Some tasks like photo editing and graphic design require high color accuracy. For such needs, not only you need a proper tool (software) and monitor. In order for your monitor to display images on accurate color, you need to calibrate your monitor. Windows 10 has a default feature that you can use to calibrate your monitor.
Calibrating your Windows 10 monitor is especially crucial if you are editing an image for a printing purpose. A calibrated monitor can provide better color accuracy so that the colors you see on the monitor will be the same as the ones you see once the image is printed to a paper.
To start calibrating a monitor in Windows 10, open the Settings window by clicking the gear icon on the start menu. Go to System -> Display. Scroll down to the Multiple displays section and click the Advanced display settings link.
Click the Display adapter properties for Display 1 link on the next screen. The number at the end of the link (“1” in this case) might is different if you have multiple monitors and the monitor you are currently using is not your primary monitor.
On the appearing window, go to the Color Management tab and click the Color Management button.
On another appearing window, go to the Advanced tab and click the Calibrate display button.
The Display Color Calibration wizard will start once you clicked the Calibrate display button above.
There is a shortcut to open the Display Color Calibration wizard. You can simply type dccw on the Run dialog and hit enter (Free e-book: 118 Run Commands You Can Execute on Windows 10).
There are a number of factors affecting the number of colors your monitor is able to display, including the graphics adapter, the monitor type, and the interface. The Windows 10 calibration tool focuses on gamma, brightness and contrast, and color balance. You can follow the instructions on the screen to reset your monitor’s display color settings before making the changes and click the Next button.
The first setting you can make is gamma. Gamma is how the RGB colors (red, green, and blue) are projected on the screen to make up the image color. Click the Next button to set the gamma. Before doing so, you can see the example of a good gamma adjustment as displayed on the image in the middle.
Move the slider to adjust the gamma. While moving the slider, you can see the immediate change on your monitor so move the slider carefully while taking a look at your monitor to see the change. Stop moving the slider once you got the appropriate adjustment.
Click the Next button to adjust the brightness and contrast. As you can see on the instructions displayed on the screen, you can find the brightness and contrast controls of your monitor to adjust the brightness and contrast. They might lie on the front side of your monitor body or settings shown in the on-screen display menu. If you have no option to adjust brightness — usually happens if you use a laptop — you can click the Skip brightness and contrast adjustment button. Click the Next button to go to the next step.
On the next step of the wizard, you will see the samples of the best brightness adjustment. Click the Next buttons to go to the next step until you arrive at the step to set the color balance. On this step, you can move the sliders to adjust the RGB levels. Again, you can take a look at your screen while moving the slider to see the immediate changes. Click the Next button once you are done setting the RGB levels.
On the next step, you can compare the calibration you have just done by clicking the Previous calibration and Current calibration buttons. Click the Finish button to apply the new calibration and the Cancel button if you decide to not use the new calibration.
