Ambient lighting and monitors

[HSakols]

I'm trying to decide what the best lighting conditions are for operating my NEC 272w monitor.  Right now I have a luminance of 150, but I sometimes work with one light on in my studio.  What is the optimal balance of ambient light and the luminance of ones monitor? 

[Czornyj]

fill the display with 50% neutral (RGB γ2.2 - 119,119,119 ) - the surround in the range of your sight shouldn't be much darker nor brighter



In case when the surround is much darker you should calibrate the display to lower luminance, lighten the monitor surround, or manually increase the gamma value (without reprofiling!)

[HSakols]

Thanks for the the info.  Yes, I need to read the Digital Print.  I guess what I wanted to know was what is the ambient lighting like in peoples home made work stations?  For example I have window that I cover with curtains, but still the lighting changes inside throughout the day.  What has worked best for others.  Does you workstation get different lighting at night vs day and how do you deal with it?  Yes I need to read Jeff's book.

[digitaldog]

Lower is better according to Karl Lang! Why? Any ambient light that strikes the display affects your perception of black. Short of bumping into the furniture where your digital darkroom resides, you can't go too low. This isn't the print viewing condition part of the equation! When you're soft proofing and are also viewing a print, it's probably impossible to have no ambient light so try to keep it from getting anywhere onto the display if possible. With the print viewing booth off, lower is better.

[Jim Kasson]

Lower is better according to Karl Lang! Why? Any ambient light that strikes the display affects your perception of black. Short of bumping into the furniture where your digital darkroom resides, you can't go too low. This isn't the print viewing condition part of the equation! When you're soft proofing and are also viewing a print, it's probably impossible to have no ambient light so try to keep it from getting anywhere onto the display if possible. With the print viewing booth off, lower is better.

That's good advice. Another suggestion for soft proofing, and thus for a lot of editing: if your prints will be viewed with a white surround, use a white (or at least light) background on your image editing ap and don't fill the frame with the image when you're judging overall color and tone.

Rule of thumb from film days: if a gamma of 2 is good for a print (white surround) a gamma of three is good for a slide (black surround).

Jim

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Does you workstation get different lighting at night vs day and how do you deal with it?...

Isn't it what ColorMunki's Ambient Monitoring function is for?

[digitaldog]

Isn't it what ColorMunki's Ambient Monitoring function is for?

Nothing very useful other than for the marketing people. Control the ambient light, don't adjust the display condition for differing conditions throughout the day!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Nothing very useful other than for the marketing people. Control the ambient light, don't adjust the display condition for differing conditions throughout the day!

I was wondering about that myself. I do not have sufficient expertise in the matter to dispute your advice. However, some of us do not work in a perfectly controlled environment. I work in a walk-out basement, for instance, with three large north-facing windows/doors. A cloud passing across the sky is going to affect the amount of light inside, let alone day/night changes. Under such circumstances, I found that my ColorMunki's Ambient Monitoring works reasonably well.

[digitaldog]

I work in a walk-out basement, for instance, with three large north-facing windows/doors. A cloud passing across the sky is going to affect the amount of light inside, let alone day/night changes.

There's a useful invention called curtains I recommend. 
In my office, I have room darkening blinds which work rather well. Dark enough to view video's from a projector during the day.