You can calibrate
your monitor and create a profile that specifies its color characteristics using
monitor profiling software and hardware.
When you calibrate
your monitor, you are adjusting it so that it conforms to a known
specification. Once your monitor is calibrated, the profiling utility
lets you save a color profile.
If you are calibrating a CRT monitor, make sure
it has been turned on for at least a half hour. This gives it sufficient
time to warm up and produce more consistent output.
Set the ambient lighting in your room to be consistent
with the brightness and color of the room lighting you’ll be working under.
Make sure your monitor is displaying thousands of colors
or more. Ideally, make sure it is displaying millions of colors
or 24-bit or higher.
Remove colorful background patterns on your monitor desktop,
and set your desktop to display neutral grays. Busy patterns or
bright colors surrounding a document interfere with accurate color
perception.
Calibrate and profile your monitor using third-party
software and measuring devices. In general, using a measuring device
such as a colorimeter along with software can create more accurate
profiles because an instrument can measure the colors displayed
on a monitor far more accurately than the human eye.
Note: Monitor performance changes and declines over time;
recalibrate and profile your monitor every month or so. If you find
it difficult or impossible to calibrate your monitor to a standard,
it may be too old and faded.
Most profiling software automatically assigns the new
profile as the default monitor profile. For instructions on how
to manually assign the monitor profile, refer to your operating
system’s Help.
