Help with my monitor please

[kauffman v36]

hi, i recently got an order in from mpixpro they prints seemed to be a tad bit dark. im working on an HP Compaq nw9440 Mobile Workstation with a matte screen that ive always thought was pretty darn good. anyways, i dont have a calibrator and dont plan on getting one until i can afford a new monitor and the spyder 3. so anyways, the brightness on my screen is always set to max, after i got these prints that werent too dark, just darker than my screen ive turned the brightness down to its lowest setting and i feel like im looking at a very underexposed screen. i know i know, get used to it, and i will. im just loking for feedback on what i should do, btw, my colors are perfect match to mpixpro. ill attach some sample images showing the difference between total brightness and lowest brightness with the same image.

the first image is with brightness all the way up


thje second image is withbrightness all the way down


if you guys that are calibrated would be kind enough as to tell me which one is properly exposed to i know which screen brightness is goign to give me the best results when printing.

thanks,
robert

[kauffman v36]

8 views and no replies, cmon guys. :D

[basroil]

8 views and no replies, cmon guys. :D

Give it time. Rushing answers will get get you nowhere :rolleyes:

That said, sounds like you should think about calibrating and learning about ICC profiles. 99% chance you chose the wrong output format, since mpix prints sRGB

[kauffman v36]

i watched the mpix calibration video and changed everything to sRGB so thats not it. the only problem seems to be with brightness/darkness, the colors are spot on which surprised me.

[basroil]

Still looks like a profile issue, check the firefox 3.5 profile issue that's been discussed and you'll see that even if you use sRGB all around there can be problems exactly like this one.

[René Damkot]

First is too dark IMO: The white sky is around 220 or so.
Second is better.

Both images are sRGB, so that should be okay.

Bit worried by this comment however:

changed everything to sRGB

What "everything"?

[kauffman v36]

lol dont freak out, i just watched the mpixpro calibration video and changed my color setting in CS4 to convert to sRGB. thats what i meant by everything, basically everything i do in PS is in colorspace sRGB. thank you for the insight on the first image, i really want to get a calibrator but dont feel its worth it for a laptop screen until i get a second monitor to edit on

could you let me know how dark or light the sky in the second one is, still too dark? my screen brightness is all the way down so this is as good as itll get for now

[basroil]

Another question, did you screw around with mid level contrast between the two? (in ACR, they call it clarity) Not as easy to see it with firefox's damned 3.5 icc profile bug, but in IE8 I can see that the branches stick out more in the left image than right one. May just be poor compression artifacts, but if it's not, then the two images where not edited the same at all, not just brightness shifts. Personally the right one seems more pleasing, but those colors will not show up like that on print.

[kauffman v36]

no, the clarity and all other settings were the same except exposure. what i did was turn my screen brightness all the way up and open up the edited image with zero exposure modification, change it to my liking and save it, which is the image on the left. then turn my screen brightness all the way down and repeat the process. i printed the image on the left and the colors looked almost spot on, but the image was too dark. i ordered the image on the right and it should be here tuesday, we'll see how it goes.

[René Damkot]

Image on the right is better then that on the left (now at my desktop).

Still a bit different then I would do, but that's a matter of taste I suppose.

I opened the left image in PS, and added this curves adjustment layer (blend mode luminosity!) to get it about where I wanted:

http://img.skitch.com/20090801-1b1kxja9mmep4niwa3x3ed8e2s.jpg

Brighter & a bit more contrast then your version, and less "reddish" cast.

Can't post the edit, since you don't have Image Editing OK.

[kauffman v36]

wow rene, i never knew how to do that until nwo when i went looking for it, i tryt o stick to ACR when editing my images unless im going for some special effect. and i think your settings in the curves adjustment make the picture look more natural, but your right, a mater of taste. either way, thank you.