Monitoring the Situation
Happy New Year, everyone! This is a post about monitors and the important part they play in photography and purchasing art. If you can’t look at a print in-person before purchasing, I recommend looking at it on at least 2 different screens, with one being an actual monitor, laptop, or tablet before purchasing, but more is definitely better. Why? Well read on for a bit of a lesson.
Let’s start with physical differences. A monitor will let you see more detail over a larger area than trying to expand an image on your phone to zoom in. The way the colors are transferred is another. LED, LCD, OLED all present light slightly differently. The color scheme used by the monitor is third one, whether they use the Adobe color palette, RGB, sRGB, each one shows colors differently. Every monitor is programmed slightly different or made of slightly different materials. Sometimes these differences can drastically show color differently. Quality control is an issue one can run into with budget monitors. At my day job I have two identical monitors. They are formatted exactly the same, but one shows variations in white much better than the other. So if I’m looking at a white product against a white background, I’ll most likely be able to see it on my right-hand monitor, but not the left.
The color source is another. When you’re looking at an image on the screen, light is effectively passing through the image on the screen to your eyes. When it’s printed, that light is being absorbed and reflected against a solid surface. You may have noticed this difference if you’ve ever purchased a print or clothing online and it doesn’t seem as bright or vibrant in person. The colors are the same, but it’s a little flatter than you were expecting.
So how do photographers and graphic designers get around all of these issues? Monitor calibration. You can purchase monitor calibrating kits (or buy a pre-calibrated monitor like I did) to make sure your monitor remains properly calibrated. High end printers will also include software that will adjust how a print preview looks based on the paper you’re intending to use. Why? Because different papers absorb ink differently and it’s much cheaper to make any edits to saturation or brightness before you use any ink.
Most photographers, artists, and makers do their very best to make sure you are presented with an accurate representation of your product before you purchase. So if you get a product that is slightly different than what you expected, it’s probably for one of the reasons above. If you check an image on different monitors, I would expect to receive something similar to the least vibrant version.
Now, if you do get a print and the differences are enough to make you no longer want to keep it, PLEASE don’t throw it away. Give the gift of art. Odds are you know someone with a similar aesthetic that would love to receive that print as a gift. If you have trouble being overly honest when you re-gift, you can always say something like “I ordered this online, but I realized it just won’t work for me. But I know it would look great with x, y, z at your place.” And don’t be afraid to give it as a surprise gift. You don’t need to hold onto it for a birthday or holiday to show someone you’ve been thinking about them.
‘Til next time.