This is what the image you are about to download and this is what you are looking for.
Don't judge your monitor too quickly from this small image, wait until you have the full sized one on screen before you get too critical. After you have read through this and know what you are looking for, click here to download the full size image. If you are using a dial-up modem it will take about 20 seconds to download.
When you have the image up on your screen look it over closely. You are looking for neutrality. What I mean by that is the grays are actually gray, not gray-blue, or gray-green, but really, truely gray; no color cast at all. The skin tones should look like healthy normal caucasian skin tones. If she looks green or sick or pastey or yellow or flushed then the monitor is displaying colors with a color cast or bias.
If your monitor is too
dark the near-black steps of the gray ramp in her right hands will
all appear black. You may not be able to distinguish steps 2 or 3 from step
1.
If your monitor is too light the near-white steps of the gray
ramp will wash out in to white. Steps 14 or 15 may look as bright as 16.
If the contrast is too high, the gray ramp will appear to be mostly black and white on the ends with very few steps of gray in the middle. The face will look washed out in the highlights but too dark in the shadows all at the same time.
If contrast is too low, the gray ramp will appear to be all muddy middle grays, with very little difference between the the darkest and the lightest. The face will appear muddy and two dimensional.
Are the whites clean? The white paper in her left hand should be clean and bright, without "blowing out".
Can you see detail
in the collar of the black shirt? There should be a little detail
visible, yet the black should look rich and deep.
If the saturation is too high, the face will look garish, with
bright red cheeks and skin tones too hot. If it's too low the face will look
pale and muddy.
Click here to download the full size image. After you have seen the image on screen, then click File, Print and print the image using the correct printer settings and your favorite paper.
Compare the print to your on-screen image. The printed image will never be exactly like the monitor image, but at the same time the print should have all good qualities in all the areas described above.