dfrost01 Loc: Princeton, NJ

How bright do most of you set your computer when reviewing photos in LR? I have a MacBook Pro and it's set to about 50% of maximum (as measured when I look at the brightness bars). I still feel that it's too bright. I do calibrate the monitor, but that's not setting the brightness

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I use a Spyder calibration tool. It does provide a guide to the brightness setting, which is rather important.
--Bob

mxshooter60 Loc: Spalding, UK

This is probably not much help but....I calibrated my monitor and had an ICC profile for the printer but could never really get to print out what I see...after many hours of messing about I reduced my brightness to the minimum setting and surprise surprise, it is within 95% of the prints!! Despite what you might think, the monitor does not go dark lol

dragonswing Loc: Pa

I am guessing you are all talking about a desktop computer and not a laptop?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I am. I rarely do any processing on my laptop. The monitor on it is just not up to the fine detail. Somethings are OK on it, but not any of the personal work I do for me.
--Bob

marcomarks Loc: Ft. Myers, FL

If you monitor at "X" amount of brightness and your prints are too dark, that means you need to turn down the brightness some more and try printing again until what you see on the monitor and the resulting prints you create are the same brightness, or at least close to the same. If not, you still can't edit accurately.

dfrost01 Loc: Princeton, NJ

I am using a MacBook Pro laptop not a desktop. Also I don't print my own photos; I send them to Adorama. I have found that I get the best results when I bump up the brightness of the photo in LR to what looks to me like 25% too bright. I just wish I had a more accurate way to determine brightness than just hit or miss.

LGilbert Loc: Earth

You cannot tell whether your system, monitor or printer, is calibrated to actually display/print anything close to reality unless you calibrate it, either with a Spider or similar unit, or, at least, using some form of a software calibrator. Dimming your screen to match your printer is useless when it comes to accurate editing. Now you are using an unknown (the printer setting) to determine proper monitor calibration. What matters is whether your monitor/editor view matches the industry standard, not an arbitrary compensation between two uncalibrated devices. If not, then attempting to display it on a system other than your own will be fruitless, let alone attempting to produce an accurate print at a professional venue.

If you are serious about photographic editing, then purchasing a serious calibration unit for your monitor is as important as good glass, good technique and an educated eye. Once your monitor is calibrated, you can adjust your printer to it, either by using on of the better calibrators or through trial and error. Your screen has to be the standard and set to industry standard, otherwise, your editing will suffer the consequences.