Do these look too dark?

[srwatters]

I edited these last night on my now calibrated iMac. I also calibrated the monitor on my PC at the office and here they seem a bit dark. Anyone else with a calibrated monitor care to comment?
#1

#2

#3

[brad]

They seem a bit dark here, too.. but then, I like bright, high contrast and colorful images. :)

[michaelbates]

Just a tad dark on my monitor...I think just a "slight" levels adjustment would bring out her flesh tones a bit better....but that's just me! :)

Michael

[srwatters]

I did a levels adjustment on them using the eyedropper on the background to get it nice and bright. I think my threshold is set at 245. I then dropped the brightness -3 and upped the contrast +3 to get a little more pop. I'm not too good at the curves adjustment yet, so I tend to stick to the simpler levels and brightness/contrast controls. I'll go back to the tiffs tonight and see if I adjust them a little more. I swear they looked great on the Mac.

Thanks!

[ndsimm]

But if they look good on a Calibrated Monitor, would the final image look great as well? The look fine on my Dell FP at home but look a litle dark on my laptop at work

[Hogleg 44]

They look good to me Scott. If they are dark, it is not by very much, but I think they are fine. The two with the black top might be causing an overall optical appearance of too dark, on those two shots as compared to the third.

[markperez]

#3 looks just fine to me. #1 and #2 are little dark for my liking

[srwatters]

OK, let's try again...
#1

#2

#3

[labguy]

I'm viewing on a calibrated monitor. the first two are darker than #3, but i like the first two better, just my personal preference, warm and deep. also all three seem to have a yellow-green cast to them. but that might be your preference, as there is no right or wrong, just what each person or customer prefers.

we have customers bringing in prints to match to that look worse than what we put in the trash. whatever sells that your customer likes is correct, theyr'e payin' their the boss.

[LoungeLizard]

What I see is "OK", but the black shirt just has very little detail. That may be what leads you to think its too dark.

The last one seems better, but I think it's because of the lighter dress. Skin tones look about the same in all of them.

[jerrykr]

they all look really good to me on my out-of the-box NEC MultiSync FE771SB
but I am probably a poor judge.

I don't have the "super bright" turned on on the NEC, BTW.

It could be the model is too attractive to judge photo quality. :D

[srwatters]

Well...

Calibrated ACR. Calibrated monitor. Uncalibrated eyes?

I actually like the second batch better on the iMac and the PC. Anyone else see a color cast? I don't. Eyedropper on the background is neutral 250ish.

Here's an interesting test. Go to: http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html and check the gamma and GMB color chart. My eyes see the 2.2 gamma chart as flat gray on both my systems. The GMB chart looks identical to the physical version in my hand.

Riddle me this batman, why do the images look different on my PC and Mac! The color profiles are set as the GMB Eye One Match 3 left them. The physical monitor settings have not been changed. There are no other gamma or color profile software packages running (I uninstalled Adobe gamma before calibration). I'm going to blow a gasket. This shouldn't be this difficult.

I need a cocktail!

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by jerrykr

they all look really good to me on my out-of the-box NEC MultiSync FE771SB
but I am probably a poor judge.

I don't have the "super bright" turned on on the NEC, BTW.

It could be the model is too attractive to judge photo quality. :D

While Rebekah is attractive....

Have you seen Christy


or Cathryn


Man I love this 'hobby'!

I shouldn't be playing favorites now... The models might get mad at me :oops:

[brad]

All three of them are beautiful, but for me, nothing beats the "girl next door" look that I think Cathryn has. I would love to get her in front of my camera.

[LoungeLizard]

Originally Posted by srwatters

While Rebekah is attractive....

Have you seen Christy

or Cathryn


Man I love this 'hobby'!

I shouldn't be playing favorites now... The models might get mad at me :oops:

Show off...all these images are dark...your monitors will never be properly calibrated...Bill Gates will make sure that what you see on the PC is always different than what you see on the Apple! :lol:

Serioulsy, I don't see a color cast. The only thing is the black clothing lacks shadow detail and with so much black, it tends to make the image seem darker. Try an experiment (don't know how to do it myself, but...), replace the black shirt with a white shirt and see what happens! The eye is autocalibrating (don't try that Eye One on your eyes!) so it compensates and plays tricks.

I think they look great - the pictures AND the models!