My friend sent me an image of something he'd turned in for a project at school, and to me it was way underexposed, as I was supposed to see a fightclub poster in the back left corner. I didn't see it. SO I took it into photoshop and look at the levels, and the there are barely and midtones to speak of let alone any highlights. Now my question, is my monitor not calibrated right? Do you guys see the poster in the back left when you open up this file?
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/1813/16022lgfinalrenderuk2.jpg

Hi there

Yes I see it... but very dark... I lit it up just to be sure we are talking the same thing. The lighting such as the neon sign and cell phone look correct. Everything else looks dark.

Butch

The poster is visible on a well calibrated monitor - the black value is 0 and it shows up because the wall it is on is at an average of 4, both of which are not printable so to a printer it will be all solid black. The sign and the cell phone luminosity are good but overall the image is way too dark.
Regards, Murray

My monitor is calibrated and its an LCD, so if anything, its usally a tad on the bright side but while I can see the posted, I may not have noticed it if you hadnt said anything and I certainly cant tell its a fight club poster

the image is exposed fine, light is falling where it should, and the gamma of the image feels right....the poster is dark and doesnt stand out more than it shold

Ok thanks guys, it's really so that I can gauge my monitors calibration.

Hi there

Yes I see it... but very dark... I lit it up just to be sure we are talking the same thing. The lighting such as the neon sign and cell phone look correct. Everything else looks dark.

Butch

Yeah your version looks great.

This is a quote from something I wrote for another website:” In order to avoid eye strain and extend the life of your display, it’s recommended to set a suitable display luminance in relation to the ambient lighting on and around the work surface. The brightness or luminance level is difficult to set, because there is no ‘one good value’. You need to determine what works for you based on your environment and comfort. In brightly lit environments, you will need a brighter monitor and lighter black point to see detail well. In a dark environment you will want a dimmer display. Recommended luminance values are between 85-95 cd/m2 for CRT displays and often a higher value for LCD screens (100 – 140 range?). The ambient lighting on and around the work surface or room lightning condition should be mid-level or below (dimly lit); no direct light should shine on the screen. Absolute darkness is not a normal viewing situation and is not recommended.

An aid can be this Monitor Black Point Check http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/monitor_black.htm

There are also grayscale patches on various websites like on dpreview at the bottom of every review page to make some checks that your current settings aren't causing a loss of detail (clipping) at the white or black ends.”

I can see the poster without any effort. If you can’t see the poster, you can try to use a higher brightness level. Not all monitors are capable of displaying very low values.

It’s not true that printers cannot print very dark values. You can use this http://www.outbackphoto.com/booklets/resources/fap/PrinterRamp.tif to see were your printer has its limits. On my Epson R2400 I can see a difference between all patches. I agree, the image is way too dark.