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Quick and easy monitor calibration

Notices

Photographs prepared for use on the Internet usually suffer from a lack of detail in the highlight and shadow areas. Especially TFT monitors can be problematic. We are only concerned with brightness and contrast - not colour - in this procedure.

The below calibration procedure is very simple. Carrying out these steps can improve your viewing experience. It is not a full calibration procedure.

If you can already distinguish between all 24 distinct shades on the greyscale below, do nothing.

The leftmost bar is pure white (nothing should be brighter), the rightmost bar is pure black (nothing should be darker).

greyscale for monitor calibration

To make adjustments, use the buttons on your monitor:

1. turn the contrast all the way up (100%)

2. turn the brightness all the way up (100%)

Now, whilst watching the greyscale, turn the brightness back down to the point where you can still just distinguish between the two rightmost and the two leftmost bars. You may not be able to achieve this fully on all monitors; try to get as close as you can.

In many cases, between 90% and 100% works best for contrast and between 50% and 100% for brightness.