Adjusting the monitor display

Adjusting the monitor display

Although the RGB color model used by computer monitors is capable of displaying much of the visible spectrum the video system sending data to a given monitor often limits how many colors can be displayed at once By understanding how color data is measured in digital files and on-screen you can better adjust color display settings to offset the limita- tions of your video system.

Specifying 8-bit color display (Photoshop)

When you re working with a display system that supports 8-bit color the monitor displays only 256 different colors at a time As a result Adobe Photoshop uses a technique called dithering to mix pixels of available colors and thus simulate colors not currently available. Note Most monitors are capable of displaying 24-bit color. To achieve the best results, avoid using 8-bit display mode when editing color images.

By default Adobe Photoshop uses pattern dithering, which can result in a distinctive pattern of darker or lighter areas in the image In contrast, diffusion dithering eliminates this distinctive patterning by using the surrounding pixels in the mix of pixel color But diffusion dithering can cause visual inconsistencies when only part of a screen is redrawn as you scroll edit or paint Keep in mind that dithering effects only appear on-screen not in print.

To select a color display option:

Do one of the following:

In Windows or Mac OS 9.x choose Edit > Preferences > Display & Cursors.

In Mac OS X choose Photoshop > Preferences > Display & Cursors.

Select Use Diffusion Dither to minimize dither patterns produced by dithering.

Making previews display more quickly (Photoshop)

The Use Pixel Doubling preference option speeds up the preview of a tool or command s effects by temporarily doubling the size of the pixels (halving the resolution) in the preview. This option has no effect on the pixels in the file it simply provides faster previews with the tools and commands.

To speed up previews:

Do one of the following:

In Windows or Mac OS 9.x choose Edit > Preferences > Display & Cursors.

In Mac OS X choose Photoshop > Preferences > Display & Cursors.

Select Use Pixel Doubling and click OK.

Adjusting color display for cross-platform variations

RGB color display on a computer monitor varies with the operating system used by the computer For example an image appears darker on a Windows system than on a Mac OS computer (because the standard RGB color space is darker in Windows than in Mac OS). The Preview commands in ImageReady enable you to compensate for cross-platform differences in RGB color display during image preview In Photoshop you can simulate cross-platform differences by using the Macintosh RGB, Windows RGB and Monitor RGB commands in the View > Proof Setup menu (See "Soft-proofing colors on section 113.) RGB color display can also vary between Photoshop and ImageReady In Photoshop,

you can select from several RGB color spaces when editing images As a result images created in Photoshop may use an RGB color space that differs from the monitor RGB color space used by ImageReady. You can adjust the RGB color display during image preview to compensate for differences between Photoshop and ImageReady.

To adjust RGB color display for cross-platform variations (ImageReady):

Choose View > Preview and choose an option for adjusting the color display:

Uncompensated Color (the default option) to view the image with no color adjustment.

Standard Macintosh Color ( Windows) to view the image with color adjusted to simulate a standard Macintosh monitor.

Standard Windows Color (Mac OS) to view the image with color adjusted to simulate a standard Windows monitor.

Note: These options adjust color display only No changes are made to pixels in the image.

To adjust RGB color display to match Photoshop color display (ImageReady):

Choose View > Preview > Use Embedded Color Profile.

Note In order to use the Use Embedded Color Profile command in ImageReady you must save the original image with color profile embedded in Photoshop.