Is there a "right" brightness setting for doing PP?

[Nicks Pics]

I'm not really asking about monitor calibration, in general, but specifically the brightness setting. It seems like this setting should be set to whatever is comfortable and not affect PP, but some pictures almost appear to have black clipping when it is at a lower setting. So I was just wondering if anyone knew whether the brightness setting on your display has a technically correct level, or if it should just be turned up nice and bright to where you can see the image real well?

Thanks for any advise.

Nick

[Donald]

I know what you're getting at, but ..............

Please be sure that you're not misleading yourself by thinking about the brightness of your display as not being part of what monitor calibration and profiling is about. It seems to me that if you think about it in this way, then what you're doing about brightness is goign to determine how you see your images and you'll process them in accordance with that setting. If you haven't done that has part of calibration and monitoring, then you could be producing images that, for other viewers, are going to be far too bright or far too dark.

Or am I misunderstanding your question?

[Kodiak]

Is there a "right" brightness setting for doing PP?

NO! …that was an easy one! … but that is not sufficient to answer your question.

The only thing that is not relative, read absolute, is the monitor calibration.
This is a must. Anything else is relative. The viewing pleasure experience
may be conditional to ambient light, time of day, your degree of fatigue etc.

The greatest part of relative perception comes from your brain. This fellow
has learned a set of references that are used to compare, and correct when
needed, your contact with a "relative reality". For example, your refrigerator.
The first time you plugged it in was also the last time you may have heard it.
Or in the movie Avatar, the blue skin was accepted as a new reference by
your brain so that for the rest of the movie their faces got more sympathetic.

The brightness of your screen should be at comfortable level, adjusted to
ambient light, time of day, your degree of fatigue etc.

[Nicks Pics]

Thanks, Donald, thanks Kodiak.

I appreciate your advise.

If a photo has no black clipping at the monitor's highest brightness setting that would mean that the photo does not really have any black clipping-correct? The fact is, I'm finding darks to be darker than I'm used to with my new monitor. It could be in part, that being of higher quality than a laptop, it can show bolder blacks, but I'm looking at quality photo galleries on line to test my monitor and the darks seem to be too drop off too fast for my usual preference. I'm not sure which setting, if any, is off though. Anyone have a guess?

[revi]

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/ could be useful to get a quick idea about how your monitor behaves?

[Nicks Pics]

Thanks, I had been looking for some of those.

[PhotomanJohn]

I want to second what Donald said. The brightness level of your monitor is part of the calibration procedure. During PP you are trying to adjust the photo's color and luminosity with reference to standard values such that when it is printed or viewed by others, who also have standard calibration, it will look to them as you intended. So yes, there is a specific setting of brightness if you want others to see it as you do.

As for the ability to see into black areas, that has a lot to do with both the brightness setting and the dynamic range of the monitor. Your monitor probably has a different dynamic range than mine so your ability to see detail on blacks will be slightly more or less than mine. This also applies to printers as well. The blacks may look different in a print than they do on your monitor. This is true with colors as well. I have to generally reduce the luminously of bright reds in order for them to print properly on my printer.

The best you can do is calibrate your monitor and go forward with those settings.

I hope my ramblings help.

John

[Kodiak]

If a photo has no black clipping at the monitor's highest brightness setting that would mean that the photo does not really have any black clipping-correct?

The RAW file is in no way affected by the screen brightness. Your perception is.

The fact is, I'm finding darks to be darker than I'm used to with my new monitor. It could be in part, that being of higher quality than a laptop, it can show bolder blacks…

You saying something like this, I deduct that you had a PC laptop! In any case,
technologies are improving very fast so I presume that the great difference
comes from both, a new screen with newer technologies.

…but I'm looking at quality photo galleries on line to test my monitor and the darks seem to be too drop off too fast for my usual preference.

Then, it may be possible that your brightness is too low. Give yourself the time to
adjust to this new situation: don't be shy at exploring different settings until you
find one that is comfortable.

[chauncey]

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...too_dark.shtml
Dated but, relevant nonetheless!

[jprzybyla]

If you do not calibrate your monitor using one of the devices on the market then try finding online and using a monitor calibration strip. The strip goes from pure black in increments to pure white. You should set your monitors brightness so that you can distinguish the difference between each of the tones.

I use Spyder 4 to calibrate my monitor weekly. I calibrate in the morning when the light is constant in the room my monitor is in. I do all my editing in the morning during that constant light. The brightness for my suggested for the ambient light in the room that I do my photo editing in is 120, way below maximum brightness on the LCD screen.

If you are serious about your photography you should invest in a device to calibrate your monitor, easily worth the money over the years.

[loosecanon]

The ambient light has an effect on what the monitor brightness should be set to. So a monitor correctly set up when the room light level is low will appear very dark in brighter light. Our eyes adapt to the brightness level, of the screen and the room. For this reason it is best if one can have a digital darkroom where you can standardise the ambient light levels. This may mean you need to pull the curtains and turn on a light in the room you use for photo editing so as to get a standard light level. If you do this then once the monitor is calibrated you will only need to check it every month. At the very least use a calibration strip to make sure you have the brightness/contrast properly matched.

[Nicks Pics]

I am trying to test my monitors current performance, it passes most visual tests Iv'e tried on line, but would anyone who trusts their monitor please have a look at this photo, http://www.birdphotos.com/photos/ind...2_itemId=79578 on this site Iv'e been browsing, to test my monitor, and tell me if you too think there is a little loss of detail in some of the black shadows? If not, perhaps I should raise the gamma a tad, or something.

Thanks,

[Kodiak]

I am trying to test my monitors current performance, it passes most visual tests Iv'e tried on line, but would anyone who trusts their monitor please have a look at this photo, http://www.birdphotos.com/photos/ind...2_itemId=79578 on this site Iv'e been browsing, to test my monitor, and tell me if you too think there is a little loss of detail in some of the black shadows? If not, perhaps I should raise the gamma a tad, or something.

The lack of details in the blacks looks normal given it a heavily compressed jpg.
Good shot btw.

[HaseebM]

The black on the crow has tinges of blue tone on my monitor.

[Nicks Pics]

Thanks for the feed back. I thought looking through galleries of high quality photos from photographers who obviously thought they looked good when they edited them would be a good way to tell if my screen was right, if there was a consistent problem, that might point out what was wrong with my screen. Based on responses, it sounds like my monitor could be giving a similart display as others'. Thank you

[rpcrowe]

I have not tried this but at a recent Photoshop seminar that I attended, it was suggested that the proper "brightness" for a calibrated monitor should be 2.2 gamma at 110 lumens.

My question is that if I calibrate my monitor to my printer (or am I going backwards) will it be calibrated on other monitors and Internet displays or will it be accurate if I send the file off to be printed...