Be Aware Of Colour When Adjusting Your Monitor & Images

Our eyes are easily influenced by surrounding colours, which is an important factor to remember when adjusting / editing material on our screens. The following patterns will highlight how easily influenced our eyes are by surrounding colours.

In the top image, the gray in the center of each square is in fact exactly the same colour. However, the grays with a dark surrounding look light and the ones with a light surrounding appear dark. This is known as 'brightness contrast'.

The orange in each of the squares is also exactly the same colour. However, when the surrounding saturation is high (red) the orange seems to have a low saturation, but when the surrounding color has a low saturation (green) the orange seems to have a high saturation. This is known as 'chroma contrast'.

It can be difficult to accurately distinguish colour just by looking at it, particularly when there's only a slight colour cast. An effective way to make subtle adjustments to the colour detail of image data is to display neutral gray or white image data and use that to measure.

The important thing to remember is that you shouldn't adjust the image quality of your monitor or edit material while looking at colours that are being wrongly recognised. 

Visit the EIZO UK website.