accurate monitor profile so what you see on the screen is a close representation of what is printed. Color calibration is essential if you intend to shoot in RAW format and do your own image processing.

ColorVision Spyder 2

There are many different manufacturers of colorimeters, ColorVision being the least expensive. For under $70 one can purchase a Spyder 2 that will give results far superior to anything that can be obtained using Adobe Gamma. They work on both Macs and PCs and within a few minutes of hardware processing, will produce an accurate monitor profile.

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