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monitor brightness affecting prints ?

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
June 13, 2022
4 replies
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Does the monitor brightness change the print results?

macOS

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Conrad_C

Community Expert

The latest displays are capable of very high levels of maximum luminance, such as 500 nits, or over 1000 nits for HDR displays. The problem is that if you set your display brightness too high and edit photos that way, there is no paper that can possibly match that brightness when reflecting normal light levels, so the print can only look dark compared to the display.

Pros commonly calibrate and profile their displays for print within the range of 90 to 120 nits (also called “candelas per square meter”). On the displays I use now, that usually translates to between roughly 30% to 50% of maximum brightness.

The right display brightness depends on how much light will be falling on the print at the place you want to view it. If you plan to hang a photo print in a room with low level lighting, you will probably want to edit the photo at a lower display brightness than you would for a brightly lit room. It might take some tests of different display brightness levels to work out which setting is a good match to the light level in the room where you will display the print. For example, make some edits, take the print to the final viewing area, and if it looks too dark there, lower display brightness some more.

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

Hey Conrad,

You're right about sometimes needing to print darker or lighter for showing in different environments. And, of course that this can be done by adjusting the screen to take that into account.

That would work and be one solution.

BUT - this workstation can only then make images which are destined to be made into prints for those specific lighting circumstances.

Because image work is very often printed more than once and is ideally somewhat future proof, perhaps for display in various lighting conditions - I generally advise clients that it may be a better approach to:

1: edit master files on a display whose luminance is based on "normal" daylight viewing

2: archive them, ideally as Tiff or PSD, NOT Jpeg

3: then make a "print" copy [resize and sharpen] the file and adjust it's appearance in a final tweak to produce a print tailored for a specific room's lighting. It’s generally a fairly simple correction that can be noted and used again easily.

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer:: co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

Conrad_C

Community Expert

@NB, colourmanagement wrote:
You're right about sometimes needing to print darker or lighter for showing in different environments. And, of course that this can be done by adjusting the screen to take that into account.

That would work and be one solution.

BUT - this workstation can only then make images which are destined to be made into prints for those specific lighting circumstances.

It depends on what display the user owns.

If they own an advanced color display such as the NEC Spectraview or (as I understand it) the better BenQ displays, they can simply create and store multiple hardware calibrations. Using NEC SpectraView software, I created calibration presets for different luminance levels, so all I have to do is select a different preset, and the software switches the in-display hardware calibration specs, which include the display luminance. I think some other brands allow one-click switching between hardware calibrations using physical buttons.

Quick hardware calibration switching makes it easy to switch between preset luminances/gamuts/white points for web, video/cinema, different print conditions, etc.

(This is also possible using the Reference Modes for Apple XDR desktop and mobile displays.)

For older/simpler displays, another technique is to test how far across the on-display brightness bar is when it matches prints well, and remember to set the bar that way when editing for print, although confirming later on a better display.

@NB, colourmanagement wrote:

1: edit master files on a display whose luminance is based on "normal" daylight viewing

2: archive them, ideally as Tiff or PSD, NOT Jpeg

3: then make a "print" copy [resize and sharpen] the file and adjust it's appearance in a final tweak to produce a print tailored for a specific room's lighting. It’s generally a fairly simple correction that can be noted and used again easily.

Yes, that method works great for the majority of people who own a more common display that can’t store multiple hardware calibrations, and for many it’s easier to keep print-specific versions as separate files.

Another option is to create a separate Photoshop layer group containing only the adjustments for a specific printer, and disable that layer group when you want to see the original or enable a different set of adjustments. I sometimes use that when I want to store the adjustments for multiple output conditions in a single Photoshop document, so that editing the original does not require updating multiple copies.

When using software such as Lightroom Classic or Camera Raw that allow virtual copies or snapshots, those can be used for print-specific versions without having to use up storage creating another copy. In Lightroom Classic, a virtual copy can be a Proof Copy which is specifically designed to do that job — to store print-specific settings, including a soft-proof profile, in a version that doesn’t take up any storage space.

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

Display brightess [luminance] has no direct effect on print appearance.

As Mike wrote, you could switch off the monitor and get the same print -

BUT as Digital Dog explains, a change to screen brightness will influence your editing decisions. In simple terms, if the screen is bright then you'll be making dark images when editing and prints will be dark too.

The display screen needs to be properly calibrated using targets suitable to your own working environment. That way it will match a correctly illuminated well colour managed printout. To ascertain the calibration targets I feel a visual reference is needed, if you're interested please see this note:

Have you ever wondered how to KNOW whether your screen [or printer] is ACCURATE and not just 'pleasing'?
If so please check this out.

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer:: co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

It doesn't directly. It does IF you edit based on the display. Best to view:

Why are my prints too dark?
Why doesn’t my display match my prints?
A video update to a written piece on subject from 2013
In this 24 minute video, I'll cover:

Are your prints really too dark?
Display calibration and WYSIWYG
Proper print viewing conditions
Trouble shooting to get a match
Avoiding kludges that don't solve the problem

High resolution: http://digitaldog.net/files/Why_are_my_prints_too_dark.mp4
Low resolution: https://youtu.be/iS6sjZmxjY4

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

Mike_Gondek10189183

Community Expert

Not at all, your monitor power could be turned off and will print the same.

If you were to color correct the image to a monitor where the brightness is off, that would create an image that would print not as you desired.

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