help trying to PP with an iMac 24"

[windoze]

used to know how to pp my images. i used to use a Dell PC and CRT Monitor and would use Paint Shop Pro ( rarely Photoshop CS2 ) to make my images look good.


so i bought an iMac 24" and now im using Elements 4.0 ( Cant afford CS3 and there is no Mac Paint Shop Pro. I havent posted any images in about 3 months coz i cant make them look nice....
they look "good" on my monitor but when I upload them and look at them say on a PC - they look flat and dull - too dark !
Im using a huey to calibrate my iMac LCD screen coz some people have said its a gamma thing - which i have no clue what that even means!
Im PP images and im just guessing what to do with elements 4. My imaghes look bright on my monitor but dull and drab on other monitors so i have to "guessitmate" how much brightness to add - this is a dumb way to PP.

If anyone can help me - i will be so greatful!!!!
If you can help me please use laymans terms coz i really dont understand the PP lingo too well... like i said i had a system that worked so good and now i cant even make a decent image without asking how it looks on other peoples monitors..



windoze

 

[astrostu]

By "PP" do you mean post-process?

If so, then you need to be more specific. You should be able to do whatever post-processing you need in terms of touch-ups in Elements.

As far as brightness/contrast, almost any monitor - espcially if it's a CRT vs. a flatscreen - will look slightly different, which will also look different when printed.

If you want to calibrate your monitor to use a different color space, open up the System Preferences, click "Displays," and then click on the "Color" tab. There are probably dozens of different "Display Profiles" there to choose from, or you can click the "Calibrate" button to make your own profile.

 

[Chronicle]

Search graphic converter on google. It is a great program by Lemke software. It will explain to you why your images look different on a pc in a save dialog, I think the jpeg 200 one or the regular jpeg, you'll understand, it will let you save your images with pc gamma profiles. It is shareware, it is free and makes you wait 9 seconds until you pay. It used to be like 35 bucks but now it may be a bit more. It has almost as many features as photoshop and is way better at batch processing than photoshop.

 

[Digital Matt]

Make sure you calibrate your monitor, and be aware of what color spaces you are using. Mac's use a different gamma than pcs. 1.8 vs 2.2. This will account for images being brighter on a mac, but also if you are using a wide color space like Adobe RGB 1998, and viewing images in Internet Explorer or Mozilla, they will look flat and dull. You need to convert the color profile to sRGB before viewing on the web.