Post Production - Office Wall Color?

[GWPDALLAS]

Changing office rooms in my home from a small room to a large room. Going to have painter come in and repaint the house as we're doing this move around job.

Is there a color that is best for a post production room than another? Right now we have an egg shell color that the builder used when they built the house 2 1/2 years ago.

Does it matter that much on wall color when your doing PS post production?

Gary
972-670-6631

[JohnT]

I've been told that wall color does matter. If you don't want white, a light gray is a good alternative.

[dminton]

Yes wall color, especially with a monitor that does NOT have a hood on it, will make a subtle but significant difference. Your eyes will adjust to and compensate for the color cast of the walls and the light reflecting off those walls falling onto everything in the room. They also adjust to the light color of whatever light bulbs you use. (The green lights in a lot of movies nowadays are fluorescent bulbs, but our eyes and brain compensate for this so we perceive them it white light. Same with incandescent bulbs, which we perceive as less yellow then they really are).

Best answer?

Just make the room as dark as possible. Turn off the lights, shut the blinds and buy dark curtains. If the brightest thing in your room is your screen, then you shouldn't have to worry too much about catching a strange color cast from a wall or light.

Also I've found that with the lights out, you work on photos faster because that's the only thing you can see, so you get distracted less.

[BabyHopes]

I've got my walls a nice shade of 18% grey. (Or at least as close to that as the guy at Lowes could manage.) I also tend to work in the dark. It drives my husband crazy.

[GWPDALLAS]

Thanks everyone. We went with a dark beige (wife wouldn't go gray) darker color than the egg shell I had. My monitor is postioned in a desk cubby hole, like having a hood all the way around it. The only window in the room is the other side of the room about 20 feet away with closed binds ( I could add dark curtians). I do work with lights off but when I do turn them one I have 4 energy saving lights that are Daylight 5600k.
My plans are to upgrade to a Apple Pro Desktop (from Dell Windows) and a EIZO 24" monitor from a Envision.