Digital BW, The Print

> From: Johnny Eades [mailto:jeades1@...]
>
> What does the monitor gamma have to do with the fininshed print if
> the monitor matches the printed image? I use Windows XP and have had
> my monitor set to Gamma 2.2 for all usage of Photoshop and all other
> programs.

The monitor gamma means nothing, if you're using color-managed applications
like Photoshop. It only matters in non-color-managed applications, like
Windows Internet Explorer.

> Today I reset my monitor Gamma to 1.8 and get a much longer
> tonal range in my images. The Gamma 2.2 compresses the lower values
> too much for any detail in the 90 to 95 per cent range to be visible
> in the print.

If this makes a difference, it's because you've changed your gamma to 1.8,
but you're still using a monitor profile that tells Photoshop that it's
gamma is 2.2. This is a Bad Thing. If you're not getting good screen-print
matching, you should attack it by trying to improve the calibration of your
system. Whatever you set your monitor gamma to (and 2.2 is the Windows
standard), you should have a monitor profile that accurately describe it. If
you still don't get good matching, then perhaps you should pay someone to
make custom profiles for the inks and papers that you use.

--

Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
Paul                mailto:pderocco@...