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mariak94045023
Participant
June 11, 2017
Answered

Calibration - mac

  • June 11, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 468 views

Hi,

I'm getting ready to send my first batch of photos for print but noticed today that a photo I uploaded to Facebook is a different temperature when I view on the iPhone than the one I see on my mac! The mac is a lot warmer. I have done a calibration by eye via system preferences but it is still completely different.

Is it to be expected that viewing on an iPhone to appear different?

Thanks for your help in advance.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer johnrellis

    Is it to be expected that viewing on an iPhone to appear different?

    Yes. In general, mobile devices are not "color managed", lacking the capability to be calibrated and produce "industry standard" colors. But you can probably get a closer match between your Mac and phone...

    I have done a calibration by eye via system preferences but it is still completely different.

    In general, using the Calibrate tool in the Mac's System Preferences > Displays will not be very accurate.   You could play around with the target white point  (the third screen in the tool) to see if you can get a closer match with the iPhone, starting at white point D65.

    But you'll get better results if you buy a calibrator: Amazon.com: color calibrator .  The calibrator will help LR running on your Mac to display "industry standard" colors.   So when you export your photos from LR and then view them on other devices (browsers on other computers, mobile devices), even though those devices aren't themselves calibrated, it's more likely what you see on them will be closer to what you see in LR.   This is because most consumer devices try to approximate these "industry standard" colors.

    A couple of companies that make calibrators also make apps that can calibrate mobile devices. But they have a significant limitation -- you have to view photos using these apps.  Viewing photos through other photo apps won't be color-calibrated.   I tried it once a few years ago and didn't see noticeable difference -- others have reported mixed results.  E.g. How to calibrate tablets and smartphones (iPad, iPhone, Nexus, Galaxy, etc.)

    3 replies

    TheDigitalDog
    TheDigitalDog
    Inspiring
    June 11, 2017

    mariak94045023  wrote

    Hi,

    I'm getting ready to send my first batch of photos for print but noticed today that a photo I uploaded to Facebook is a different temperature when I view on the iPhone than the one I see on my mac! The mac is a lot warmer. I have done a calibration by eye via system preferences but it is still completely different.

    Is it to be expected that viewing on an iPhone to appear different?

    Thanks for your help in advance.

    If you’re viewing an sRGB image on the iPhone, chances are, that preview is closer than what you’ll see on a non calibrated display and certainly outside a color managed application. You do need to calibrate and profile your display!

    See:

    Introduction to display calibration (TakeGreatPictures):

    https://web.archive.org/web/20070119043614/http://www.takegreatpictures.com/HOME/Columns/Digital_Photography/Details/Color_Management_and_Display.fci

    Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
    J
    Community Expert
    Jao vdLCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 11, 2017

    Definitely look into a color calibrator. They are essential for good color on your desktop. This is even true for Macs even though they tend to be better out of the box, they are certainly not perfect. Some iMacs have displays that are somewhat too warm in appearance so that could very well cause your issue. Calibrating it will probably fix it. Make sure that the calibrator can do wide gamut screens using LEDs if you have one of the newer displays. Many cheaper calibrators cannot do this and will give you inconsistent results.

    Considering iPhones, it really depends on the generation you have how good the color is going to be. If you run the latest iOS on the latest phones or even one generation back, it is nicely color managed in that the color space of images will not matter and the color will be really quite good without any fuss. This won't matter much if you have an older generation phone which simply doesn't have a very good screen that is close to sRGB or display P3 gamut which the newest phones have. Secondly, make sure to turn off the "nightshift" feature on the phone. This feature changes the color temperature of your display depending on the environmental light. It really messes with the color reproduction.

    johnrellis
    johnrellisCorrect answer
    Legend
    June 11, 2017

    Is it to be expected that viewing on an iPhone to appear different?

    Yes. In general, mobile devices are not "color managed", lacking the capability to be calibrated and produce "industry standard" colors. But you can probably get a closer match between your Mac and phone...

    I have done a calibration by eye via system preferences but it is still completely different.

    In general, using the Calibrate tool in the Mac's System Preferences > Displays will not be very accurate.   You could play around with the target white point  (the third screen in the tool) to see if you can get a closer match with the iPhone, starting at white point D65.

    But you'll get better results if you buy a calibrator: Amazon.com: color calibrator .  The calibrator will help LR running on your Mac to display "industry standard" colors.   So when you export your photos from LR and then view them on other devices (browsers on other computers, mobile devices), even though those devices aren't themselves calibrated, it's more likely what you see on them will be closer to what you see in LR.   This is because most consumer devices try to approximate these "industry standard" colors.

    A couple of companies that make calibrators also make apps that can calibrate mobile devices. But they have a significant limitation -- you have to view photos using these apps.  Viewing photos through other photo apps won't be color-calibrated.   I tried it once a few years ago and didn't see noticeable difference -- others have reported mixed results.  E.g. How to calibrate tablets and smartphones (iPad, iPhone, Nexus, Galaxy, etc.)

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