| Brightness and Contrast Controls
Worldstart suggested this one.
Have you ever wondered what those little buttons
on the front of your monitor are for? You may have played around with them
and found that they are mainly used for the brightness and contrast controls
for your computer screen. Adjusting these controls allows you to make your
screen look the way you want it to look, whether that be with a darker
or a lighter color tone.
There may be a bit of confusion within these
two controls. The brightness control actually affects the contrast, which
leaves the contrast control affecting only the brightness. You need to
understand the difference to be able to set your monitor up for preferable
resolution.
The brightness icon looks something like a
sun. It is also known as the black level and this should be adjusted so
that any black picture content is displayed as a true black color on your
monitor. Many times this control is misused, which results in poor picture
quality on your computer screen.
The contrast icon is just a circle: half white,
half black. It is commonly referred to as the picture control. This tool
adds to the red, green and blue signals that are already imbedded into
the screen color. Basically, once the brightness is set, you can set the
contrast to a comfortable viewing level for yourself.
You want to make sure that you set your brightness
to an accurate black level. If your brightness is set too low, you could
lose your picture quality altogether, and if it's set too high, you'll
end up with a grayish color, which makes all of your applications, games,
pictures, etc. appear washed out or faded.
To adjust your monitor properly, follow these
steps:
1.) Turn the contrast control to the minimum.
There should be four different buttons on the front of your monitor. Some
may have the contrast icon shown and some may just have the plus (+) or
minus (-) signs. Use the minus sign to take the contrast to its lowest.
2.) Display a complete black picture.
3.) Adjust the brightness control to create
a balance you prefer. It should be adjusted so a full range of color tones
from black to white are displayed.
4.) Adjust the contrast to compliment the brightness.
This is the step where you can choose your viewing preference. If you like
your monitor just a little brighter, go for that. If you don't like things
so bright, go a little lower. It's completely up to you.
Just to give you an idea, my monitor here in
the office is set to a 100 percent contrast level and a 56 percent brightness.
Now, Kim's monitor is set at a 98 percent contrast and a 50 percent brightness
and Shawn's is set at a 100 contrast and 80 brightness. So, as you can
see, everyone has different viewing tastes. Keep in mind that all monitors
are different, so what you like and what we like are probably going to
be different. Just make sure you set it at a comfortable level for your
eyes.
While you're in the menu for your monitor settings,
you can also adjust other things like picture, geometry and color. You
can also work with the degauss button, as well as, change the language
used on your PC. You can choose from English, French, Spanish, Italian
or Dutch if you wish to do that. These are all choices that are on my monitor
in the office, so just keep in mind that yours may be a little bit different.
Most monitors have these choices universally though.
Now, if you have a laptop, you have an LCD.
These are a little different to adjust, but you follow the same main rules.
You also do not need to worry about the degauss button if you have an LCD
type display screen. |