Color Management & Monitor Calibration
Ensure the image on your screen matches the image we print for you.
Photo Albums Direct prints are not color-corrected. We print directly from the unaltered JPEG you send. Photo Albums Direct will rely on you to calibrate your monitor so the colors, contrast and density of the images on your screen match what will be produced by our printers. Here are the steps for doing that.
Step 1: Using your colorimeter device, input these target values
- Native Whitepoint of 6500K
- Gamma of 2.2
- Luminance of 100
(What’s a colorimeter? See below).
Step 2: Upload your reference image using Roes.
Step 3: Once you receive your prints in the mail, confirm that your print matches the image on your screen.
If they all match, your monitor is calibrated correctly. You can be confident that when you order Photo Albums Direct prints, the colors will be true to the colors you see on your monitor.
Note: For advanced users. Request our ICC Printer Profile Settings. This is available for those of you interested in soft proofing.
What’s a Colorimeter?
Photo Albums Direct prints are not color-corrected. We print directly from the unaltered jpeg you send. Think about how professional musicians tune their instruments before a performance. Suppose your studio and Photo Albums Direct were about to play a duet at Carnegie Hall, and your pickiest clients are in the audience. We’d have to tune our instruments first. But instead of tuning our sound, we tune our colors. When you are “tuning” your color, you are calibrating your monitor. A colorimeter makes calibration easy. It ensures that your sky blue matches Photo Albums Direct’s sky blue.
Because all monitors experience changes in brightness, contrast and color over time, regular calibration is important.
A colorimeter looks like a mouse, and you temporarily attach it to the front of your monitor. It measures the smallest variations in color, and is more sensitive than the human eye. When you input the settings in Step 1 above, it calibrates your monitor to Photo Albums Direct’s printers.
We recommend these colorimeter devices: