The ambiance light in my desk is 31/34 (just next to monitor/ close to keyboard) lux according to my Colormunky.
I’m using light from both side of screen.
I find it quiet comfortable, much better than the dimmer light I use to edit.
What do you think?
I think it’s a subjective thing and dependent on whether you’re printing or just editing for sharing online. My environment is VERY bright at times due to the fact that I’m working in a room full of giant windows. I suppose I could try things in a dimmer room, but so far haven’t. Could be an interesting experiment. With all the windows I don’t use any artificial light and I tend not to process images after sundown because I wind down my screen usage starting with a warm shift to the overall white balance of my screens. Not a good way to edit!!
From the earliest days of monitor calibration I’ve always heard to edit in a “dim” room, but I’ve never tried to measure the ambient light. I have heavy shades and just use dim room light – plenty to see the keyboard but maybe on the edge of comfortable reading. I have an NEC MultiSync PA272 with its own calibration software and it sets a monitor brightness recommended for printing --I’m sure all the good ones are similar. I rely on the histogram more than the monitor. But I have a feeling that with the newer and better LED flatscreen monitors that room light is not as much of a factor as it used to be. But I’m curious, @Kris_Smith, about your setup, and why a screen would shift WB to warmer as the ambient color temp shifts warmer after sundown – do you mean with room lights coming on? Ambient light can affect color perception but I would think the bright daytime light would be the worst.
What I should have explained is that I use night shift or night light on my screens - meaning that it shifts to a warm tone after sundown because blue light close to when you go to sleep interrupts your chemical process. Does that make sense? Very bright screens and low ambient light gives me eye strain something fierce.
The best days are cloudy ones truthfully. When I am going to print, I soft proof in Lr to the best of my ability. I’ve also calibrated my monitor, but it’s been a while.
I close the blinds and turn off all lights. That’s also how I calibrate so it’s always the same conditions.
@Kris_Smith, from what I’ve read, you’re right about blue light working against our sleep rhythms, so that would mess up the calibration. A very bright screen and low ambient light isn’t good for processing – monitor calibration and profiling software will set a modest brightness, and room lights should be adjusted so it isn’t very bright – set the ambient light to make you comfortable. Think “dimroom” replacing “darkroom”.
Some calibration programs will read ambient light and compensate.