I've read heaps about calibration, profiles, colour space etc but how do I fit it all together. I'm trying to decode all of this to understand the best way to set up a monitor for photo editing.
Colour Space - sRGB vs AdobeRGB. I understand the difference, but where should I set this. My monitor has an AdobeRGB setting but do I need to do it on the PC as well? And how does this effect how my images are displayed. I've always had my camera set up sRGB, does it matter for raw??
ICC Profiles - I've read about these, had all sorts of issues trying to get photoshop displaying things properly at one point because it was using a different profile to windows so depending where I opened a file it looked completely different! Windows 7 seems have have a few profiles but I'm not clear on how to use them.
Calibration - now I know people will say go and buy a calibrator like Spyder and I'm looking at doing just that. But...this monitor comes with a calibration certificate, ok, but that doesn't mean is suits my installation etc ie my monitor is very bright (completely out of the box settings) I would like to adjust it, but will that stuff the calibration? Then there is the calibration that Windows 7 can do? Or the ones you can do online, by bringing up their test images and making adjustments on your screen. AHHH?? Does calibration take effect by creating a ICC profile or is it software that sits running over the top of your graphics software or windows?
Graphics Card/Windows/Monitor settings - Where should these settings be adjusted. I have colour settings in my graphics card software, and there are on screen settings??
Environment - I've read in various places about the type of lighting you should have around your workspace, ie incandescent vs fluoro, warm vs cool vs natural light. Where does this get considered in al this?
So each of these areas I've read a lot about and have a basic understanding of, but how do I tie them all together? Have I missed something? What comes first? Starting from scratch, how do you put it all together?
Maybe we could come up with something for the Library for this??
PS - In my case I am setting up a new Windows 7 64bit system with Radeon 6850 Graphics Card, and a Dell U2711 IPS monitor.