The images on this web site and on my blog don’t look as good as when you see them printed on paper - with the convenience of fast ubiquitous web viewing comes certain compromises.

1. The images have been reduced in size, downgraded to 72dpi, converted from TIFF to JPEG format, and then compressed.

2. I can’t control the configuration of your monitor - maybe your monitor is darker than mine or maybe it is adjusted a little more on the blue side than mine.

3. I can't control your ambient lighting. Images on your screen, especially if it is an LCD, look wildly different when viewed in a darkened room as opposed to outdoors in bright sunlight. Even the color of your walls can cast a tint over the images.

4. There is just no way that an image being actively projected at your eyes from a monitor is going to look the same as one viewed by reflected light on a piece of paper.

One thing that can help is to adjust your monitor using standardized target images. Below is one image that you can use.

Adjust your monitor's brightness and contrast so that you can see a difference between all 13 shades of grey. You have to look real close sometimes especially at the extreme ends. Some monitors may be better than others and you may not get all 13 - do the best you can. This is the most important setting. Get this one down and you can probably skip the rest of this page. If you are the persnickety type, read on.

Look at the blocks again and see that they are neutral white, grey, and black and do not have a blue or yellow or red tint to them. If they are tinted, adjust your monitor's color temperature until they are neutral. You may have to get out your monitor or video card instructions to learn how your system handles this setting. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Here are some links to other monitor adjustment pages:

http://www.archives.gov/research/arc/adjust-monitor.html

http://photographerusa.com/screencheck/index.html

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/viewing.html