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The Problem With Monitors

When looking at images rendered and presented for normal viewing on a computer monitor, keep in mind the following:

• Computer monitors - even High Definition units - are low resolution devices. Practically all of them have approximately 100 pixels per inch which is sufficient for resolving only 50 line pairs per inch which is about 1/4 what is possible with an ink jet printer. The human eye is considerably better than either of those presentation technologies but at normal viewing distances the ink jet with glossy paper is a good match for for what the eye can resolve. I am using monitors with about 25% more pixels/inch than the usual but even this is relatively coarse.
• Unless viewing an unprocessed image at 100% (1 image pixel per 1 monitor pixel) what you are actually seeing is an image that has been heavily down-sampled to fit the screen or some portion thereof. Much of the detail present in the original has been deliberately removed in re-sizing to fit the monitor. In consideration of this fact and the previous point, it is impossible to tell a whole lot about how well a photographic system (lens+camera) has captured detail when viewing on a monitor.
• For analytical purposes original (not re-sampled) images can be cropped and then portions thereof enlarged to explore detail in a meaningful way on a monitor. This is usually more convenient than inflicting on the viewer an entire 200 megapixel (thinking of a D800 TIFF) image at 100%. These subset images, if suitably sized, can then be displayed at 100% where no sub-sampling is at play and yet they are of manageable dimensions. You will find this done on sites engaging in equipment reviews but it is not a method relevant to normal presentation viewing. I occasionally provide small crops on pages where equipment is being evaluated. This can be useful when making comparisons or searching for causes of problems.

Monitor Advantages

Their low resolution notwithstanding, monitor images can be stunning. 

• They are self-illuminated. When viewing prints, light must pass into the print and then be reflected. The two-way path exacerbates scattering of light and may reduce contrast.
• Monitors (properly calibrated) avoid most of the problem with color balance. Prints are at the mercy of ambient light and its properties.
• Each pixel on a monitor closely approximates an isotropic light source meaning the light emitted is very faithful in in its properties to the original content of the image at that point. Every point in a printed image is illuminated by ambient light coming from an infinity of directions, resulting in less control of what ends up back at your eye.

In other words, detail isn't everything but when detail is important the fine print wins hands down. To do justice to prints, ensure proper ambient lighting conditions.

Images at this Site

Most images at this site are captured and processed in the Adobe RGB color space unless otherwise noted. A Paintshop script resamples to 100 dpi using the bicubic algorithm while targeting specific vertical and horizontal dimensions. In this way resampling artifacts are minimized while the majority of monitors are accommodated without need for aggressive additional resampling by the browser/display software.

These days I assume everyone is using a high definition monitor (1980 x 1280) or something close to that and scale images accordingly. If your monitor is less capable, most pictures should still look fine, if not optimum, but at 1024 x 768 or similar very coarse resolutions you will find many of the images too large to fit (as well as fuzzy looking) and will have to scroll. It is possible to present an image at a lowest common denominator convenient size and then invite the visitor with a better unit to click that image in order to have a more suitable version displayed. This is annoying and makes even more tedious the preparation of a web page. There is no easy solution except to point out that in this day and age hi-def monitors are not that expensive and well worth having if you have any interest at all in quality image viewing.

One simple trick - if you find images too large on a lo-def monitor - is to use your browser's re-sizing function to re-scale everything you see. In Internet Explorer this is the "Control" key plus "-" or "+". This will also shrink/expand text but the efffect is easily reversed.

Your display should be set to native mode resolution for best results. Furthermore, your environment should be color managed and your monitor properly calibrated.

These images will not disclose additional detail upon zooming because they are already presented at optimum resolution for the majority of monitors operated in native mode. A small amount of re-sizing may, however, prove useful depending on your presentation requirements.