Is This Really Flat/Dark???

I need to know if this photo is really flat/dark! I have 2 computers and it looks normal on one and terribly flat and dark on another. Im trying to figure out which one is way off, and what your recommendations for a cheap(200 or less) lcd monitor are. Thanks!

Gimp is showing the embedded profile as AdobeRGB... that's likey the culprit.

If one of the two PC's you have is a Vista machine, I'd guess that's the one it looks good on. Windows XP does not colormanage its picture viewer, while Vista does.

On either machine, the picture would look flat when viewed in any web-browser except Safari... because that's the only web-browser with color-management built in.

If it came from RAW, try exporting as sRGB and see if that helps. Otherwise you'll need to go into Photoshop and convert to sRGB.

BTW: It is a bit brighter when I view it in the Gimp, which is color-managed. Same would go if you are viewing the image in Photoshop, it should display it properly.

Both machines are Macs. The one it looks good on is my macbook(which i am guessing is because of the super bright glossy screen, which is why im looking at getting another monitor).

are you viewing using the same application on both machines?

ie: if you're viewing on the web using firefox web-browser, and safari on the other, I believe the images will look flat in firefox.

Otherwise, yes glossy vs. matte screen can have an effect... but I'd expect to see it on EVERY image whether from your camera or not.

Im using safari on both machines. Every image looks different on the two screens yes. The images on the Macbook screen(which is using the factory profile with the brightness down to about 60-75%, and is BRAND new) look much better to me and im not sure if maybe this is because it is new(the other mac is about 4 years old and hasnt ever been calibrated) or if it's just the glossy screen screwing with me.

Thats why i was wondering how it looks on other peoples monitors since I cant be sure which of mine is more accurate(on one hand I have a glossy screen, and on the other I have a REALLY old screen that hasnt ever been calibrated). My next check is going to a Huey pro and then possibly a second monitor if need be


EDIT*** After staring at identical images for a while now, I have come to the conclusion that they really arent THAT far apart. With the brightness turned down a bit on my Macbook, the colors are much closer to that of the matte screen on the powerbook, maybe just a TAD contrastier and more saturated, but not nearly as much as it was. When I first looked I must have had the brightness up too high on the macbook.

Well, let me say that it looks great on my Trinitron CRT (in FireFox), not color managed but color balanced by eye. The photo brightness, contrast & color balance looks excellent here. I don't have a LCD panel to compare with though.