Lightroom Killer Tip or Reduce Luminance to Solve iMac Brightness

[DickKenny]

A recent tip from Matt Kloskowski advocated pushing the brightness in Lr after making all other adjustments and before printing to compensate for the brightness of the iMac (and other large Apple) screens. Of course that entails doing it every time once the degree of extra brightness has been established; and then turning that extra back off after printing so that the 'file' copy is as developed.

Would not the same effect be achieved by turning down the target luminance during screen calibration; thereby providing a universal adjustment of the iMac screen brightness and cutting out the individual adjustment element.

Maybe some kind expert could throw their opinion - or at least some light - on the arguments for and against. Many thanks.

[howardm]

which version of the iMac are you (and MattK) referring to?  AFAIK, the recent (last vintage or 2 LED models) do not have the 'so bright you gotta wear shades' minimum brightness issue.  It was mostly in the 2008/2009 last CCFL generation that could only get down to approx 160 cd/m2.

[digitaldog]

A recent tip from Matt Kloskowski advocated pushing the brightness in Lr after making all other adjustments and before printing to compensate for the brightness of the iMac (and other large Apple) screens. Of course that entails doing it every time once the degree of extra brightness has been established; and then turning that extra back off after printing so that the 'file' copy is as developed.

Dumb idea to fix an issue that can be controlled via proper calibration and print viewing. See:http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml
You’ll also notice that Matt refuses to answer a basic question: Is the print really too dark or just appear too dark next to the display. Its a critical question because if its an appearance of being too dark compared to the display, the tweak recommend will result in prints that look too light away from this condition. The guy simply doesn’t understand modern color management (or soft proofing).

[DickKenny]

which version of the iMac are you (and MattK) referring to? 

I'm pretty sure he was non-specific. My interest however centres around calibrating a 2010 iMac 11,3 27"; and hesitation - through ignorance - of altering the values on anything I do not understand. Thanks for your interest.

[DaveCurtis]

I think  Matt Kloskowski has some great tips and seems good guy. Very good presenter.

However when it comes to calibration and printing he has kinda lost the plot.