How to ensure that the photos are being viewed with a correct brightness level ?

If some images on web sites seem too dark or too bright, may be your monitor brightness is not at its correct level.

How to be sure that you view photos with a correct brightness level ?

The ideal way would be to use a good monitor calibration device (such as Xrite Eye One Display 2, Spyder 3 Elite, etc.) to calibrate your monitor. If you don't have one, you can follow this very basic procedure using 2 bars with 8 numbers (1 to 8) in each one (see the target below) : all the numbers should be distinguishable on an ideal monitor...

- For the accuracy of the test, adjust your monitor in a darkened environment.
- The monitor must have been warmed up for at least 30 minutes.
- Ensure your monitor is in 24-bit or high-color mode.
- Allow a few minutes for your eyes to readjust.

Step 1 :

Display the target below. (Save it and run the browser or image viewer in full-screen mode)

Step 2 :

Set the Contrast level to maximum and the Brightness level to minimum.

Step 3 :

Starting from a Brightness level of 0% on your monitor controls, increase the monitor Brightness level until you can barely distinguish number 1 in the black bar.

Step 4 :

Adjust the Contrast control to differentiate the 8 numbers in the white bar.You can reduce the Contrast a little. The Contrast controls affect the Brightness level (oh fxck !). So, if necessary, once you have the Contrast control where you want it, adjust the Brightness one more time : you should still be able to distinguish the numbers in the black bar (especially the smallest ones).

A top quality monitor well calibrated can show numbers 1 to 8 in both bars.You may not be able to achieve this fully on all monitors ; try to get the most you can. In many cases, you should only see numbers 2 or 3 to 8.

I hope this has helped you.

For more tests, visit Lagom LCD monitor test pages