Matching mine and customers displays

[rgvsdigitalpimp]

Hey all.  Went to deliver two canvas wraps to a customer (photographer) and he noticed that the images weren't matching what he sees on his screen.  I already calibrated my monitor and printer so I know I'm ok on my end.  What I wanted to know was how can I get my monitor and his monitor to display the same image at both locations?  So that when he sends me his image it prints just like he sees it on my screen?  

Would I take my colromunki photo device to his studio and calibrate his monitor as well? 

[Schewe]

Would I take my colromunki photo device to his studio and calibrate his monitor as well? 

yeah, well pretty much...

Unless you calibrate and profile the various displays to the same target, there is no way to have "his" display match yours...you prolly want to handle this sort of thing as a service upgrade since it'll take time & effort on your part.

[rgvsdigitalpimp]

The more i read on this whole color management and proofing methods using Photoshop the more I realize I have no idea what I'm doing 
I get an image from a friend to print.  It's a baby with a striped gray and green shirt.  The green on the image is bright green.  I proof using my printer profile I made with my Colormunki and the green looks dull.  Not bright at all.  Then I print it and the print comes out in between bright and dull.   

[Tony Jay]

No issue with Colormunki itself but the profile may not be the best.
Also unless the luminance of your monitor is correct for your work area colours may look brighter or duller, as the case may be, between your monitor and the print even if the hues are good.

A question: Do you own the LuLa tutorial "Camera to Print and Screen"?
This tutorial covers the entire workflow to getting good output whether it be prints or electronic displays.
It would be an absolute steal at thrice the price!
If you don't - then get it and you will never regret it.

This colour-management stuff is a bit of a hurdle but by no means insurmountable.
We were all lost once with this this stuff but it aint that hard.

Tony Jay

[rgvsdigitalpimp]

Thanks Tony!  Gonna purchase that right now. 

[Tony Jay]

Thanks Tony!  Gonna purchase that right now. 

Bonzer mate!

Tony Jay

[darlingm]

As a side note, I've watched from screen to print, and recommend it like others have said.

For your original matching monitor question...

I have an Asus ProArt PA246Q.  It's a ~$450 wide gamut 98% Adobe RGB coverage monitor.  Much better than typical monitors, almost as good as multi thousand dollar monitors (from what I gather in my research incl colorthink profile comparison, I've never had one of those), but much less expensive.  The point of saying all that is that it's a good monitor that should be within my customer's budgets.

I've told my customers if they want to see what I see, they can purchase one of these, and (if they're local) I'll set theirs to the same settings as mine and profile their monitor with my i1 photo pro 2.  Have several customers who think they will do this someday, but none have yet.  Life would be so much easier if each of them went this route...

Short of that that, I offer to profile their monitor, but tell them they just aren't going to see what I see.  Just because you profile two different monitors doesn't mean they're going to look exactly the same.  Huge difference especially depending on how bright they are.  Theirs probably can't go as dark as a professional LCD can, and if you keep yours as bright as theirs, you'll need to be using a lightbox if you want a really close match on your side.

[Scott Martin]

High qulity lighting is the often overlooked, missing component to smart environments like this. Without decent lighting he'll never see what you're seeing, regardless of what you do with your display.