Warthog Photography

Some people wonder why pictures don’t seem to look good on their monitor.   I’ve heard people say; “It’s too dark”  “The colors are funny” “its distorted”.  Well guess what - buy a Mac. Not only are their monitors amazing, you will have a computer that is designed to actually work.  You plug these things in and then carry on with your life.    Sure, a Microsoft machine may be cheaper, but so is an outhouse.  It is really an unfair comparison because they haven’t built anything that can compare with Mac.  Who in any state of mind would consider buying a Chinese folded metal carton full of Microsoft driven combine parts that runs like a 60 year old, 25 horsepower milking machine?

Back on topic – Regardless of which company writes your software, every monitor displays differently.  Most monitors do not necessarily display with accurate color and luminance.  My screen is capable of displaying images that are extremely bright and vivid (mac).  But my screen is also calibrated.  This basically means; the way a picture looks on a calibrated monitor is the same way it will look on a print (when done correctly).  And it’s all about how it looks when viewed on chemically processed paper.  By using an accurate monitor, the ‘displayed picture’ will be homogenous to the ‘real picture’, making it possible to get consistent, accurate prints.  Lets say I’m using a monitor which is not calibrated and the colors happen to be off from the ‘standard’, I will adjust the image to where the skin tones look natural, but when I run the pictures through the lab, the subject may have just come down with a case of jaundice.  Viewed on older monitors or inexpensive ones, pictures can often appear dull as well.  Higher quality monitors and ones built more recently do a much better job of displaying consistently and accurately from one to another.  Keep in mind there are many variables just waiting to interfere.  So next time you‘re having trouble looking at a professionally completed image, realize it might just be the screen your viewing it on, which is probably connected to a windows machine.