Help regarding images on my site...

[Inviting Ways]

Okay, here's the deal. I'd like to pick the brains of all you experience eSellers.

I'm having an issue with the images on my site. On my computer screen, the colors are vibrant and the contrast is good. But on other screens, some of my images (especially thumbnails) are so light you can barely see them. What do I need to do. Obviously, I can re-scan the majority of my products and try to increase the contrast/color so that they show up better, but that's a scary thought (that's alot of re-scanning/image manipulation). What am I doing wrong? Should I be scanning my images at a higher resolution (300dpi), then shrinking it down to 72dpi? Is there some way I can see how my site looks on different computer screens without having to go over to friends/family/etc houses and check my site out? Is there some kind of "trick of the trade" that I'm just not aware of?

I was hoping to go live with my site late next week, but now I'm not so sure. I'm very worried about the "first impression" my prospective customers will get regarding my site and don't want to go live prematurely.

Any and all advice/ideas/suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[ontiltcasinogear]

hmm there could be a multitude of problems here.

1. is your computer screen calibrated properly? it's kind of an expensive tool, but I'd recommend purchasing a ColorVision Spyder.

2. what are you using to manipulate your images after you scan them? for instance, in photoshop, what color profile are you using? edit > Preferences > color profile

generally I'd stick with the Adobe one.

3. (again in photoshop) when you are saving a pic as, say a jpg, in the save dialog box, if there is a checkbox for this at the bottom, save it with the color profile.

4. I've had HUGE probs with the image uploader in 3dcart, and the way it compresses images. Basically what I have to do is upload it thru the admin panel, then REUPLOAD the exact same pic via FTP wherever the original pic was uploaded. That way it bypasses the compressor 3Dcart uses.

5. Make sure when you are looking at the scanned pic, you are in RGB mode and not some other mode such as CMYK or LAB color

if you feel comfortable with it, send me the working link to your site, and an example of a problematic pic to steve AT ontiltcasinogear.com.. maybe i can help you out.

also, when scanning pics, I would always scan at 300-400 dpi and then scale down, but save the original. You nenver know when you are going to need those pics for print or to isolate a small area of the pic.