When I have the chance I like to look at my photoblog images from different locations on different monitors, and I must admit, on some of these monitors my images look terrible; and I mean terrible!

It has shown me the importance of monitor calibration for photographers. At my workplace I have one workstation that is dedicated to my photography and the monitor I use is calibrated. Even if you aren’t a professional I still believe it’s important to calibrate your monitor as most enthusiasts like to shocase their images online in some way. A professional photographer should (and do) spend quite a bit of their hard earned cash on not only calibrating their monitor but also their printer because they want their images to look the same on their monitor and on the print; otherwise what’s the point, right?

Personally, I don’t print much, actually not at all. If I want a print made I upload the image (or images) online and get the print back within a couple of days. It just isn’t viable form e to keep a printer fort he amount of prints I make. At most I’ll print a couple dozen per year when I want to replace some prints hanging on my walls.

If you chose to calibrate your monitor it doesn’t have to cost the earth, just purchase a simple one to get the colours the way they should be. If you do print a lot then I would spend a bit more (could be about €/$400 or more) because it really is worth it.

I’m writing this post on another workstation and looking at my images makes me to NOT look at them. They really look awfull; colours are wrong and there’s a distinct lack of contrast to all oft hem but at the back of my mind I know that it’s the monitor. It’s a cheap (probably TN) nasty one and not at all meant for some PP work.

So, do yourself a favour, spend some money and watch your images come to life.