This site should prove compatible with most browsers and systems. Some images may be as large as 500k so broadband is a good idea but most are 200k or less. Images will generally not exceed 10 inches on the longest side if correctly scaled by your browser and monitor settings.

One objective here is image presentation quality. The entire world is going High Definition and that trend is reflected in the design of this site ... a high definition (or near Hi Def) wide aspect monitor will look best. Other resolutions have been tested and seem to work well, including what's found in laptops, so long as the lowest resolution settings are avoided. If you do have a problem with scaling/size/visibility, try the recommendations in "Scaling" below.

Insofar as possible, active content has been implemented using CSS but you will need to enable Java script execution for the slide-shows to work. This does not represent a security risk but, of course, raises the possibility of promotional material being displayed by other sites.

Brightness and Contrast:

Monitors adjusted for best viewing of general Internet content in a bright room may not prove optimal for photographs, all of which here have been prepared using a calibrated monitor adjusted to 100 cd/sq.m luminosity. This is usually recommended for image editing. A monitor set for extreme contrast and/or brightness might result in reduced color saturation or flaring of bright areas. This is all a matter of personal taste and circumstances (ambient lighting, in particular). Just bear in mind you do have considerable control over how things look on your particular unit.

Scaling:

If you experience images being cut-off by the sides of the  window or other problems with scaling, such as a requirement to scroll single images, you might need to adjust your viewing parameters as suggested below:

• Most LCD monitors are designed to scale properly and render correct aspect ratio (height to width ratio) at full definition, which can be selected from within Control Panel/Displays (in Windows). The problem with this approach is that it requires a certain amount of paging through menus and is a nuisance unless you want to make a longer term change to resolution.
• The text size option in "View" (Internet Explorer) might rarely have to be changed if you are using larger than normal font size.
• Sidebars such as "Favorites" (Fire Fox and possibly other browsers) and add-on toolbars may have to be temporarily re-located/closed for best results as these sometimes crowd the area available for image content.
• Windows Internet Explorer has a handy Zoom control found in "View" (on the toolbar) or on the Launch bar at the bottom of the screen. This is very easily used to re-scale to anything you want and could be the best way of all. It's very simple to access and resetting to your standard scaling preference takes only a second. The quality of images down-sized in this way remains excellent..
• Finally, there is a very easy re-scaling shortcut in form of the "+" and "-" keys. You may have to experiment. In IE you must depress "Ctrl" while selecting "+" or "-". In Opera use "-" as is. To select "+", use "Shift" with the "+,=" key. Other browsers may require different selection protocols.

A monitor resolution of 1024 X 768 will almost certainly result in the largest images having to be scrolled unless you employ one or more of these remedies.

Images incorrectly scaled by having monitor resolution settings too low will be displayed at larger than native size. This will result in a severely degraded appearance because of image resolution capacity being exceeded.

You should be using a calibrated monitor for all image viewing. If you do not have (or don't want to pay for) a calibration system such as "Spyder", eyeball calibration is better than nothing. Several image processing packages such as Paintshop Pro have calibration utilities and there are test charts freely available on the web. Check www.normankoren.com for a reasonably comprehensive source of tests and related links.

Most monitors are usually set far too bright for images. Something in the range of 100 cd/m2 is recommended. You can reasonably approximate this level using almost any digital camera as follows:

• Bring up a blank, white page in Notepad or any other application of your choice that displays a pure white page. Ambient lighting should be very subdued.
• Set your digital camera to Manual mode, including focus (if possible).
• Dial-in 200 ISO, 1/20s, F/8 or any equivalent exposure setting ... for example, 400 ISO, 1/40s, F/8. Be sure no exposure bias has been set. The lens can be anything. Leave it set to infinity ... a close focus position can distort exposure readings.
• Using either the spot meter or ensuring the white page entirely fills the camera field of view, adjust monitor brightness until the exposure reads "correct". In Nikon DSLR viewfinders there is a plus/minus scale that indicates zero when exposure is correct.

This brightness level may prove too low in typical office or sunlit rooms. Nothing can be done about this. You will simply have to reset brightness if going back to those conditions. You will, however, find the 100 cd/m2 level offers the best quality with most correctly prepared Internet images.

Structural  Note:

Some links will open a new window in your browser while others will use a frame or view you already have open, depending on what's appropriate. Many pages will include forward/back controls. Where there are none, your browser still has forward/back arrows or you can navigate back to a previous view using the menus.

This site does not use cookies nor does it surreptitiously collect any visitor information.