Chapter 4. Step 4 – Profile Your Monitor

Earlier, I made it clear that the monitor is one of the most important elements in your digital darkroom. It is equally important that the monitor is in good working order. Most users understand the need to get some sort of a puck or monitor profiling tool to profile their monitor, but the reality is slightly more complex.

Your monitor must be both properly calibrated and then profiled for it to render colors well. Calibration requires you to adjust the monitor for its best performance; generally, this involves adjusting the monitor's brightness, contrast, and color settings so the monitor will generate colors as accurately as possible. A profile is then created for the well-calibrated monitor to measure the remaining color inaccuracies to allow the computer to correct for these. Most software products for monitor profiling include steps for properly calibrating your monitor. The products I recommend in this book all include the basic steps for calibration before they perform any profiling. A monitor that is well calibrated and profiled will provide a good representation of the “virtual image” inside your computer.